One of the biggest arguments against Christianity today (it's used against religion in general, but I'm going to focus on Christianity) is the claim that the church has caused unspeakable violence throughout history. People usually point to the Crusades or the Inquisition in the middle ages as examples of the terrible moral evils that the church has committed. People like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens usually argue against Christianity in this fashion; pointing out how bad for society it is. Hitchens doesn't just point out the big examples like the ones I just mentioned, but small examples like the hypocrisy and intolerance of individual Christians. With such a bad track record, how can Christianity possibly be true? Here are some of my thoughts.
First, we must concede that the church HAS done evil in the past. We can't ignore it. We must concede that Christians, even these days, can be very intolerant and bigoted. We must acknowledge this and grieve over the truth that the people who claim the Name of our Lord have done bad things in the past.
However, we need to look at the full historical context to get a better understanding of what religion has done for the world. The church may have done evil, but it has also done much good for the world. Many of our hospitals and universities were started by Christians. It's Christians and Christian organizations that give so much to the poor and work to alleviate their suffering. I'm not saying that non-Christians don't do good things too- they do- but the love and mercy of Christ has motivated many people do do good for the world. What about unbelief? Non-religious and anti-religious regimes have killed millions of people in the 20th century. I don't want to stress this though. It gets us nowhere to make a list of the good things and the bad things that Christianity or unbelievers have done in the past.
Second, what does it say about God's existence? Nothing. Many seem to use this argument to disprove God's existence, but it's a huge non sequitur to conclude that God doesn't exist because religion has done evil in the past. It simply doesn't follow.
Third, what does it say about the truth of Christianity? Again, nothing. Even if the church has done evil, it doesn't follow that Christianity isn't true. Some might object by saying the Bible promises that people will experience a new birth and do God's will if they believe in Christ (Ezekiel 11:19-20, Ezekiel 36:26-27, 2 Corinthians 5:17), so if Christians are no better than anyone else, doesn't this prove it to be untrue? No. First of all, not all of the people in the church have been or are genuine believers. The Bible speaks of people in the church who look like sheep but are actually wolves wearing sheep's clothing (Matthew 7:15, 2 Peter 2:1-4, Acts 20:29-30), so the church can have evil people in it that don't have true saving faith in Christ. Is this true of everyone in the church? Unfortunately, no. Many people in the church who do evil things are genuine believers. While the Bible does say we'll seek to do the Lord's will and aren't slaves to sin anymore (Romans 6:4-7), it's also quite honest that Christians are still imperfect people. We may not be slaves to sin, but we still struggle with it and often fall short (Romans 7:15-23, 1 John 1:8, James 3:2). The disciples of Jesus were quite imperfect; a good example being Peter denying Jesus three times (Matthew 26:69-75, Mark 14:66-72, Luke 22:54-62, John 18), the disciples quarreled about who was the greatest (Luke 9:46), and so on. Christians can still grieve the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30). So the fact that the church has done evil is tragic, but not incompatible with what the Bible says.
Thank God that it's not our works that save us! Christians aren't better than anyone else. It's not their goodness that makes them right with God. Jesus clearly said that no one is good but God alone (Luke 18:19). But "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us," (Romans 5:8). The church is full of sick and broken people, but God graciously saves us through faith in Him (Romans 5:2, Ephesians 2:8). We aren't saved by God because of what we do, but because of what Christ has done for us.
And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister. Colossians 1:21-23
Here's a great blog post from my own church on the subject.
http://www.everysquareinch.net/2010/11/embarrassment-of-church.html?crossingpermalink=true
No comments:
Post a Comment