Bearing Witness

The world is watching.

Someday I want to make a slideshow full of images of Christians behaving badly.

Photos or video clips, for example, of Christians holding up hate messages at gay pride parades. Of Christians screaming at women going into abortion clinics, or worse, bombing the clinics. Of the January 6th rioters, praying and praising God on the Senate floor after beating and killing Capital guards with a Christian flag in the background. Of Christians grinning in family photos while showing off their extensive gun collection. Of Christians basically bullying others online with cruel messages and memes targeting those who do not believe as they do. Of Christians cheering on a prideful man as he shared racist, misogynistic, and ableist jokes.

Yes, non-Christians do many of the same things - but as Christians, we should be better.

The world is watching.

If I ever made this slideshow, I would intersperse these horrific photos with Bible verses about how we are supposed to live, such as: love your neighbor (Mark 12:31), set an example in love (1 Timothy 4:12), they'll know you're Christians by your love (John 13:35), live in such a way that even non-Christians will praise God because of you (1 Peter 5:2), or one of the many verses about not judging the world (ie. 1 Corinthians 5:12).

People might take offense, it's true, or maybe they'd feel convicted.

We've gotten a lot of things backwards. For example, the 1 Corinthians 5:12 verse states, "What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?" We are to keep house, sure, in the Church, specifically in Church leadership, but not to judge those outside of the church. Yet we spend a lot of time pointing fingers at others without holding accountable our Christian leaders. That's backwards.

And the world is watching.

I had an experience once which really stuck out to me. I was working at a nonprofit and my direct report was a gay man. I didn’t think it was a secret that he was gay. We didn't sit around talking about it, but it did seem like everyone knew. A few had even met his partner. He was also an outspoken advocate for the LGBTQ+ community and for their inclusion in our programs. 

One day, he and I and another co-worker went out to lunch together. It was something of a business lunch, or at least it was at first. But then we started talking about more personal things. My co-worker shared something about her husband, and then looked at our supervisor and asked, "So, how's your guy?"

It was clearly an inquiry regarding his partner. What was interesting, though, was his response to her question. Before answering, his eyes got really wide in alarm and he shot a look over at me.

Initially, I was amused because clearly he thought I didn’t know that he was gay and in a relationship with a man. But once the amusement wore off, I was bothered by his reaction.

Why did me knowing (or finding out, as he thought) that he was gay cause him so much panic? What was it that made him think I would respond poorly to that information? Did he think I was going to judge him or treat him differently? And if so, what made him think that?

I probably could have asked him, but I was not terribly outspoken back then, more of a conflict-avoider, and thus, I did not. But I have wondered about it since, even though it's been many years now. I can't think of anything that I said or did that would have indicated any negativity or judgment from me, though I suppose it's possible I didn't realize what I had said or done. Without knowing, though, the only thing I can conclude was that he feared a negative reaction from me because he knew I was a Christian.

Though, even that, I wouldn't say I overly shared about my faith. I wasn't ashamed of it, but it didn't often come up. Still, it seemed as though most people in the office knew I was a Christian. (I guess it's that, say you're a Christian without saying you're a Christian thing, again.) My assumption then, was that he worried about me based on past negative experiences with other Christians. Negative experiences he had received because of his sexual orientation or expression.

More recently, I was speaking to a woman at church, and I complimented her tattoo. It was very pretty: a heart with a cross tied to an anchor. It felt very meaningful. She thanked me for the compliment and then added dryly, "Most people here just look down their noses at me and my tattoos."

I thought that was sad. Judged at a church because of her tattoos. It's not like she had hateful images or satanic images or anything like that. They were tasteful, artistic, and represented Christ.

There's a common quote that I cannot for the life of me find right now, which says, "The world knows more about what we are against than what we are for." Isn't that the truth! Gandhi once said, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."

I had a professor tell me something similar once. We were talking about religion, oddly, in class one night, and I shared about things people often misunderstand about Christianity. One of which being that we are not here to judge, but to love - to love God and to love others. She said, "Wow, I would be a Christian if that's what Christianity was about!" I was taken aback... that is what Christianity is about, or at least, what it is supposed to be about.

However, surveys of non-Christians routinely tell us that what Christians are most known for is for being judgmental, close-minded, and inauthentic. The exact opposite of who we are called to be! 

This is to our shame and detriment. What a rotten witness we have given...

In my experience within the Church, I have heard a lot of justification for this broken witness. The one which seems to get us off the hook the most is to explain our bad reputation by pointing out that Jesus said we would be hated by the world. Jesus said we would face persecution. That is true. However, Jesus said we would be hated and persecuted for following Him, not for behaving like hateful, judgmental jerks.

We deserve our reputation, overall. We have failed to act in love. We have failed to love on people. 

In Timothy Keller's book, "The Reason for God", he talks about the importance of focusing on the main message of the Bible and its primary teachings, and not getting hung up over other issues that the Bible doesn't really address. He writes, "If you dive into the shallow end of the Biblical pool, where there are many controversies over interpretation, you may get scraped up. But if you dive into the center of the Biblical pool, where there is consensus - about the deity of Christ, his death and resurrection - you will be safe." (117)

In other words, rather than emphasizing the Bible's main teachings about Jesus, about love, about building God's Kingdom on Earth, we have over-focused on less primary teachings. Often things the Bible barely even mentions. We center in on particular sins, or behaviors, or political issues, while ignoring the main point. A lot of the other issues are cultural. Our view of them changes over time. What doesn't change are the core beliefs about who Jesus is.

When we focus on the less primary teachings, all non-Christians see are our objections, what we stand against, rather than what Christianity is really all about.

Which is what, Christian? What is Christianity about?

...

In short, Jesus. 

Christianity is about a personal relationship with our Creator God through His Son Jesus. A relationship that changes us.

How many non-Christians know that? How will they ever know that, if all we are showing them is our obsession with power and politics and judging others?

Keller also writes this: "The tendency of religious people, however, is to use spiritual and ethical observance as a lever to gain power over others and over God, appeasing him through ritual and good works, as greed, material, and oppression in social arrangements. Those who believe they have pleased God by the quality of their devotion and moral goodness naturally feel that they and their group deserve deference and power over others. The God of Jesus and the prophets, however, saves completely by grace. He cannot be manipulated by religious and moral performance - he can only be reached through repentance, through the giving up of power." (61)

Ouch.

We've gotten it wrong. We've given the world the wrong impression of us.

It's not too late to turn our ways. 

It's not too late to be the light of the world. To love. To have grace. To be the hands and feet of Jesus.

It's not too late.

The world is watching. What kind of witness will we be?