The Myth of a Christian Religion

by Gregory A. Boyd

  If the answer to these questions is no, prayerfully consider why. Is it because having relationships is not a high priority for you? Is it because you fear relationships like this would impinge on your personal freedom? If so, ask the Lord to help you embrace a more Kingdom set of priorities and become freed from the stronghold of Western individualism.

  Revolt against the consumer system. As a westerner, you live in a consumer culture that systematically conditions you to consume more and more. You are bombarded with advertisements trying to convince you that your life isn’t full unless you have what they’re selling. Not surprisingly, the two main things Americans do with their leisure time is watch television and shop. The first brainwashes us to do the second, and the second requires that we work incessantly to pay for all our stuff we’re brainwashed to buy. Consequently, most Americans have neither the time nor the inclination to cultivate meaningful relationships. The Powers have reduced us to mice on a treadmill futilely chasing the cheese of the American dream.

  Revolt against the Powers! A great place to start sensitizing yourself to this consumerist treadmill is by viewing a short video called The Story of Stuff (available at storyofstuff.com). Notice how many advertisements bombard you each day. Get in the habit of letting them serve as reminders to get all your Life from Christ. Commit to simplifying your life and carving out time for meaningful relationships (as well as ministry and relaxation and other necessary things our consumer culture steals from us). Watch less television and spend the extra time with family, friends, and those God calls you to minister with and to.

  Enter into community. If you’re not in a committed small group, join one. If your church doesn’t have a small-group ministry, use whatever influence you have to start one. In the meantime, I encourage you not to wait for your church to get its act together but prayerfully seek out other Jesus followers with whom you can forge Kingdom relationships, engage in Kingdom worship, and carry out Kingdom ministry. You might start by simply inviting other Christians over to discuss books that teach on the importance of small groups (or “ house churches” ) and that give advice on how to go about growing them. (For suggested readings, see www.gregboyd.org.)

  If you already belong to a committed small group, consider ways you can bring more of the Kingdom into your fellowship. Talk about ways you can build more trust with one another so you can give each other permission to speak into each other’s lives. Discuss ways you can minister together, worship together, and share more of life with one another. Read up on and discuss how you can transition from being merely a group of friends to a New Testament church. (For suggested readings, see www.gregboyd.org.)

  CHAPTER 7: THE REVOLT AGAINST NATIONALISM

  Return to the Source. We cannot hope to revolt against the idol of nationalism as long as any element of our identity, worth, significance, or security is rooted in our national allegiance. We can pledge our total allegiance to Christ alone only if we’re getting all our Life from him. So I encourage you to return regularly to the one true source of Life. In special times of prayer, vividly imagine Jesus lavishing his love on you. Envision him telling you he has reconciled you to God, made you a citizen of heaven, and commissioned you to be his coworker and ambassador of the Kingdom (1 Corinthians 3:9; 2 Corinthians 5:17 – 20; Philippians 3:20). Throughout the day, remain aware of God’s loving presence, reminding yourself of these truths and giving praise to God that all you really need and long for is found in Christ. Together with your community of Jesus-followers, make time to worship God and engage in spiritual disciplines as you help one another experience God’s Life more profoundly and get increasingly free from nationalism and all other forms of idolatry.

  What does your nationality mean? Alone and with friends, reflect on what it means for you to be American, German, British, or whatever nationality you identify with. There’s nothing wrong with feeling good about your nationality, but ask yourself honestly if any element of your identity, worth, significance, and security is rooted in this nationalistic identity.

  To help do this, write out a list of values you embrace because of your nationality. For most Americans, that would include the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. With the help of your community, honestly assess how you would be impacted if any of these values were threatened? Would your sense of worth, significance, identity, or security be fundamentally altered? If so, this is an indication that you are not yet getting all your Life form Christ. Commit to seeking first the Kingdom of God and getting all your Life from Christ alone.

  Assess your life. Reflect on and discuss the extent to which the Church in your nation reflects the values of your nation—in contrast to the values of the Kingdom. Is the church known for how it resists the ideologies and values of the nation or for the way it embraces and defends them? Apply these questions to your own church, small group, and life.

  If aspects of your life, small group, or church reflect idolatrous nationalism, ask God and discuss with friends what can be done to get free from their bondage and to become singularly devoted to the Kingdom revolution.

  Pledge allegiance? Discuss with friends whether it is appropriate for Kingdom people to pledge allegiance to their country and its flag? If you participate in this nationalistic ritual, what does it mean to you and how does it relate to your pledge of allegiance to Christ and the Kingdom he came to establish?

  Become a transnational Christian. As citizens of the Kingdom of God and ambassadors of Jesus Christ, it is crucial that we resist the pull of the Powers that want us to adopt a myopic, tribal, nationalistic outlook. We must never allow our love and concern for others to be conditioned by what nation and culture they happened to be born into. While our fallen hearts and minds tend to care about “our nation” and “our people” more than others, the Kingdom heart and mind must love and care indiscriminately, as Jesus commanded (Matthew 5:43 – 48). But given the oppression of the Powers, this takes discipline. Here are a few suggestions to help your outlook to remain global:

  • Be intentional about stretching your tastes and preferences by regularly eating food and experiencing entertainment from other countries. Go out of your way to cultivate relationships with people whose nationality is different from your own. Learn their culture, customs, and beliefs.

