~by Samir Selmanovic
A thought experiment: let’s imagine the whole world has converted to Christianity. Every group professes the Apostle’s Creed, the classic statement of Christian belief. There are no mosques, synagogues, temples, or altars of any kind—just churches. Governments are run by Christians, corporations are run by Christians, all art is Christian. Every teacher of every school is Christian, every politician of every party is a Christian, every owner of every business is a Christian, every book, every movie, every event—all Christian. A question: “How does that make you feel?”
I suspect increasing numbers of Christians feel as scared about such a possibility as everyone else would. But to be a Christian should mean to strive to make this scenario a reality. The Christians’ mandate to go to the world and convert it is based on the last words of Jesus in the gospel of Matthew. Standing on a hill with a handful of His disciples, frightened and disoriented by the swirl of events surrounding Jesus’ death and resurrection, before leaving them, Jesus finished His call with the precious words of comfort, “Go and make disciples of all nations … baptizing them … and teaching them … And surely I am with you always, to the very end of age” (Matthew 28:19,20). Christians have dubbed this call of Christ the Great Commission. No commandment can be more important. Why then inside many of us who love Jesus does something recoil against the fulfillment of this mandate?
The most obvious hesitance comes from history. Christians have had the chance to organize communities, nations and even empires, and have been found wanted. But there is a reason that goes deeper. The world is interdependent. A multiplicity of atoms and variety of life forms are necessary for our world to exist and function. Nobody has life independently. Without the intrinsic and intricate complexity of all life, there would be no life. Reality itself is interdependent diversity. None of us simply “exists;” we all “exist with.” Cut off the “with,” and there would be no existence for anyone one of us.
Every once in a while I go to Christian conferences, places where Christian leaders explore, evaluate, and equip each other for “impacting the world.” These days, my friends and I leave these conferences increasingly empty. I think it is because we are living under the assumption that while the world needs Christians, Christians don’t need the world. There is no reciprocity or interdependence. We don’t expect to be impacted. The world and its religions have been left out of God’s consideration to give them any significant commission to us.
Something feels utterly wrong with a claim that we Christians are in charge of God. When Jesus told His disciples “And surely I am with you always,” did He also mean “And surely I am not with anyone else”? Does my mother’s love for me depend on her withholding love from my siblings? Does God’s saving presence among us have to mean God’s saving absence among them? For Christianity to be true, does every other religion have to be wrong?
Christians and Christian churches are not exempt from the dynamics of all known existence that allows nothing to be—let alone thrive—in isolation. Instead of designating the call of Christ as the Great Commission that establishes us as brokers of God to the world and Christianity as a form of God-management system, perhaps we should embrace the call of Christ as the Grand Invitation.
Christians are sent to the world with an extraordinary message: the self-giving God calls humanity to self-giving love! However, instead of having a commission to bring God to the world, we are invited to the world where God already is, expecting us to bless the world with our teaching about Christ, as well as receive the blessing from Christ that is already in that same world. Not only to go, but to welcome; not only to teach, but to learn; not only to give, but to receive; not only to change, but to be changed. In a Great Commission, the world needs us and we don’t need the world. In the Grand Invitation, we humbly embrace our creaturehood. The Great Commission demands conversion from them; the Grand Invitation demands transformation from us all.
In an interdependent world, truth cannot be captured, portioned and delivered, it must be experienced relationally. Christianity is a religion, a window into the kingdom of God, not the kingdom of God itself. Jesus has repeatedly called us to enter this kingdom and sit at the large table, as Ananda K. Coomaraswamy says, “not to preside—for there is Another who presides unseen—but as one of many guests.” God is greater than us! For me, the Good News just got better!
(adopted by the author from Signs of the Times, Australia, June 2008)
Great post, thank you.
Posted by: Chelsea | Feb 25, 2009 at 01:03 PM
Oh irony,
how many deeply profound thoughts used to knock down the straw-men setup only to be knocked down.
