There were lots of thoughts and opinions on yesterday’s post about Anne Rice no longer wanting to be associated with Christianity even though she still wanted to be like, and follow, Jesus.
I don’t do a whole lot of Bible study on this blog, but something struck me out of the passage in Acts where the term ‘Christians’ was first used to identify Jesus’ disciples.
Background – Who is Saved?
The believers who gathered in Jerusalem and Judea were doing well, but there wasn’t a whole lot of movement to take the message of Jesus to outsiders. At the beginning of Chapter 11 Peter is rebuked by the church for eating with people who were outside of Judaism (You ate WHAT with WHO?!) until Peter described his vision from the Lord and how he saw the save evidence of God’s Spirit on the uncircumcised as he had on those who had lived under the Mosaic Law.
So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God?” Acts 11:17
When the church heard Peter’s explanation they wisely didn’t have any further objections. (I think there is a good lesson here for the Church today.)
Message – Who gets the Gospel?
When Paul the Apostle started ministry he was an angry young Pharisee who persecuted Jesus’ followers. After having a dramatic encounter with Jesus, he made an abrupt 180 degree turn in his life. He went to join the church in Jerusalem, but they were too afraid of him. One disciple, Barnabas, took him under his wing and helped the church understand that God could/would save people like Paul too.
Some of the disciples that Paul had persecuted in his younger years had fled the area and were scattered throughout the Roman Empire. Acts tells us that they limited their teaching of the gospel to Jews only. It was in Antioch that this stranglehold on the good news was broken. Here the disciples began to share with the godless people too, and they responded.
The church in Jerusalem couldn’t believe the reports from Antioch so they sent Barnabas to check it out personally. Much like Peter’s explanation of what happened in Joppa with the Gentiles, Barnabas saw the evidence of the grace of God on these outsiders in Antioch.
And Barnabas stayed there, with those outsiders, and he brought Paul to teach there too. And they lived their lives in such a way that great numbers of these godless people began walking on a new journey of faith.
It was then that the disciples were first called Christians.
Name – What should we be called?
The meaning of the term disciple is one who is a learner, a student, a follower of a specific teacher whereas the meaning of Christian was ‘little Christ.’ This suggests that the city of Antioch experienced the true life of Jesus through his followers.
Unfortunately the term Christian is not interpreted as ‘little Jesus’ by today’s outsiders. Instead they say there are experiencing something far different from us—we seem to be known better for judgment, fear, and hostility.
Perhaps we need to stop worrying about what to call ourselves and go back to being disciples, learning how we should live from our teacher.
When the rest of the world experiences the life and love of Christ through us, they will let us know.
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Check out my other blog, Jesus or Squirrel. It’s a fun attempt at figuring out what should truly be credited to Jesus, Religion, Hype, Tradition, Superstition, Satan, Oral Roberts and his Friends, or The Squirrel.
Studio Casey
Good comments – what are we for not what are we against.
Yeah, I have no problem at all with what someone calls him or herself. I only have a hard time with separating oneself entirely from the community of followers. A lot of bad things rises out of individualism- in fact, a lot of what Anne has a problem with can probably be directed back to someone's individual interpretation outside of the community, then starting their own thing. All this breaking off and infighting and in-out game seems to start with "The Bible Alone" understanding, which really means "My Interpretation of the Bible Alone." The whole point of Acts is that God was creating a people out of so many diverse gifts, races, locations, temperaments, etc., even though it was tough, even though it challenged people's understanding of what it meant to be God's People. But can you see Paul utterly rejecting Peter because Peter was working through some issues of who to accept? Towards the end of the book of Acts, Paul gets arrested, and in a close reading of the narrative, it probably has a lot to with the fact that the Church leaders in Jerusalem didn't stand up for him. Yet, Paul never rejects them.
All that to say- labels aren't all that important. But rejecting people because of their flaws is a road I definitely don't want to walk down, especially since I have no view of the big picture and where people might end up after all is said and done. Love the stimulating conversation here, man!
" rejecting people because of their flaws is a road I definitely don't want to walk down, especially since I have no view of the big picture and where people might end up after all is said and done"
Does this apply to Anne Rice too. She is on a journey. Look at how far she has come/gone. Please consider extending grace to her as she defines her walk.
PS I can certainly relate to wanting to get away from those that you perceive are causing you emotional pain(i.e. a perceived hypocritical body of people), Some stay and work through it, some get away and work through it. The assurance is that God remains with both.
This makes me so sad. Jesus cared so much about unity with us and for us with each other that is what he prayed for specifically before he went to the cross in John ch. 17. Maybe our focus should be on that instead of what someone wants to be called.
