{"id":670,"date":"2010-07-29T09:02:06","date_gmt":"2010-07-29T09:02:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/redletters\/2010\/07\/whats-wrong-with-christians.html"},"modified":"2010-07-29T09:02:06","modified_gmt":"2010-07-29T09:02:06","slug":"whats-wrong-with-christians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2010\/07\/whats-wrong-with-christians.html","title":{"rendered":"What’s Wrong With Christians?"},"content":{"rendered":"

My first article for Beliefnet was a little piece titled, “Why Christians Suck<\/a><\/b><\/i>.” I made the case that our faith is largely disconnected from our actions. In short, we suck because we do not do what Jesus commands us to do. There was another group of people who lived like this in the first century. The Bible calls them Pharisees. <\/p>\n

Today with associate the word “Pharisee” with false piety and hypocrisy. Jesus thought they sucked too. His most scathing words were reserved for them–the teachers of the law–who missed the point of the law by a mile or more.

Are we faring any better today? <\/b><\/p>\n

American Christians possess more knowledge about God’s Word than perhaps any other group of people. Christian researcher George Barna has parsed the different iterations of Christianity<\/a> and finds between 15-20 million adult evangelical Christians in the U.S.<\/p>\n

Based on what we read in the Bible, how would you expect these millions of evangelical Christ-followers to act?  <\/b><\/p>\n

If you listen to Jesus, these Christians would be people of humble yet extreme generosity. They would love without regard. They would bring comfort to the sick, hungry, and unlovely. In the place of judgment you would find grace. As a people, they would “do justice.”<\/p>\n

They would speak encouragement to the downtrodden. They would publicly rebuke leaders who act unjustly–regardless of their political affiliation. When their mouths opened, prophetic words would spill out. <\/p>\n

They would offer everything they had to the service of others–but especially to the sick and the poor. Children would flock to them. Leaders would seek their counsel. <\/p>\n

If that is our biblical calling, and the road map we follow, then what is wrong with Christianity today? <\/b><\/p>\n

I say “what is wrong” because the traits described above exist amongst a minority of Christians. Most of us are not viewed well by the world, and we are not much different from those of no faith at all. That, as Ron Sider noted in his book<\/a>, is a scandal of immense scope.<\/p>\n

And what does God think of this? I find that answer in the first chapter of Malachi:<\/p>\n

“When you bring injured, crippled or diseased animals and offer them as
\nsacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?” says the LORD. “Cursed is the cheat who has
\nan acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then
\nsacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great king,” says
\nthe LORD Almighty, “and my name is to be feared among the nations.”<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When we do not live out the calling in our lives, God will call us out.<\/b> He will refuse our “blemished sacrifices” that we attempt to pass off as worthy. We have become comfortable with giving to God the things that are of no value to us–the crippled animals–instead of those things which are highly valued. <\/b><\/p>\n

Fixing Christianity starts inside our own hearts as we examine what things of this world enslave us, and how we have cheated our Great King from the obedience to His commands. <\/p>\n

I’m interested in your thoughts…what’s wrong with Christianity? How do we fix it? How far are you willing to go?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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A tireless advocate for fatherless children, Davis has spent most of his adult life calling U.S. believers to become the hands and feet of Jesus Christ to the 143 million orphans living around the world. Through those connections, thousands of orphans now have the bright and hopeful future--one that is filled with opportunities and the love of the one true Father. Davis speaks hundreds of times each year at churches and conferences, mobilizing the church to action on behalf of the poor. He is the author of four books. His most recent novel, SCARED is a fictionalized account of his first-hand experiencing living and working with orphans in Swaziland, Africa. Davis' blog is the premier resource for the latest developments in Christian orphan ministry. Davis also currently teaches courses as adjunct professor at George Fox University in Newberg, OR. When not traveling the globe, Davis resides in the mountains of Colorado in the small community of Palmer Lake. He and his wife Emily have seven children, including two adopted daughters from Russia.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/author\/tdavis"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/87"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}