WHAT IS A CHRISTIAN, SERIOUSLY? T. S.

M First Draft - June 2013 Anna, my angel of a wife, used to have an agnostic brother-inlaw who challenged her with Show me your God. In the musical My Fair Lady Eliza sings to lovesick Freddy: Word! Words! Im so sick of words! I get words all day through; /../ Show me! Show me! Dont talk of love lasting through time. Make me no undying vow. Show me now! What is God like? Four thousand volumes of metaphysics will not teach us what the soul is, quipped Voltaire. And four thousand volumes of theology will not be enough to convince unbelievers about the existence of God. Moreover, if God were to appear in person today, say in a shopping mall, we might not do better in recognizing him than the woman at the well. The woman said to Him [Jesus], I know that Messiah is coming (who is called Christ). When He comes, He will tell us all things. Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am He. (John 4:25, 26) Philip, one of Jesuss disciples, a matter-of-fact guy, asked of Jesus: Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.

Jesus answered: Dont you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, Show us the Father? Dont you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father living in me, who is doing his work. (John 14.8-10, New International Version) So what was Jesus like when he was on earth? He walked, he talked, he ate, he drank, he slept, he laughed, he wept, he healed the sick, he comforted those who mourned, he consorted with the low lives of society, he derided religious authorities, he talked about living the anxiety-free life, and in the end he was denounced, tried, tortured, and executed as a criminal. Ah, what about the resurrection?, you might ask. What the resurrection means to me is that the Son of God as finite body is mortal; but as infinite spirit he is indestructible. Sticks and stones may break his bones, but nothing can ever hurt his spirit. Kierkegaard in The Sickness Unto Death says that A human being is spirit.. A human being is a synthesis of the infinite and the finite, of the temporal and the eternal.. So, in the final analysis, what I am is eternal spirit, an offshoot of the I AM THAT I AM of Exodus. Now back to God revealed in man. If there is a place where God is revealed it is in the lives of individuals. Let your light so shine before men.. (Matt. 5.16). Who dares to repeat after Jesus He who has seen me has seen God? This is exactly what a real Christian is and it troubled Kierkegaard deeply. Christianity is not a doctrine .. Christianity is a message about existence. That is why each generation must start it anew ( Diary, 1848). True religion for an individual is not to be defined by a book or a religious organization but by the way he/she lives. Jesus did not say If you want to know the truth read the Bible; instead he expressed truth existentially: -Look at me, I am the truth. And there lies the challenge to anyone who claims to be a follower of Christ. Nietzsche saw the challenge. In truth, he wrote, there was only one Christian, and he died on a cross (The Anti-Christ). Kierkegaard could not honestly claim to be

a Christian. He could only claim to be on the way to being a Christian. And perhaps thats the best most of us can do in our fallen state. Is it enough to say I believe in God? There is in the Christian marketplace a talisman sold by a religious group and this is that if a nonbeliever can be made to say O Lord three times then he/she will be saved. Jesus has warned against such cheap grace in Matt. 7.21. It is easy to glibly say I believe in God. Hitler said he believed in God. (The Nazis were not atheists. During WWII Nazi soldiers wore belt buckles bearing the words Gott mit uns [God with us].) Devils, too, believe in God! (James 2.19). When I pointed out this Jamesian verse to a zealous Christian relative of mine he was taken aback. Anonymous Christian I recall vividly an incident at the memorial service of our nephew Simon in California. As I was sitting alone, wrapped in sorrow, my sister approached me and, as if to get something off her chest, said, Simon was not a Christian! This made me doubly sad. The good Samaritan in Jesuss parable was an outsider, as far as the religious Jews were concerned. Jesus said: A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The

next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. Look after him, he said, and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have. Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers? The expert in the law replied, The one who had mercy on him. Jesus told him, Go and do likewise. - (Luke 10:25-37) More than just a rabbi who opened the door to outsiders, Jesus was a maverick who turned the pet beliefs of his tradition upside down. To the sanctimonious elders of the temple he said: I tell you the truth, the tax-collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you (Matt. 21.31). According to Catholic theologian Karl Rahner, an anonymous Christian is a person who lives in the grace of God and attains salvation outside of explicitly constituted Christianity. Looking back at how he had lived through the eyes of his colleagues, his fellowscientists and friends, I think of Simon as an anonymous Christian. He belongs to the tribe of Abou Ben Adhem. Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!) Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace, And saw, within the moonlight in his room, Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom, An angel writing in a book of gold: Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold, And to the Presence in the room he said "What writest thou?" The vision raised its head, And with a look made of all sweet accord, Answered "The names of those who love the Lord." "And is mine one?" said Abou.

"Nay, not so," Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low, But cheerly still, and said "I pray thee, then, Write me as one that loves his fellow men." The angel wrote, and vanished. The next night It came again with a great wakening light, And showed the names whom love of God had blessed, And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest. James Henry Leigh Hunt (1784-1859) Being a Christian is not a walk in the park Christ has no body but yours, No hands, no feet on earth but yours, Yours are the eyes with which he looks Compassion on this world, Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good, Yours are the hands with which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, Yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now but yours, No hands, no feet on earth but yours, Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world. Christ has no body now on earth but yours. Teresa of Avila (15151582) By no means an easy path but it is one that leads to eternity.