“Lord, Save Us From Your Followers”
by Dan Merchant
Spotted this DVD in Koorong. It was the title that attracted me to it. I had not heard anything about it and the rest of the cover was slightly mysterious. It was discounted so I felt like it would be worth trying. I watched it first on my own then wanted to get some opinions from others.
The main theme was how Christians are portraying themselves poorly and in a very public way. Being quick to condemn instead of understand and being no more than a big mouth instead of the true, loving body of Christ.
In America they have a lot of televangelists that love to put their opinion to something when they choose, e.g. Hurricane Katrina, Haiti, even Heath Ledger’s death. Unfortunately they seem more concerned about being right and really have no idea how they sound to others.
Of course the media loves the big mouths, they create good headlines. Meanwhile news of the good works from Christian groups that are helping people instead of talking condemnation does not get seen. Except for those being helped, which is probably most important anyway. These people are doing the true work of Jesus.
Sometimes bad things happen. People die, property is damaged, and lives are thrown into disarray. Cameras go wherever there is loud hailer and a preacher proclaiming that God’s wrath has brought this event and he is judging those who are now suffering. They talk at you and not with you. There is no open dialogue with these people.
I hope to never meet a Christian like this but I ever do I would like to ask him, “Do you realise what you are doing?”
I don’t think what is portrayed in this movie is occurring in such prevalence in Australia. But it is still here and it can be used as a gentle wake up call to realise who is out there and how they might are able to be reached for Jesus.
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1 comment:
I was the vessel of one of those other opinions Tim sought on this DVD. A most insightful production, though a little lengthy, and a little too left-leaning for my taste. However, the main point is both valid and poignant - "God's name is being blasphemed among the nations" because of Christians who condemn people rather than draw alongside them. The DVD raises a number of brilliant issues that are excellent topics for bible study group discussion. I shall address two related ones: 1. The place of the church in criticising society; and 2. What society needs to hear from the church.
One way to look at this issue is to point out that the church is actually responsible for creating many of the problems in Western society. Up until a century ago, the church was the custodian of most societies that emerged from the British Empire, including those in America and Australia. This is no longer the case. Successive generations have seen the church as less and less relevant to them, and today many people see it as their enemy. It may be fair to say that this is because people have rejected faith (the standard church attitude), but I believe it is also fair – and may even be more useful – to say that the church has lost their trust.
If the church conducted a little introspection, it would discover that there is a giant plank in its eye. Jesus was quite clear on what to do in that situation. Before we remove the speck from society’s eye, we must remove the plank from our own. Then we will see clearly to remove the speck from society. The point I would highlight is that Jesus implied by this teaching that if we come straight to a posture of judgement, we are not seeing clearly. Our vision is impaired - greatly impaired, almost to the point of total blindness. Therefore, if we act on what we see, we will do more harm than good. The metaphor is a good one. Imagine conducting eye surgery by feel alone – that’s what we do when we judge and criticise, both as an individual with our neighbour and as a church with society. We approach a delicate need with a ham fist.
What’s the plank? Somewhere along the line, the church stopped trusting Jesus and began to trust itself. It began to impose rules on society in an apparently noble attempt to maintain a virtuous and dignified community. Like a rebellious teenager, society began to throw off these restrictions. The teenagers ran away from home, and like bad parents, the church was left wondering what happened. And this is not just true of large church institutions. All denominations – and even all church communities – suffer from this phenomenon to some degree at some time.
In any case, what is the role of the church in the world? Are we not the body of Christ? The hands and feet of Jesus on earth? The bearers of the message of salvation? Christ himself will return to judge. We are here to love and forgive, not hate and criticise.
What ever shall we do? The DVD had a wonderful solution. The answer is humility. Regardless of how much society has wronged God (and no one denies that it has done this beyond measure), the church must realise that it has wronged society. With this realisation, it is obvious that the first step is confession. Far from criticising and judging society, the church must confess to it and ask it for forgiveness. The confession box idea in the DVD is a fantastic expression of this. What a great place to start with someone! “On behalf of the church, I am sorry.”
For this alone, the DVD has two thumbs up from me.
LB
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