Where do I even start, as a Christian I am deeply disturbed with such misrepresentations of christian faith from someone professing to be Christian himself.
Lets start with a thought experiment, yes I would be scared of the world run by "Christians", by people who "profess" Apostle's Creed.
Yet I would not be afraid of the world where everybody converted to Christianity (and that includes the conversion of "professed" Christians).
It is funny how Faith House members/associates of other religions criticize disturbed individuals (ones resorting to terror, intolerance etc.) of their own faith, omitting any critique of the the religion itself, yet Christianity is a fair game, "disturbed" individuals of Christian faith are regularly equated with Christianity. There have allays been "professing" Christians, and will allays be, who used the sword and fire to "spread" the Gospel, and how easy (and expedient I should say) it is to blame it on Christianity itself.
Next, "we are living under the assumption that while the world needs Christians, Christians don’t need the world.". Well, maybe you were living under that assumption, however, I do not want to go into discussion on how do Christians need the world, because I believe there is a bigger issue here. As a complement to first quote you suggest that Christianity's stance is "The world and its religions have been left out of God’s consideration to give them any significant commission to us.", and that is by default wrong in today' politically correct world. But lets take it to extreme, lets consider the satanists, should we exclude them from the commission. Have they been commissioned by God himself to service our needs? Why should they be left out? Where do you draw the line between commissioned and non-commissioned. Oh wait, I already saw somewhere a comment that there was a witch that was given a platform to share with us her blessings. I guess that question is settled then. There is no line. Is Satan personally included? Dare I guess the answer.
On to the next one, "Something feels utterly wrong with a claim that we Christians are in charge of God.". Oh yes, it does sound utterly wrong. It is just as wrong as implying that Christianity made that claim.
Next "When Jesus told His disciples “And surely I am with you always,” did He also mean “And surely I am not with anyone else”? Does my mother’s love for me depend on her withholding love from my siblings? Does God’s saving presence among us have to mean God’s saving absence among them?" Can you present it more upside down than this. It is exactly because of Gods love for everyone, that Jesus commissioned his disciples. If anything one can make (a false though) argument that God showed more love for the lost ones than the ones who accepted Him. Did God love the people of Nineveh when he "commissioned" Jonah to go and tell them to repent, or did he reserve his love only for Jewish people? As I am sure you would agree without hesitation that yes God did love them just the same, by your token, Were people of Nineveh commissioned anything at that moment? Yes God taught Jonah important lesson about his love for all the people, but I ask again, Were people of Nineveh themselves commissioned to do anything to service Jonah's need? Did God commission them to fill the cup of inequity so he can teach Jonah a lesson?
"For Christianity to be true, does every other religion have to be wrong?" Actually yes, of course with the exception of Judaism, as true Judaism and true Christianity are one and the same. Jesus did not establish new religion separate of and on a different foundation than Judaism. I know how heretical this sounds to the postmodern, ecumenical, new age, politically correct ears, but if other religions were true than God would have told Israel, when He lead them to the promise land, to make sure they "coexist" with its inhabitants and preserve all their (Canaanites') places of worship and their deities made of stone. One who is filled with true love for people of other religions would not sacrifice the truth for political correctness, but would accept the risk of being called intolerant and a bigoted Christian in order to point people to the only name by which anyone can be saved. Not all roads lead to Rome.
"Christianity is a religion, a window into the kingdom of God, not the kingdom of God itself." Actually, I personally do not believe Christianity/Judaism is a religion. It is not an idea, a philosophical concept that has evolved by the power of human mind. It is The Truth, revealed by "I Am Who I Am". We cannot add anything valuable to the truth revealed by Jesus, we can only progress in our understanding of that what He has already revealed by his own will. Many have tried to wrap The Truth, inconvenient to many, in their own interpretation, including I believe Faith House.
God is greater than us, for sure. Lets not forget that so is His word.
Posted by: Aleksandar | Oct 18, 2009 at 03:09 PM