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What Else Do We Have Wrong?

Warning: I'm feeling radical and dangerous today. Don't read this if you aren't interested in being bothered, irritated, challenged or inspired.

I attended a Church History course last night. It was great. The teacher was knowledgeable, the lesson was interesting, the discussion was intelligent. But I left the class completely and totally aggravated. And a little depressed.

We were studying the Reformation, and the hundred years or so that followed it. We learned about Martin Luther, the great protestant against the injustices of the Catholic Church. His radical experience with God transformed his understanding of scriptures and led a revival that changed the world.

We learned about John Calvin, whose intellectual communication of the truth of scripture was inspired by his heart-awaking experience with Jesus at a revival meeting. Calvin's doctrine and preaching was so powerful that its effects are still being lived out in modern churches today.

There were many others too, like Menno Simons, the man who founded the Mennonites, with whose ideas I almost completely agreed.

Almost.

Because Menno Simon had an incredible revelation about what the Church should really look like. He wrote:

"For true evangelical faith...cannot lie dormant; but manifests itself in all righteousness and works of love; it...clothes the naked; feeds the hungry; consoles the afflicted; shelters the miserable; aids and consoles all the oppressed; returns good for evil; serves those that injure it; prays for those that persecute it."

I'm all like, "You GO, Menno!"

But then I learned that Menno also believed that "woman must come in total love and devotion (to) be cleansed of her natural evil by contact with her husband". And that a woman was "subordinate" and had an "asexual status".

Oh bother.

And worse, way worse, was what I learned about Calvin and Luther. I'm not going to go into all the gory details, but let's just say that mass executions and burning people at the stake were possibly a part of their legacy.

Lord Jesus, help us all.

If you read through my notes from class last night, you'll find that I wrote, in large, bold print lettering, "I am tired of genocide and mass murder being a part of the church and its history. Why must it always be so?"

How sad that the people who were claiming to love God were so commonly responsible for cruelty, murder and degradation.

I know that God isn't a God of cruelty and degradation, and I know that the primary characteristic of being a Christian is LOVE, for God and for others. Since Calvin and Luther and Simon didn't seem to always understand that, I am tempted to completely discount them as Christians. Their conversions couldn't have been real, their revelations must have been faked, they must never have known the God that I know.

But that can't be right. Because it is clear that they really DID grasp a piece of the heart of God, and they really did have a revelation from God that changed the face of the church.

So how can I reconcile this?

See, what I want to believe is that when we experience revelation, that revelation is across the board. It covers all areas of our thoughts and our actions, and it is a complete picture.

I want to believe that people who have radically encountered God will stay radically with God for all the rest of their days, and that sins and deception will be far removed from them forever.

I want so badly to believe this.

But it appears the reality is that even when we receive revelation, we only see "in part". We only have one small, very minute glimpse of who He really is. The rest is cloudy and muddled with our life experiences, our culture and our emotions.

And if the Luthers and Calvins and Simons of the world can be wrong, so very very wrong, and can see only a little tiny glimpse of God, then what in the world makes us think that we see any clearer?

What could possibly make me believe that I have a bigger, clearer, more complete picture of who God is and what being a Christian should look like? Am I really that proud and puffed up?

What would make me believe that MY ideas and MY faith is LESS muddled and mixed-up and confused than theirs?

And if I admit that I only see "as reflected in a mirror" and I only know "in part", then this question MUST BE ASKED. What else do we have wrong?

What else are we wrong about? What things that seem so clear and so obvious to us are actually complete and utter nonsense that has nothing to do with who God is and what He wants to accomplish on the earth?

And more importantly, what things have we accepted as part of our faith that is causing death, degradation and pain to other people?

I think it is worth asking this question with an open, humble, and sincere heart: "God, what else do we have wrong?"

And I think it is worth discussing some of the things that are actually a part of our culture and our experience, but that are perhaps not really aligned with what scripture says, and what God's heart is.

Like perhaps..... how we treat the 'undeserving' lost. Or how we spend our money. Or how we treat women in the church. Or how we idolize virginity. Or how we allow the purity of the gospel to be perverted and twisted by being aligned with political parties and movements. Or how we turn worship into hyped-up concerts. Or how we structure leadership in our churches. Or how we alienate homosexuals.

And these thoughts and questions are running a marathon in my head today, and I want to join into a larger clamor of people who are shouting out for answers, for truth, for real revelation, and who will not be silenced by the old answers, or tradition, or patriarchal platitudes.

I feel radical, and dangerous. And I wonder what comes next?

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Messy Hospitality
Hit the Ground... Waltzing
Where Have I Been? (Living Without Hope)
Confessions of an Imperfect Christian Mom
He Was With Me

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