When we cut to the chase, one of the major criticisms of Christianity is that Christians are no better than other people. There are corollaries to this. One of them is that, if Christianity is true, then Christians should be better than an average population sample and, if they’re not, then Christianity cannot be true. Another is that non-Christians can easily be as good as Christians so, then, Christianity really doesn’t make a difference. Therefore, Christianity is either untrue or irrelevant.

The title of these essays is “Christians Have Some Things to Answer For.” I hope that’s appreciated. Those of us who have “bought into” the Christian story of all of reality need to stand up and admit that these criticisms have merit! It does us no good to hide behind the ramparts and say to the world, “but, you don’t understand it as I do.” Let’s turn the lens back on ourselves to wonder why these criticisms have flourished in the first place. So, fellow Jesus-followers who are reading this, how do you feel about responding to the criticisms? And, those of you reading this who either cannot fathom that the Christian explanation of things is actually true or you are kind of on the sidelines waiting for the dust to settle, please cut us at least a little slack as we work through this. Thank you!

Without rehashing the last post, what is it we can take away? Well, primarily it’s that it’s not enough to look out at the world and blame Christians for character flaws, violence and fanaticism. We’re certainly an easy target, for good reason, but hold the presses. All of mankind is hard-hearted and reflective of flaws, all of mankind has in it the seeds of violence and aligning all all-in Christians with the fanatics is clearly a mistake. Let’s pause for a minute, catch our breaths and ask what’s really going on here.

And, it’s here I want to circle back to Jesus’ main point – the whole enchilada encapsulated concisely. Love God and everyone. Period, end of report. “As I love you, you should love me and love all others.” That about says it.

Of course, he lets us know that he realizes this is not an easy thing – although it’s the main thing.

So, he says he’s going to help. As a matter of fact, he’s going to go through the whole process of taking on evil, sin, the fallen nature of man, the contorted values of the world, and all of that and he’s going to be with us to help us through the mess we’re faced with.

This is a crazy thing to say to the modern mind. Unless it’s actually not crazy and it’s true.

All this being said, we return to the questions on the table.

I said awhile back that the most basic principle undergirding all of Christianity is love. It’s not “get what I can out of life before I die.” It’s not, pursuing happiness. It’s not safety, security and good health. It’s not achieving freedom or equality in this life. It’s love.

Now, before we go, “duh,” we need to pay a lot of attention to this. Some may say this is self-evident but, actually, it’s anything but.

We return to Jesus’ two primary commandments – which are really just a nailing of the most important criteria for living the good or right kind of life: Love God and one another with everything. Put no one and no thing higher. Put the pursuit of no one or no thing as more important or central to our life – and that means each and every day, not just a matter of principle.

Because we do not have that innate ability and because the laws of this world – the way we organize our thinking, the things our hearts crave – this is fundamentally impossible. Which is one of the main reasons Jesus says we need him. We need to be “saved” from the “fallen” reality so we can live in the “true” reality.

To some, this may be mumbo jumbo. To a committed follower of Jesus, this is a big piece of what is meant by the “bread of life.”

So, in order to understand this issue about Christians being good, we have to place it in the context of love. To do otherwise is to completely misrepresent the most central principle of the faith. While there are many other elements to the gospel (the Good News, as it’s translated), this is the most important.

On the night that Jesus was betrayed and arrested, the night of the Passover Seder in Jerusalem, he was in extended conversation with his disciples, answering their questions and giving them advice. Let’s remember that, for the most part, they’d been with him every step of the way for three years. They’d heard and seen things that had turned their world upside down. They were struggling to grasp that he was saying it was all coming to a close. He told them he would not be with them much longer and that they would not be able to follow him to where he was going. Among one of the last things he left them with was this:

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34-35).

So, there it is again. “This is your job”, said Jesus. And, directly to our point, he unequivocally tells them that they will be judged by how well they do. While the term “Christian” would not be created until later, this was the very first description of how people would know whether Christianity “worked.” For, their lives and actions must be a sign pointing to Jesus through a lens of love.

