The "Is it Christian?" Litmus Test
Have you ever seen something that people keep telling you Christians do or believe and you wonder if it's really true?
Have you ever seen something that people keep telling you Christians do, Christians believe and you wonder if it really is a Christian thing? Luckily, there's a very simple test to find out the answer to the big question...is it Christian? It even comes in a flow chart.
Why the test works
Is there a lot to learn as a practicing Christian? Yes, absolutely. There's a lifetime of study in pursuit of better understanding. If you're reading this blog, you're watching me do it right now. Regardless of which denomination you're affiliated with, whether Protestant or Catholic though there is one single ultimate authority: Jesus Christ. So what does he say on the subject?
Matthew 22
Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Mark 12
One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
“Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.
Does the thing that you've seen or been told is Christian behavior appear to violate either of these two? Then it's probably not Christian.
But what if...?
There will always be plenty of "what if?" scenarios.
What if somebody in church did or said it?
Everybody in church is a sinner in need of a Savior, just like everybody not in church. Doing something that isn't Christian behavior in a church doesn't make it Christian.
What if somebody on the web said Christians believe it?
Christians are people. People believe different things. None of us can read the minds of anyone else to know what another single person truly believes, much less an entire group of people regardless of professed religion, political affiliation, nationality, race or college football team. Doesn't make it Christian.
But everybody in that political party is Christian!
No, they aren't. Not anymore than people in a different political party aren't Christian based on whichever issue you believe supports your viewpoint. People support political candidates for all sorts of reasons, from single issues to simple opposition of issues from the other party.
Labeling entire diverse groups of people only allows you to construct your own image to tear down. It’s a disingenuous way to allow people to channel anger towards people without knowing them at all. Just like calling all sorts of things “Christian” that aren’t.
“Once you label me you negate me.”
- Søren Kierkegaard
But I heard a preacher say it!
Then that is unfortunate, but preachers are not infallible. I have personally heard preachers give sermons that they later had to apologize for after correction from other church elders. Not everyone hears the correction after hearing the original message, unfortunately.
Churches are designed to function with elders who are able to hold the pastor accountable as well as to provide him with counsel. Teaching is a very serious endeavor and should not be entered into lightly.
Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.
- James 3:1 (NIV)
On this blog, I will always accept correction as well as posting edits where needed (and calling attention to them)…but that is the benefit of this format. Spoken and recorded sermons do not have the same benefits.
Churches split all the time. Pastors leave or are removed. Churches fail sometimes while other times new churches grow. None of us are perfect people.
I heard a story about Christians who did something bad
Even the most devout Christians are people, who are all sinners in need of a Savior. There’s also nothing preventing people from calling themselves Christian without attempting to walk the walk. Bad behavior isn't Christian any more than good behavior is. God isn't impressed by all of our good deeds anymore than our misdeeds prevent us from redemption.
All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
Paul reiterates this in detail in Romans.
This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Our faith in Jesus will ultimately tell the story. I cannot speak for anyone else, but I can tell you that I'm haunted by mistakes I've made that I can’t take back. Where possible, I hope to do what I can to make them right. I have said things that were unkind, which I deeply regret. I have judged people who I have no right to judge. To the best of my knowledge, I've never done something terrible and claimed it was in the name of Jesus.
Love Your Neighbor As Yourself
Tough love is a thing, which we absolutely must keep in mind.
Sometimes, love means pushing someone outside of their comfort zone to do something that is hard. Love isn't always coddling people or being willing to hand out a hug. Sometimes, we have to look in the mirror and realize that what we're doing isn't good for us. Maybe it's a change to our diet? Maybe it's not enabling an addiction? Maybe we need to learn how to budget? Maybe we need to spend more time with our family? Maybe we're in a relationship that isn't healthy?
Maybe it's being honest even when it's uncomfortable? Sometimes love is hard. It's much easier to say "not my business" or “you’re perfect just the way you are” than to have a hard conversation with somebody you care about.
