More to life ~

‘You see I happen to believe that there is so much more to life that Christianity.’

Quoted anonymously

This statement in a blog grabbed my attention and sent me scurrying to the online Oxford dictionary for a definition of Christianity.

Christianity: the religion based on the person and teachings of Jesus Christ, or its beliefs and practices [emphasis mine]

Let’s look at the second meaning first. Certainly if you consider the beliefs and practice as exemplified by the institutional church, and indeed by most of those who call themselves Christians, I would agree with this quotation that there is much more to life. Things like equality of opportunity, empowerment to follow your individual ministry, joy of living, love of the other, inclusivity regardless of gender, race, education, or sexual orientation, the freedom to think and question, abundance of resources; all of these and more are missing in varying degrees in the currently accepted practice of institutionalized Christianity.

For me, however, Christianity has always been about the first part of this definition: a religion based on the person and teachings of Jesus Christ. Suddenly all those things mentioned above as not being part of the beliefs and practices of the Christian church become a significant part of who and ‘whose’ we are. As we attempt to follow Jesus’ teachings on visiting the poor, clothing the naked, visiting those in prison, looking after the women and children, the vulnerable in society [Matthew 25:29-35], we become immersed in the very stuff of life.

So it is important, before making statements like the one I opened with, that as Christians, we make ourselves very clear which of the definitions of Christianity we are talking about – because they are not the same in today’s world, not should all Christians today be ‘tarred with the same brush’.