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DON'T PAINT YOURSELF INTO A CORNER
(The challenges of the Church)

A reoccurring cartoons shows someone who has foolishly painted himself into a corner with no way to get out except to walk over the wet surface. “Painting ourselves into corners” means setting up no win situations without any acceptable way out. In other words, if you’ve gotten yourself into such a predicament that any decision you make will be bad, then you’ve “painted yourself into a corner.”

emember, there are no right exits, no good exits and no non-destructive exits from those corners.

Has the church painted itself into a corner? Has Christianity set up doctrines and practices that won’t work? Has religion developed theologies that have inherent conflicts? Are we in a no win situation as Christians?

Unfortunately, in many areas we have done just that. A T.V. commentator said, “Bible belt believers have one slogan: ‘We’re against sin, science and liberals.’ ” In the twenty-first century the challenge of the church is to face its weaknesses, correct its failures and maximize its strengths.

Let’s try to see ourselves as objectively as we see others. Let’s be as critical of our own beliefs as we are of Buddhists, Hindus and Moslems. Let’s be honest and let’s be fair. We’ve glossed over our own mistakes for far too long.

Christianity can paint itself into corners and become destructive in several ways:

I. FIRST THE CHURCH CAN EMPHASIZE EMOTIONALISM.

Religion seems to spawn con-artists and charlatans. The very nature of religion makes it easy to play on emotions, guilts and fears.

To meet this challenge, as Christians, we must treat people with respect and integrity. We must be careful to avoid vested interests. We must remember we are servants, not tyrants. Even Jesus came to serve not to be served. He never manipulated or used high-pressure tactics. It’s unfair to take advantage of people at their vulnerable points.

Religion can degenerate into superstition. A piece of truth that becomes twisted is dangerous. We worship beliefs about God, instead of God! We create idols out of virtues. We let our emotions overrule our reason. Religion taps the deepest innermost parts of man. That’s why a little theology is a dangerous thing. We can have just enough religion to make us miserable and hostile and not enough to make us happy and helpful.

In these areas, if wisdom and honesty don’t prevail, silly tangents and nonessential concepts can become sacred formulas. There’s no nonsense so outrageous as religious nonsense.

To meet this challenge we must be as wise as serpents. We must understand that just because something is religious doesn’t make it true. Lies dressed in sanctimonious language are still lies. Ignorance masquerading as “blind faith” is still ignorance. Don’t be fooled! A television preacher mailed a picture showing Jesus holding a building he proposed to construct. The ad said “Sign your name and list your financial problems. Your letter will be buried under the building.” That makes about as much sense as getting a witch doctor to stick pins in a doll.

There is a kind of Christianity in America today that encompasses such superstition. Just because something is popular doesn’t make it true! What would happen if everyone voted to repeal the law of gravity? Nothing! It would just expose our ignorance. We do not control truth! Truth judges us!

II. NEXT, THE CHURCH CAN EMPHASIZE TRADITIONALISM.

Religion tends to get set too easily. It’s reluctant to change. Religion gets tied to sacred writings and rules and customs. It’s not pragmatic, practical and flexible.

To meet this challenge we must be both conservative and radical. We must be very conservative in keeping what is good and valid; but we must be equally ruthless in abandoning those traditions and attitudes which prove to be useless and destructive.

Holding onto something out of habit is non-productive. Just because a belief or practice served well at one period of time doesn’t mean it will continue to serve a purpose indefinitely.

Once upon a time we needed gas lights and horse drawn buggies. They were wonderful inventions in their day, but now that we’re beyond them technologically, it would be senseless to insist upon their continued use.

Jesus sent the disciples out two by two with staffs and sandals and an oral message. That was an effective and practical method in the year 30 A.D.; but it may not be the best method today. Holding the twentieth century church to first century customs is a misguided attempt at orthodoxy.

Religion can become irrelevant. We spend so much time on long ago events, future scenarios and mindless rituals that we neglect the less sensational, but nevertheless, very present problems. Modern man doesn’t rush to church every Sunday with breathless anticipation to hear about the ancient Jebusites. Unless a subject affects me, no learning takes place.

To meet this challenge we must find real human needs and fill them. We must be sure our ceremonies and creeds serve us and others instead of the other way around. In Jesus’ ministry, it was the people who mattered.

People hurt! People have social conflicts! People have psychological hang-ups! People live lives of quiet desperation! We must speak to these problems. Unless a doctrine, a theology or a tradition touches real life, real people and real situations, it should be rejected or changed.

Too often religion has been biased against science and technology. The weight of theology has been anti-progressive in medical and psychological disciplines. We seem to be afraid of intellectual truth. Why? If God created this cosmos, then the truths it contains are His truths. The earth isn’t flat, as religion once claimed. The sun doesn’t go around the world, as religion once claimed. Demons don’t cause disease, as religion once claimed. Why can’t we be mature agents of God and face reality?

To meet this challenge we must realize that Jesus gave us a mandate to discover and investigate when he declared, “Nothing shall be impossible to you.” Now, Jesus didn’t mean that any one particular individual would be invincible. It’s obvious that none of us is absolutely sufficient and perfect and able to effect all the necessary changes we need. He meant that mankind in the universal sense is capable and indeed invincible! As we become autonomous; as we cooperate with others; as we share knowledge and pool research data we will conquer evil and “nothing shall be impossible” to us.