And it's even harder to tell someone you care about when they have to take responsibility for their own actions. As parents, we do it everyday but having a conversation like that with somebody who isn't your child is a lot more complicated. I recently had to stop helping somebody who I'd previously helped a lot. It killed me to do it too, but if I helped again I worried that person would remain on the same path forever.
The willingness to have hard conversations with people who you want to help comes from love.
The willingness to shout accusations at people is not. If your intent is to help, your approach demands thoughtful tact. Not many people getting yelled at, online or in person, have ever said, "You know, I think you're right. I should listen to you." Your intentions will guide your approach.
I've often approached those people we all see holding up signs in crowds telling everyone they are going to Hell. Their intent is to spread the message. Their tact is not helpful. My intent is to have the hard conversation with them about that, because I do care that they want to reach people.
It's not one of the 10 Commandments
Something that struck me as I read over the 10 Commandments is that "Love your neighbor as yourself" is not actually among them. That comes from Leviticus 19:18.
Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.
One of the more interesting things about that is that, with study comes better understanding of the roots. Let's look at all of the 10 Commandments from Exodus 20 and see if we can follow the logic of Jesus here. A commandment should either support "Love the Lord with all your heart..." or “Love your neighbor..."
1st Commandment
I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.
Love the Lord with all your heart...
2nd Commandment
You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
Also, love the Lord with all your heart. As a side note, idolatry is one of the biggest recurring themes in the Bible that I noticed on the first read through.
3rd Commandment
You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
Love the Lord with all your heart. I believe this applies especially to teachers.
4th Commandment
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
This one is both. By honoring the commandment we are showing love to the Lord with all our heart, but at the same time by not asking any servant, animal or even foreigner to work on the Sabbath we are loving our neighbor as ourselves as well.
It’s also probably the most regularly broken commandment.
5th Commandment
Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
Also both. We love the Lord by honoring the commandment and we love our neighbor as ourselves when we honor our parents.
Growing up, I think everybody has that certain point when they think they know everything and that their parents need to get with the times. The older we get, the more we usually discover that our parents knew a lot more than we thought.
6th Commandment
You shall not murder.
Pretty sure murdering our neighbor wouldn't be love. You may have heard this one as “Thou shalt not kill” but the translation was updated because the actual word used is only ever used in the context of intentionally killing another person without legal sanction and outside of battle. It translates to the equivalent of “commit homicide”, which is murder. We’ll cover that in more detail in another lesson.
7th Commandment
You shall not commit adultery.
Your spouse is also your neighbor. Cheating on them certainly does not show them love. And no, justifying it as “loving your neighbor too much” doesn’t cut it.
8th Commandment
You shall not steal.
Would stealing from anyone show them love?
9th Commandment
You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
How would lying about our neighbor to get them in trouble possibly show love?
10th Commandment
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
And lastly we should not be jealous, wishful or lustful for things our neighbor may have that we do not. Envy will gain us nothing but resentment towards our neighbor and does not serve to show love.
It will also fuel a never ending need for “more” as there will always be someone who has something we do not. Contentment is a principle that is also reinforced throughout the Bible, which we will discuss quite a bit.
All of the commandments really do logically flow from those two core principles.
Can it really be that simple?
There's an entire Bible, church, study...can it really be as simple as those two commandments? Yes! It's not supposed to be hard.
It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.
Gentiles are anyone who is not Jewish, who we established in Romans are no different from Gentiles anyway since we "all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ."
Is there more to learn?
Absolutely! There's tons more. The more we learn, the better we understand. There are lessons in there about how church leaders should be conducting themselves, how they should be selected, and how we should be acting to set a standard for how Christians as a group are perceived.
Just as an example, over the years you've probably heard that Christians are to "turn the other cheek". Growing up, when I heard this I always assumed that it meant that we were to look away or something along those lines. The actual context is very, very different.
But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.
If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
If someone strikes one cheek, invite them to strike the other. If someone takes your coat, offer them your shirt as well. Love your enemies, do good to them without expecting to get anything back.
So…is it Christian?
Does it show love to the Lord with all your heart? Does it show love to your neighbor as yourself?
If that answer to both of those question is “no”, then it’s not Christian.
It’s that simple.