Why I'm still a Christian. Honestly (Part 2).

Okay, a few more reasons I still do the Jesus-follower thing…

5. Other folks like Jesus too. Okay, it's not just Americans who accept this whole born-again, bible-believing, Jesus gig. I get that now. In fact I keep hearing from and about folks in radically different cultures loving Jesus for a lot of the same reasons I do. I know sometimes there's cultural colonization that happens with Western missionaries. But other times the gospel strikes at the heart of a person's culture quite on its own merit. One of the most humbling stories I’ve ever heard is from a Chinese guy who had virtually NO contact with missionaries or other Christians discovering Jesus and then becoming an outlaw for his faith. I also keep hearing (second AND first-hand) about Muslims who have crazy random dreams about Jesus saying stuff like “follow me, I am the way, etc” and start trusting him (often while remaining “Muslim” in their communities) without ANY contact to Christians or the West. All that to say… to negate the personal and corporate experiences of a hundred divergent cultures based on my culture’s enlightened pluralistic outlook seems... colonial. It seems wiser to be skeptical of American pluralism.

6. It’s deep, not wide. One of my bible favs is, “God chose the foolish thing of this world to shame the wise.” God doesn’t seem interested in imparting secret knowledge to really smart folks. Rather he made himself knowable to kids and quantum theorists alike. The gospel doesn’t deal primarily with the mind, body or emotions (though they’re all really important), but with the human spirit which is ALWAYS able to respond to God’s Spirit regardless of mental aptitude or anything else. In my hangout time with Jesus, I don’t learn important new truths. I just learn and relearn the importance of old truths I knew when I was 8. One of my friends just went to a Christian Smartypants Conference (my name for it) talking about our approach to culture and its framework-inverting ministry implications. He said it was really deep and profound, but by the end the most important thing he learned was, “God is good.” It made him laugh. Me too. My most profound epiphanies are always moments of spiritual “no DUH!” To me, that speaks well for the gospel. Like a spiritual E=MC2, it’s head-scratchingly simple… shallow enough to wade in, deep enough to drown in.

7. I’m a nicer guy with Jesus. I’m always disturbed by what I’d do if I didn’t love Jesus. And believe me, it’s worse than the zany (and sometimes misguided) things I do because I DO love him. If I believed I was a cosmic orphan making my own way through life, I don’t think any legalism or ideology would be strong enough to restrain me from being a self-centered flesh-pot. But the shame-free wooing of God’s relentless love-pursuit (reference the shameless way the “father” in Jesus’ stories runs toward the wayward son) captures my heart and imagination. So yeah, I try to take in and pour out that Superlove on other folks. I usually suck at it, but I’m still trying. I try to swallow my pride, love my family, cry a lot, hope a lot, hang out with messy folks, and let go of anxiety that would make me a real scrooge if I didn’t think God had my back. Sure, maybe you can do a lot of the same stuff just by “trusting the universe” or “thinking positive” or hoping against hope that all your dreams will come true… but the Happy-thoughts gospel just isn’t potent enough stuff for me. No sir. Jesus is my drug of choice. Perhaps the sacrifice imagery of Jesus on the cross is hopelessly Draconian, but to me it’s the ultimate wellspring of hope, inspiration, and trans-Nate behavior.

Hmmmm…. will there be a part 3? Maybe so! You can tell, this is no theological manifesto… just my most potent personal reasons for being Christian. I hope you can understand (even if you don’t share my enthusiasm) why I would sell my life down the river for this stuff. Like Jim Elliot said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” Anyway, at this point in my life, I really can’t imagine going a different direction. I think that made my agnostic friend sad… given what a “bright young man” I am. I suppose I can’t please everyone.