  • Pay attention to major events around the world and join with others in regularly praying for people adversely affected by them. As you do so, ask God to help you empathize with these people. Try to imagine, as vividly as you can, what they might be going through. Be open to God leading you and your Kingdom community to sacrificing some of your own resources to assist those who are suffering.

  • Along with the community of disciples you share life with, pray about adopting a country or region to pray for and perhaps minister to. Learn about the history, culture, beliefs, and customs of this nation or region. Pray about the possibility of supporting indigenous ministries in this area. Consider going to this area on a short-term mission trip.

  • Consider opening your home to foreign-exchange students.

  • This one is especially challenging for many Americans, but I encourage American Kingdom people to make an earnest attempt to understand why various groups around the world do not appreciate—if not disdain—America. I’m not suggesting Kingdom people need to agree with these anti-American views. But the very attempt to understand the views of “an enemy” helps us rise above a simplistic “good versus evil” dichotomy that nationalism tends to afflict people with. An interesting (and highly controversial) book to begin one’s study is Ziauddin Sardar and Marryl Davies, Why Do People Hate America? (Cambridge, UK: Icon Books, 2003).

  CHAPTER 8: THE REVOLT AGAINST VIOLENCE

  Return to the Source. Getting free from violence in thought, word, and deed is impossible as long as we try to acquire Life from any source other than Christ. Paul teaches us that life in the “sinful nature” is inevitably characterized by hostile attitudes and behavior (envy, hatred, fits of rage, di
scord, and factions; see Galatians 5:20 – 21). Such a “sinful nature” is an inevitable outworking of idolatry, for to the extent that we cling to anything other than God as our source of identity, worth, significance, and security, we are sucked into the conflict-filled idolatrous feeding frenzy of the oppressed world (see chapter 3). Our idols are perpetually threatened, and we cannot help feeling hostile toward anything or anyone that threatens our source of Life.

  The key to getting free from our own tendency toward violence, therefore, is to die to the idolatrous way of living and commit to getting all our Life from the one true source of Life, Jesus Christ. Only when we can say with Paul, “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me,” can we be free of the impulse to defend our life and all we hold dear with violence (Galatians 2:20; cf. Romans 6:6). As we learn how to die to ourselves and yield to the Spirit of Christ within us, we become filled with the full measure of God’s love (Ephesians 3:19) and begin to manifest “the fruit of the Spirit” instead of the “sinful nature.” Our thoughts, words, and deeds become increasingly characterized by “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22).

  I encourage you, therefore, to regularly spend time alone with Christ, experiencing him ascribing unsurpassable worth to you and setting you free from the need to cling to idols, including the idol of biological life itself. I encourage you to cultivate a Life-giving relationship with Christ throughout the day. Train your mind to remember that you have died to the world but are alive in Christ (Colossians 3:3). I frequently affirm the statement, “Life is Christ, nothing else really matters.” (This is especially helpful in stressful situations.) Remind yourself throughout the day that you are always to abide in God’s loving presence and that all your identity, worth, significance, and security come from him alone. Everything you really need is found in him.

  Commit to nonviolence. Violence seems so natural in our fallen, oppressed state that few of us will make progress in getting free from it unless we make a covenant with God and others to purge it from our lives. I encourage you to ask God’s forgiveness for any past violence in your life. Make a commitment to God and those you share life with to live a life free of violence. Encourage those in your Kingdom community to study this subject together (for suggested readings, see www.gregboyd.org) and to join you in making this commitment.

  This commitment doesn’t necessarily mean you will actually be able to refrain from violence in certain circumstances—for example, if a loved one were attacked. I myself hope I’d respond nonvio-lently, but I can’t be certain. A commitment to nonviolence means you’re pledging to walk in that direction, practicing peace day-by-day. The more we develop a Christlike character, the more likely we are to respond to a hostile enemy in a Christlike way if they were to attack us or a loved one.

  Cleanse the heart. Our violent tendencies will never stop unless idol-rooted violence is purged from our hearts. Ask God and others in your small group to help you examine yourself to locate any hostility you harbor toward others. As mentioned in chapter 4, one of the best ways to flesh out non-Kingdom sentiments hidden within us is to practice agreeing with God about people’s unsurpassable worth by blessing everyone you happen to come upon or think about. Be particularly intentional to bless people whose behavior you don’t approve of.

  As you bless them, be attentive to any thoughts and attitudes that disagree with your blessing-stance toward people. When you identify non-Kingdom thoughts and attitudes, do not pass judgment on yourself. Simply turn from them (repent) and embrace thoughts and attitudes that agree with the estimation God expressed toward these people on Calvary. Then ask God and your small group to help you discern why you harbor hostile thoughts and attitudes. Behind every anti-Kingdom thought and attitude (as well as action) lies a false source of Life. So ask God as well as your Kingdom community to help you locate the idol in your life that is producing this “work of the flesh.”

