A Failed Faith

These are thoughts that I shared with the men’s group I participate in at church. The value of a group like that is the evolution of thought that occurs as a result of discussion. After sharing these ideas, I have had a chance to think more about some of the nuances that are apparent in this line of reasoning, including why I think it’s cool that Navy SEALs probably have beards and the practical limits of my own faith. More of those thoughts will show up in a follow-up post, but for the sake of archive, here is what I said, nearly verbatim.

The question is: what has changed over the past 2000 years? The resurrection of Christ promised a new world where death and fear and sin no longer got to win, but Christianity has failed to make this promise a reality. The gap between God’s dream for our world and the reality of the world is no narrower than the time of Moses.

The most Christian country in the world has affirmed that violence should be answered with violence and hate with hate, but we call it justice. We want to believe that God is Big Enough, but we don’t have faith that in these cases He’s big enough to handle justice. Our trauma in these cases is bigger than God. In these cases, the door must be shut and the chapter closed. In these cases, we must take justice into our own hands because enemies of humanity and, especially, America need to know that they will be held accountable with unmanned drones and assault rifles. Fear is a better deterrent than love.

It’s not hard to see the practicality of the past nine-and-a-half years. Practically, we must stop terrorism. Practically, the way to do that is with violence. Practically, we could save an untold number of lives. But, the cycle will continue. Throughout the world, violence will continue to beget violence. Fear continues to win because Christianity has failed its charge. Who will believe that the Way of Christ is a better way to live if the Way of Christ stops at practicality?

Knowing what we know about Jesus through the stories in the Gospels, and knowing what we know about the character of God, I cannot help but imagine the exasperation they feel. We missed it again. For thousands of years before Jesus, we missed the point, and now, for thousands of years after his resurrection, we continue to. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. Isaiah paints a beautiful dream that God has for our future, but we continue to fail to make that dream a reality.

In his book Love Wins, Rob Bell describes Heaven (or the Age to Come) as a place where people like Osama bin Laden could not exist. Not that Heaven could not exist because they are in the world, but that they would not be able to exist in the world because Heaven is here, and it is our job as disciples to bring this Heaven to earth. This Heaven can only come to Earth when Christianity offers a better story than the one that the world tells us.

We should be realizing God’s dream for our world. If we truly believe that His kingdom is near then we cannot abide the cycle of fear and violence. Justice is not holding one man accountable. It is building a world where his crimes could no longer be committed; where the peace, love, grace, compassion, and forgiveness is such a compelling narrative that evil cannot exist.

If we don’t believe that is possible, then we’ve lost. If we believe that “that’s just how our world works” is a good enough answer then we’ve lost. If we believe that The Way of Christ should be weighed equally with practicality, then we’ve lost. The World has won, and maybe fear, greed, and hate truly are compelling narratives. They certainly are easier and far more practical.

On September 12th, 2001 we had a chance to change the world. To stand up to evil and say no. To say your way is the way of violence, the Way of the World, but our way is different. Instead, we stood up to an evil man, and perhaps that should be celebrated. It was certainly a pragmatic solution. And though we have seen much bravery and sacrifice, we have not changed the world. On May 7th, 2011 we concede that here in this case, the Way of the World wins. My daughter will grow up in the same world that I did. The same world my grandfather did and his grandfather before him. The same world of Rome and of Egypt. The same world that Jesus came into to change. We’ve failed. That’s kind of disappointing.