Unfortunately, strong religious convictions can override instinct and common-sense. If you can’t proudly and publicly proclaim a doctrine, then distrust it. As modern Christians, we find it embarrassing and uncomfortable to say that Sadat, Gandhi, Schweitzer and Jefferson are in an everlasting hell. Such obviously productive lives exemplify the very precepts Jesus stressed, yet, fundamentalist doctrines have seemed to teach that without an exact orthodox “conversion,” they are, nevertheless, condemned!

Since this belief appears ludicrous in light of a humane and sensible civilization, we must reexamine its assumptions. We should let common sense evaluate and guide our belief system.

Doctrines or requirements of God won’t contradict the inner spirit which is also of God. Jesus’ preached a gospel of common sense.

Religion can cripple our intellect. When we constantly have to twist reality to make it fit our personal creeds, we destroy our reasoning apparatus. Those who refuse to see facts, hear facts and face facts, will ultimately lose the ability to recognize facts, and that’s fatal! A brainwashed conditioned mind can’t distinguish delusion from reality. It can’t discern propaganda from truth.

When you lose your ability to discriminate, you are at the mercy of every ideological wind that blows. Don’t be dishonest with yourself. Don’t rationalize and justify indefensible beliefs and practices. Trust your God given resources.

III. FINALLY, THE CHURCH CAN EMPHASIZE EXTREMISM.

A conscience without knowledge becomes fanatical. As we become more and more “devout” our range of concern and understanding can get narrower and narrower. Religious people often get so paranoid and egotistical that they are like the pious man who wrote a book entitled, “The Three Best Christians In the World, and How I Converted the Other Two!” We get so heavenly minded that we’re of no earthly good!

Martin Luther is credited with being a founder of the Protestant Reformation. Before his excommunication, as a young Catholic priest, he was constantly going to confession. Luther was so “devout” he actually felt guilty about sleeping well. At confession, he would say, “Here I am, sinful as I am, having a good night’s sleep.” One day his confessor said, “Martin, either find a new sin and commit it, or quit coming to see me!”

Some Christians weep and wail, “Oh, God, have mercy on me!” until it makes no sense.

To meet the challenge of extremism we must work on broadening our views and widening our horizons. We should never be afraid of new truths and different perspectives. More information can only enhance our faith if it’s authentic in the first place.

At its worst, religion can foster intolerance. We tend to say, “I’m right, so, if you’re different, you must be wrong.” In fact, the more sincere and dedicated I am, the more tempting it becomes to persecute those who differ. Some people love God so much, they’ll kill anyone who doesn’t!

Jesus’s indictment is still true. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel about on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves” (Matt. 23:15).

Perfection and purity alone can be devastating. Groups who think they have all the answers become sick, overzealous religious theocracies. People who think they have a perfect understanding of the Bible become insufferable perfectionists!

Hitler was just such a purist! He envisioned a pure race. It’s evident that the sicker you become, the more you believe you are infallible. You’re unable to recognize your weaknesses. You believe you cannot err in any respect. You become convinced that you are God’s gift to the universe.

We must realize that there are many ways of seeing things. What’s right for me may not be right for you!

God’s concern for us is that we become whole, productive people. How we do that is determined by our needs and dispositions, rather than by some pre-determined divine regulation. That’s why there are many diverse salvation experiences. The type of understanding and experience that’s liberating for me may be totally ineffective for you. We’re individuals. We must let each person define his own faith. It’s not wrong if it produces a transformed life. After all, Jesus told us to judge a tree by its fruit.

Intolerance is unchristian. We may love our family, but someone needs to love the unlovely. We may love America, but someone needs to love Russia and Iran. If Christians don’t, who will?

Christianity can be comforting in our darkest hours; but it can also be disturbing in our laziest moments. Jesus was not crucified because he said, “My peace I leave unto you” but rather because he said, “You are a generation of vipers.”

When Horace Bushnell was a college student he considered himself an atheist. One day a voice seemed to say to him, “If you do not believe in God, what do you believe?” He answered back, “I believe there is a difference between right and wrong.” “Then, are you living up the highest you believe?” the voice seemed to ask. “No,” he admitted, “but I will.” That day he dedicated his life to his “highest belief.” From that moment on he began to grow in discipleship and later pastored one church for forty seven years.

Now, he didn’t have to swallow a set of fantastic teachings to be accepted of God. He just had to take one step of faith and back it up with total commitment. So, don’t base your belief system on sensational tangents. Jesus said, “If you can’t believe in me, believe me for the very works sake” (see John 14:11).

Don’t paint yourself into religious corners.

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(WC2017)

This issue of NEW PERSPECTIVES is from an unpublished manuscript © copyrighted 2008 by Miles and Maralene Wesner, Idabel, OK. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO USE THEM IN ANY WAY YOU THINK IS APPROPRIATE. The only thing we ask is that you give credit for original material in PUBLISHED works.

Miles E Wesner