CHURCHED TO DEATH
Edward Fudge

We just may be “churched” to death. There is so much religion—in so many competing brands —that God is often lost in the scramble. Whatever you thought of the movie “O God,” or the idea behind it, it at least told the truth about that. Many folks in sheer desperation have done one of two things.

The non-religious ones (in a traditional sense) have turned off the whole business and gone their way without it. The religious ones (in a traditional sense) have settled into a comfortable nook somewhere and buried their heads in the sand. Many of them admit in private that their formal religion leaves them cold, and that it has little relevance to the cares and decisions of everyday life.

Maybe the saddest part of all this is that the good that is there so often goes to waste. How many people belong to liturgical churches, for example, but attend meetings only at Christmas or Easter? Jesus fills much of their prayer-book, but for these folks it has become his prison. Or take the matter of Bible study. What a storehouse of strength and wisdom the Scriptures are, for any who will read them and listen. But how many people whose churches feature something called “Bible study” actually spend most of their time meandering around the text, or rehashing a favorite proof-verse that makes them look good and their neighbors across the street look bad? A wealth of hope and inspiration meanwhile lies untouched at their feet.

Consider good deeds or acts of mercy. Christian churches ought to mean more by these than, say, the Boy Scouts or the local Jaycees. The church does its good with Jesus in center view—at least that’s the way He seemed to have intended it. We ought to help others because Jesus has helped us. And we ought to do good to whoever has the need exactly as if He were the recipient of our mercy! Yet this wonderful plan so often blurs—benevolence becomes a burden and grace gets buried under grudge. Without Jesus at the center of its thinking, the church has to compete with the social and civic organizations, where it is at a decided loss. Their programs can be far more entertaining than ours, and their meals are definitely hard to beat!

Doctrine is high on some folks’ agenda. The scholars say “doctrine” means “teaching,” so nobody ought to complain about learning something new once in a while. Especially if it will comfort, encourage, strengthen, or give one a clearer view of God. But ahh—as Shakespeare might say—“there’s the rub!” For such healthy teaching (“sound doctrine” in the King James) often is nowhere to be found. In its place is dead logic, useless lecture or uncharitable debate. Too often, when someone has a truly original insight, he/she has no chance to express it. When one does, he is often rebuffed by the status quo, or met by the empty stare of those whose springs have been wound up but whose brains are safely in neutral. So the thoughtful person ends up squelched, or frustrated, or quitting altogether.

From all indications, these ailments are all quite human - and seemingly undated. When Moses gave God’s people a brass snake some 3300 years ago, as a symbol of the divine healing power, they soon forgot God and ended up worshipping the snake. When Jesus announced his own saving ministry in his home town of Nazareth, most of the townspeople couldn’t recognize his true identity because they had known him so well all his life. And lest anyone hastily credit the Jews unduly for these errors, he might remember that 20 centuries of more recent history show a hundred ways professing Christians have made the same mistake.

Who is willing to get serious about profession of faith? I don’t mean “say words” I mean “get serious.” The adjective “born-again” has become pop currency and devalued through over-use. People are “churched” to death. Nobody gets excited about new programs—especially the happy pagans they are invented to reach. Mass media have made skeptics of us all. Phonies are a dime a dozen on every corner, and we are all tired of being “had.” The world is dying by slow starvation for lack of authentic concern and individual love.

Folks today want to see changed lives, not just hear occasional testimonies. (Of all the celebrity converts recently, Charles Colson has made powerful impressions for good for this very reason.) More “church” is not the answer—if we mean nothing more by that than rationalism, ritual and real estate. Knowledgeable Catholics know that the church that counts must also be “holy,” and informed Protestants remember that the true church will be marked by the presence of the Holy Spirit and the true preaching of Jesus Christ.

Friends on the west coast report that lukewarm Christians are less plentiful in southern California. There people tend to be either “on-fire” believers, or unpretending pagans. As our own American brand of cultured paganism becomes stronger across the land, we in the southern Bible Belt may come to observe the same phenomenon. And it might not be so bad at that. Jesus once warned a lukewarm church that even cold was better than tepid.

So hang in there, brothers and sisters! Sometimes learning what’s wrong is the first step toward recognizing what’s right. What’s right is still Jesus Christ—the historic gospel—the universal Christian faith. Our movement has had some good slogans and principles too, even if they have been parroted more than they have been practiced. The last thing we need to do is quit Jesus. He is the only hope any of us have. The good news is that He is all any of us need. Why, Jesus can even give life to people who have been “churched” to death.—4 Sandra Lane, Athens, AL 35611