Can't we all just get along? and other worthless sentimentality

I notice bumper stickers.  Sometimes they are funny, sometimes they try to be powerful and inspiring but end up being hokey ("God is my co-pilot" anyone?), but usually, they are lame.  Christians have cornered the market on this:

These are indeed classics, but we Christians aren't the only ones:

"What's wrong with the "coexist" bumper sticker?  It's simply a statement of what is happening every day that "we all" continue to exist on the same planet at the same time: we coexist.  What it's trying to say is "all religions ought to coexist peacefully, respectfully, and ought not to criticize the adherents of other religions or their beliefs and practices."  

Then there's this, which is a little harsh and oversimplified (not to mention fast and loose with stereotypes)...

This one proves the point I'm getting at.  Does anyone who knows anything about these religions really believe that peaceful, argument-free coexistence is possible?  Different religions are not different roads to the same place.  They drastically contradict each other on foundational beliefs.  I offer this quote from Steve Turner, speaking about modern culture: "We believe that all religions are basically the same; at least the ones we read were.  They all believe in love and goodness.  They only differ on matters of creation, sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation."  

There is nothing wrong with discussing and arguing (not in a hot-tempered or hateful way) about differences in beliefs, evidences for the truthfulness or superiority of one's beliefs, and why someone else's beliefs are wrong or impractical.  The WAY we discuss and argue matters, though.  Christians are to speak the truth in love; we are to let our conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so we will know how to answer everyone, and we are supposed to be ready to defend our faith with gentleness and respect (see Ephesians 4:15; Colossians 4:6; and 1 Peter 3:15).

So, can't we all just get along?  No, we can't, if "getting along" means blindly accepting everyone's beliefs as true and equally valid, even if they're patently contradictory, having to like and embrace other "truths" like "all religions are roads to God," and being forced to accept the redefined notion of tolerance, which has come to be synonymous with uncritical acceptance.  We can't get along, and we shouldn't.  Would you say that all politicians should coexist and tolerate each other's ideas for leading the country?  All politics are just different roads to saving America, aren't they?  They're all equally valid and you shouldn't criticize their teachings or practices, right?

We don't think politicians can pull this off.  Why, then, do we think that religious beliefs, which most sincere followers will say is more important than politics, can?

Moses

To be honest, I hate cartoons about Moses.  They are entirely predictable (lemme guess, it's going to be about parting the water), and they are theologically wrong.  Moses didn't part the Red Sea; God parted the Red Sea.  Let's roll the scroll: Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left (Exodus 14:21-22, emphasis added).

So, enough already:

 

 

 

Timelines

Recently, I was looking at the timeline of a facebook friend when I noticed something strange.  The friend (a guy) was gushing about the love of his life, and the lady he tagged was not the person to whom I thought he was married.  I began to scroll down his page and saw that, indeed, he was not talking about his wife (to whom he had been married only a few years and with whom he had recently had a child) but someone new.  In between were some status updates about being "sick of all the drama" and stuff like that.  I don't know what's going on there, but it was sad to see.  

Maybe they split for good reasons (and there are VERY few of those), maybe not.  Being "sick of all the drama" doesn't sound very legit as an excuse for divorce, and it's even more sad that there are children whose entire lives will be affected negatively by grown-ups acting like junior-highers.   (I encourage you right now to open a new tab and Google "effects of divorce on children")  And it's all right there, on facebook, for the world to observe. 

It sure doesn't help that he is proudly Christian.  He describes himself as "Christ-centered" and active in an accountability group.  It doesn't help because this is the exact type of thing the rest of the world sees and thinks, I knew Christianity doesn't make a difference.  They're just the same as the rest of us.  But that's simply not true.  Having Jesus, not self, at the center of one's life is the greatest decision a person can make.  It changes everything...if you don't resist the work of the Holy Spirit in your life.  When we were baptized, "all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death.   We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life" (Romans 6:3-4).  Something fundamental about you changed when you were baptized, and it ought to show in the way you live your life: "faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead" (James 2:17).

As much as I hate to see Christians acting like the world, I understand that we currently live in enemy territory and have to fight hard just to keep the ground that Christ has won (see Ephesians 6:10-13).  I know that "there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1).  Divorce, even if it's your stupid fault, doesn't send a Christian to hell.  All our sins, even future ones, stand forgiven; however, let's not use that as an excuse to give up the fight as if we aren't going to be judged by our works.  Oh yes, our works matter - not for salvation, but for the rewards we'll receive in Heaven: "For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.  If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw,  his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work.  If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward.  If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames" (1 Corinthians 3:11-15; see also Revelation 20:12 and 22:12).

So let's not live out what Philip Yancey once lamented: “All too often the church holds up a mirror reflecting back the society around it, rather than a window revealing a different way.”