Spot on Chad! These are the thoughts that I was having reading your post yesterday. Sweet action!
the apostles only bring the word christian two times in the entire new testament? paul and peter always adressed the church as the saints or to the church scatterd abroad. i agree with anne rice its about JESUS
not churchanity! we are believers , which causes the world to ask what do you believe in? my response to a
beaten up world thur religion is the finished work of christ iam in him he now lives in me john 17.kenneth davis
Great post, Captain!
It is my understanding that Christianity is not a term that the first followers of Jesus used. The first followers of Jesus were known as Followers of the Way or the Third Way.
'Christian' was a derogatory term used by those who did not follow Jesus to describe those who did follow Jesus.
However, words only mean what the person using them mean. There may be a common understanding between some people, words do not have/maintain a universal meaning.
cont…
I understand what Anne is saying in her post and I think it's brilliant. She's reclaiming life in Christ as opposed to life in Christianity. She's committing to Jesus as opposed to an institution committed to Jesus.
One observation: I've found that when a criticism is made, it rings most true in those that take offense to the criticism.
Friends of mine, who are not Christians, think what Anne has done is a great thing. They recognize the universal good in what Jesus taught and that the advertised Church, in many ways, is in direct opposition of Jesus' teachings.
They are not offended by her criticism.
Christians, however, those who are committed to the institution of Church, have taken great offense to her comments. They say that her critisism of the Church is unfair and perhaps it is. Rather than humbly saying, "That doesn't really describe my experience" and moving on, they respond in the exact manner that Anne describes in her "anti- statements".
b i n g o
I think a lot of the difficulty here arises from the mistaken notion that Jesus started a religion called 'Christianity,' and that it is a club people ought to join. Religions exist because people believe they are separated from God and that they need a method for bridging that gap. Jesus didn't give us yet another method for 'getting back to God.' Rather, in Jesus God was uniting himself with humanity in a way that could never be undone. He declared this truth (often in the Jewish cultural form of "The kingdom of God has arrived"), and told people to believe it because it's true. I get no sense from Jesus that he's interested in starting a new religion.
"Perhaps we need to stop worrying about what to call ourselves and go back to being disciples, learning how we should live from our teacher."
Bravo. Yes.
And, might I add, let us treat all of our fellow disciples as Christ treated us, passionately, truthfully, personally, intentionally, and honestly.
Chad,
My first time visiting here, I so appreciate your thoughts as well as the others, thanks.
What I'm wondering after reading here is this, to the degree I am not really secure in the love of whose and who I am, then isn't the alternative going to simply be a caustic reactionary stance toward anyone who just doesn't see it the "right way-my way?"
The whole hungry man-trance-Joppa-Peter thing imo, was a loving God and Father deeply offending a "born-again" son of God's mind in order to reveal some none kosher heart thinking. Please don't call unclean what I have cleansed. As in so many other things at least in my life, I too am seeing the graciousness of Father offending my religious thinking in order to expand and enlarge my heart toward the others He longs to be made known to.
If we are all God's children, if we are all loved equally by Him, if He loves us for who we are (after all, He made us), then who are we to say that one person's path has more validity than another's? Since I can't see the entire picture of where even my path is taking me, I don't see where it is that I have the right to condemn the path someone else is on. It seems that a lot of time, church going folks will tell "sinners" that God loves them just the way they are, then when these same "sinners" walk in the doors of the church, the church folk spend the rest of the time telling them they have to change to fit some tightly defined version of Christianity. No wonder people think Christians are judgmental and hypocritical.
I applaud Ms. Rice for walking away from a toxic relationship with the church but maintaining the relationship that got her in the doors in the first place. Isn' t that the most important part? Christianity is not one size fits all. Jesus related to people individually. If we allowed freedom in our religion to match the freedom that is found in our relationship with Jesus, the outcome would be vastly different that what we see today.
These thoughts from Tim Keel seem to fit into this conversation….
“…We need men and women who have previously been on the margins to come forth and lead us. In focusing so exclusively on our cognitive capacities, we have lost our imaginations. We need mystics. We need poets. We need prophets. We need apostles. We need artists. We need a church drawn out of the margins, drawn from the places and filled with people and shaped with competencies formerly thought to be of little account. In fact, perhaps it is from such ‘marginal’ communities as these that influence will begin to spread outward into communities that have been domesticated in a modern world and thus rendered docile. We need a wild vine grafted into the branch. We need alternate takes on reality. We need a different kind of leader – one who can create environments to nurture and release the imagination of God’s person.”
As Karl Barth put it, sometimes we have to disengage before we can engage rightly.