Well, you might think, that’s easy enough to say. Jesus preached love and told his disciples to live through acts of love. That’s fine and dandy but (1) What does that actually mean when you get down to it and (2) How loving are Christians as compared to others?

Let’s begin by addressing what is meant by love, in a Christian context. I’m choosing to do so by citing two sources, C.S. Lewis and the Apostle Paul.

If you have read more than a few of my postings, you know what I think of C.S. Lewis. There may be wiser people but right now none particularly come to mind. Of the many books of Lewis I own and have read, one of my favorites is a little one, entitled, The Four Loves. It is not one of his easiest reads but, when approached slowly and savored, it examines something we take for granted and opens it like a flower slowly blooming beautifully in the light of day. Upon finishing, we can never take the topic lightly again.

I have no space for detail here so I will include the most cursory summary.

Lewis begins with this piece of New Testament scripture, and with the confidence that it is true. “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:8)

He then goes on to identify four types of love … he calls them bonds. He uses Greek terms (Storge, Phileo, Eros and Agape) to entitle them but they can be translated fairly easily.

The first (Storge) is Empathy or Affection. It can be summarized as the love of enjoying someone or something. It can be the enjoyment of others, of being with good friends. Lewis says it is the most humble of loves.

The second (Phileo) is Friendship. It is the least jealous of the loves. “Friendship arises out of mere companionship when two or more of the companions discover that they have in common some insight or interest or even taste which the others do not share and which, till that moment, each believed to be his own unique treasure or burden.” He says that this is the least needed of the loves but seems to be the most enjoyed and long lasting of the earthly loves.

The third is Eros. This is the romantic or erotic love. Lewis says this one is “being in love.” He says it is the least thought out but the most felt. It is destroyed by analyzing it. It create the “hottest of fires” in our emotions. It can be a wonderful light or a scorching fire.

Finally, there is Agape love, or Charity. We are probably very familiar with the latter word but the word “agape” is used only within Christianity, to my knowledge. It is the most often-used Greek word for love in the New Testament. He said this is the highest and most unselfish of the loves. (We will explore this more deeply in a bit.) As another author describes it:

“Agape love is not natural and goes again human nature. It loves the unlovable, undeserving and ugly. It gives all and asks for nothing in return. It is the one that takes the greatest chance and is hit with the most loss. God is Agape, and that love we all will slowly develop as we grow in him. However, Lewis also points out that although God is love, not all love is God. He says that if any type of love became a god, it would, in fact, become a demon, seducing our souls toward despair and death.”

This brief exposition may raise more questions than answers and that’s fine. I’ve done it a terrible disservice by being so brief. Perhaps we can take away at least these three things. (1) It’s a mistake to see love as something simple and general. (2) We can see, perhaps, how one or more of these loves has affected us more or less strongly. (3) The end object is not love but the nature of the bond that is created through love … how are we and the object of our love affected (changed) via its presence?

Ok. Whereas I suspect very few readers would have been familiar with Lewis’ little book and those categories of love, I’ll hazard that more will be familiar with this next reference. And that reference is from a letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to a church he has previously established in the Greek seaport of Corinth around the year 51 AD. A few years later, when he was living in Ephesus (now in Turkey), he heard that there were a lot of problems in the Corinthian church and decided they needed some pointed advice to correct their destructive course. It can be seen as the most practical of all of his letters. He is clear in his thinking as he seeks to solve their problems. In fact, he ended up writing two letters to this church, which are now included in the New Testament right after his first set of writings in that long document, his letter to the Romans.

The passage which I will share is the potion of his letter from 1 Corinthians 13. Segments of it are commonly read at weddings, for good reason. However, I will ask that we don’t gloss over it, as I trust we will circle back later before concluding this long series.

Paul:

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophesy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Not I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

There you have it. The most profound and important interpreter of the life and gospel of Jesus has laid it out bare. He identified a number of problems in the Corinthian church and chose to clearly extend this teaching so that they could change their course. His words, however, ring just as true today.

The author of the original questions is seeking some kind of metric by which we can assess the validity of Christianity. While I feel I could continue to bring in new material, I’m hoping now to shift gears and apply what we’ve learned to a final set of answers to the questions.

Until then ….