Skip to main content

All Christians are jerks

Hey look mate, you know I'm right, so pull your head in.

Every last one of us is a jerk*. Why do you think Jesus had to die for us? If we'd all been perfect and nice he wouldn't have had to do a thing.

And if you don't believe me, believe the Bible:

“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”

1 John 1:8 (ESV)

So if you sin, you're bound to hurt people. And if you hurt people, especially in a big way, and if you keep on doing it you're a jerk, at least in my book.

Which is why it shouldn't surprise me when Christians let me down. It still does, because—naturally enough I suppose—I expect more of them. Christians shouldn't be jerks because God tells them (frequently) not to. Even someone who isn't that familiar with the Bible will know how Christians should behave and point it out to them.

For example, I was saying this week that if you want to shoot novelists in the neck you should do the job properly and that Fascists were pretty useless. My boss said “This from a person who espouses ‘You shall not kill’”. I don't think I'd ever espoused anything to my boss, let alone “You shall not kill” nevertheless she knows I'm a Christian and knows enough about Christians to know that we say “You shall not kill”. (I actually pointed out that what we really say is “You shall not murder” which is a different thing, but the point is that she knows a thing or two about Christians).

Note for fruitcakes:

  1. George Orwell is one of my favourite writers (and Ern Malley)
  2. I was joking

Anyway, seeing as how I've been a Christian for most of my 30-something years, I know a thing or two about how Christians are supposed to act. They're supposed to act according to what they believe. For me and most of the people I know, that means “like the Bible says”.

A few years ago I worked for a Christian organisation that produced a whole bunch of literature featuring famous Christians saying what a good thing Christianity was. They should have known better. One of the celebrities was then South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje and when it was revealed that Hansie had been involved in match fixing they had to pulp the lot.

That didn't upset me that much, because I didn't know the guy. When someone I know does something outrageously against what the Bible says, I feel pretty gutted.

I feel angry because the people involved are being hypocrites and not doing what they should, which hurts me personally, and also hurts the reputation of Christians generally and worse still it hurts God's reputation.

I've been let down in a big way [only!] twicein the last few months and sadly I'm kind of getting used to it. This is a good and bad thing. Bad because I have to get used to it, good because I'm getting things more into perspective.

Christians will always let you down. They will hurt you, they'll be hypocritical and they just won't do the right thing. Just ask my wife. I let her down frequently and, despite at least some effort on my part, I keep hurting her. I'm sure my children will say the same thing (or at least they will when they've grown old enough to articulate it). I should act differently. I should act the way the Bible says and love her like Jesus loved his people, Ephesians 5-style, but I don't. I'm a long way short. I'm a jerk and I'll admit it here.

The only one who never lets me down is God. He always acts the way he says he will. He is always faithful, and loving and true. If you've been hurt by Christians, whether you're a Christian or not, you might have trouble believing that. Christians represent our God in the world (2 Corinthians 5:20) so when we hurt people it feels like God is hurting them. I'm sure there's plenty of people who've given up on God because of what his people have done and you might be one of them. I can only say, on behalf of all of us: sorry.

But that's no excuse for giving up on God. He killed his son for you to fix up the broken relationship between you and him, so don't let some jerk get in the way.

So I've given up on expecting Christians to always do the right thing. I can only expect that of God. But I'm going to try to not be such a jerk.

*I was going to say another word instead of jerk, but since this is a family blog which my mother may read I used ‘jerk’. You've got an imagination, use it. … There you go, that's much more offensive.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The unforgivable sin as expressed by Andy Prieboy

“Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin” Jesus Christ, Mark 3:28–29 I caught Andy Prieboy’s Tomorrow Wendy on the radio on the weekend and it’s been an ear worm for me for the last few days. I really like the song, but when it gets to the third verse I’m afraid I can’t sing along. I told the priest - “don’t count on any second coming. God got his ass kicked the first time he came down here slumming He had the balls to come, the gall to die and then forgive us - No, I don’t wonder why I wonder what he thought it would get us.” … But God says “jump”, so I set the time ’cause if he ever saw it it was through these eyes of mine and if He ever suffered it was me who did His crying … Hey, hey, good bye tomorrow Wendy’s
9 comments
Read more

I hate suits

Having grown up in a family where ‘shiny-bum’ was a term of abuse applied to useless office types who never did any real work, I’m embarrassed to confess that I’ve worn a hole in my trousers. Of my suit. I’m actually embarrassed to admit that I wear a suit to work, but there it is. I have to wear a suit. I also work for an investment bank, but I’m not even going to start to talk about. So anyway the suit has a hole in it, which is OK, since this is the suit I bought about six years ago for job interviews, weddings, funerals and other suit-requiring events. But really I haven’t worn it that much. Suits are just very flimsy. And expensive, very exensive. Which is what I really hate about suits. They cost a lot to buy and wear out very quickly. The exact opposite of King Gees . This is what really ticks me off. I now have to pay 10 times as much money for clothes which last a tenth of the time. Nevermind that I’m earning 10 times the money, that’s not the point. I wouldn’t mind paying
5 comments
Read more

Feeling bad about abortion

A new study of New Zealand women has concluded that abortion in young women may be associated with increased risks of mental health problems. This included depression and anxiety disorders and they were also more likely to abuse alcohol and drugs. The study’s leader, Professor David Fergusson, is at pains to show that he’s not a pro-lifer and he’s just telling it like it is. Fair enough. But with over 80,000 abortions being done each year in Australia, there’s a lot of people who will be suffering, assuming you can extrapolate the study to Australia. As the study shows, not all women feel bad about abortion or suffer consequences for it. And Emily Maguire in The Sydney Morning Herald offers suggestions about how women could feel better about their abortion experience. I say it doesn’t really matter. What really matters is what God thinks. It’s clear from the Bible that God is against abortion, for plenty of reasons. I’m with God on this point. As the father of three children—one
2 comments
Read more