Slippery Slope

Yesterday Hostess Mom sat on the stairs and told me about the sermon at her church called Don’t Be a Butthead. You can watch it on youtube. I looked it up. I liked it because it countered in a way that was funny and clear some ideas that have been zinging my way over the last few months that make me uneasy. These ideas are: 1. If only we could go back to a time when everyone around us shared our beliefs. 2. We don't have much to learn from people with other beliefs 3. You can jeopardize your relationship with Jesus if you don't hold certain other beliefs, too. 4. The more certain you are,the more right you are. 

Here are some of the counter ideas of the sermon mixed in with my own thoughts. What do you think?

First. We don’t live in our grandparents’ time when everyone around us shared our beliefs. No. We now live in a pluralistic society where we constantly bump into people who don’t share our beliefs. They constantly challenge us to rethink things. Despite all the moaning about not living in a Christian nation any more, this is a good thing because God is bringing people who don’t know Him right to our doorstep. He does this. He is not worried. He made us thinkers and fishers of men.

Second. If we approach people with different beliefs like we know all the answers, and we aren't ready to listen or find common ground, and we are darn certain of all our beliefs, with nothing new to learn, we come across as arrogant buttheads. We evangelicals can be arrogant buttheads!

Third: Not all beliefs are created equal.  One (One!) we are passionately committed to, no holds barred, and all the rest we are willing to hold more tenuously. They aren’t a package deal. I mean (in Paul’s words), “I have decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ crucified.” Period. This one thing, this one confession, puts us in a love relationship with God and each other forever. There is no slippery slope! And everything else is under discussion. That doesn’t mean I don’t have other beliefs.  Oh, I do. Please. Ask me! It means that when I talk to people, I am not going to peg my passion and my soul (or theirs) on anything but Jesus crucified.

Fourth: How right I think I am is not a measure of my faith. How certain I am of my package of beliefs does not reflect my strength as a Christian. Trusting in my own certainty is idolatrous. How committed  I am, even in the face of terrible, Gethsemani, blood-sweating doubt, now that reflects my faith. If we think our beliefs are so obvious that anyone should believe them, then we are just buttheads. Of course it takes faith. Of course there is doubt. But will I stick to Him even through the valleys? That’s the question.

There. I saved you 45 minutes of youtube. What do you think?