  Do good to enemies. Jesus and the New Testament teach that we are not only to refrain from violence toward enemies, we are to do good to them. In light of this, prayerfully consider ways you and your community can do good to people you identify as “enemies.”

  For national enemies like Osama Bin Laden, it’s likely the only good you can do is to pray for them, something Jesus specifically commands (Luke 6:27 – 28). While millions are praying curses upon such enemies, I encourage you and your Kingdom community to pray Jesus’ prayer of forgiveness for them (Luke 23:34). Pray for a change in their heart and that they might learn the joy of walking in peace rather than hatred or violence. Praying for a life transformation in someone like Bin Laden may seem naïve, but we are called to live in love, and love perseveres in hope for everyone (1 Corinthians 13:7).

  We must pray for our personal enemies as well—neighbors, coworkers, relatives—all who may have something against us. In these cases though, there are probably more concrete ways we can serve them. Consider ways in which you might be able to sacrifice of your time, energy, and resources to bless or help them. As you do so, look for opportunities for reconciliation. The ultimate victory of good over evil occurs when an enemy becomes a friend.

  Become a peacemaker. Jesus calls his disciples to be “peacemakers” (Matthew 5:9). One primary way to do this is by using the unique authority we have to affect the world through prayer to influence leaders in a peaceful direction. Prayer is also a main tool Kingdom people are to use to bring Kingdom peace into conflicted situations in all our personal relationships as well as in our communities. As Walter Wink argues, prayer confronts the Powers that fuel hostility and is therefore a form of “social action.” 3

  Kingdom people are called to be peacemakers in every other possible way as well. Wherever there is hostility between people with whom we have some influence, we are to seek God’s wisdom about how he might use us to bring about reconciliation (James 1:5; 3:13 – 17). In our personal relationships and in our communities, we are to be people who always look for ways to bring peace where there is hostility.

  Along the same lines, we who live in democratic societies are allowed some influence in our government by voting and participating in the political process in other ways. If you choose to participate in this process, prayerfully reflect on how you can best influence leaders and support policies that will further the cause of peace. Of course, as we noted in chapter 2, we must always remember that governments remain under the strong influence of Satan. We must also always respect the inherent limitations and ambiguity of political “solutions” as well as their inherent “power over” methodology. In this light, we must never confuse our particular way of influencing politics with our distinct Kingdom call by labeling our political views “Christian.”

  What is a distinct Kingdom approach to global conflict is to not only pray for peace in conflicted regions, but to actually go there to work for peace. Not everyone is called to this form of peacemaking, of course, but some are. A number of organizations train and equip groups of Kingdom people for the difficult and dangerous task of entering conflict situations to help warring factions sit down together and work toward peaceful resolutions. I encourage readers to be open to the possibility that God would lead them to join one of these groups, whether as a short-term or lifelong worker.

  One such organization is Christian Peacemaking Teams (cpt.org). Since 1984, CPT has sent peacemakers to conflicted areas such as Gaza, Haiti, Bosnia, Palestine, and Iraq. Their motto is to “get in the way” of the violence in order to bear witness to an alternative, nonviolent way of dealing with conflict. You may recall that in 2005 four CPT workers were taken hostage in Iraq, and one (Tom Fox) was murdered. This kind of work is certainly not for the fearful.

  Other organizations that train people for similar peacemaking ministries are Witness for Peace (witnessforpeace.org), Peace Brigades (peacebrigades.org), and Nonviolent Peace Force (nonviolentpeace force.org, though this latter group is not specifically Christian).

  Ther
e are currently several thousand courageous souls who participate in these global peacemaking ministries. But one wonders what would happen if there were several hundred thousand such workers? What would happen if there were as many soldiers laying down their lives to fight for peace on behalf of the Kingdom of God as there are soldiers fighting violently on behalf of their particular version of the kingdom of the world? While it would certainly cost many Kingdom people their lives, I believe it would cost far less lives than the violent approach has proven to cost throughout history.

  Even if the peacemaking approach to conflict were not demonstrably successful in any particular conflict, it would still bear witness to the reality of the Kingdom that is “not from this world.” By revolting against the ugliness of violence, it would manifest the beauty of the Jesus-way of living. And this is the one goal that must define the very being of all followers of Jesus Christ.

  CHAPTER 9: THE REVOLT AGAINST SOCIAL OPPRESSION

  Return to the Source. We class-ify people because we’re socially conditioned to do so. And we’re socially conditioned because, on some level, it’s how those who benefit from these class divisions try to find Life. We will find it impossible to revolt against the Powers behind classism unless we are getting our worth, significance, and security from Christ alone.

  As in all matters pertaining to the Kingdom, it is vital that we return to the one true source of Life. In special times of prayer and throughout the day drink deeply from the bottomless well of God’s love for you. Together with other Kingdom people you share life with, spend time in worship and engage in the spiritual disciplines to help one another grow in your capacity to experience and be transformed by God’s perfect, unwavering, unconditional love.