wfn.org | [UMNS-ALL-NEWS] UMNS# 352-Commentary: Why should I be a Christian?

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

>Commentary: Why should I be a Christian?

>Aug. 21, 2008

NOTE: A photograph is available at http://umns.umc.org.

A UMNS Commentary By Bishop Timothy W. Whitaker*

If someone were to ask you "Why should I be a Christian?" what would you
say?

I cannot think of a more challenging question for a Christian. It makes
us wonder if we have anything to say to a person who is not a Christian
that would at least encourage him or her to consider becoming one. It
also makes us think about why we ourselves are Christians.

Whenever we talk with a non-Christian, it is more important to witness
than to convince. We should listen to his or her story and, when we hear
some question that comes from that person's experience, then we may
share how the Gospel of Jesus Christ has enabled us to respond to that
question in our own lives. We cannot argue anyone into faith in Jesus
Christ.

Nevertheless, there is room in preaching, teaching and conversation for
giving some reasons why one should be a Christian.

>Jesus is alive

In my view, the first response is to declare that Jesus Christ is alive,
and he is calling each of us to be his disciple. We who are Christians
believe that the one Jesus called Abba, Father, sent him into history as
"the exact imprint of God's very being (Hebrews 1:3)." In his character,
pattern of living and teaching we have "seen the Father (John 14:9)."
This is a unique claim.

Since it is a claim that, if true, should cause one to change one's
whole life, then we owe it to ourselves to test it. The main way to put
it to the test is to read the Gospels in the New Testament. They must be
read with an open mind and heart. Reading the Gospels defensively is to
fail to take seriously the Christian claim about Jesus Christ. If we are
willing to read the Gospels with openness, then the person of Jesus
Christ impresses himself upon our mind and heart. While there are
obvious differences in the Gospels, each portrays the same Christ. That
is, the person of Jesus Christ communicates himself to us through the
various witnesses to him. His gift of himself to us comes with a call to
us personally as if to say, "Because I am who I am, why are you not
following me?" This mysterious transaction between Jesus Christ and us
occurs because Jesus Christ lives as the crucified and risen Lord and
gives himself to us through the church and its book of original
witnesses to him.

If someone dares to read the Gospels with openness and begins to sense
the call of Christ, then he or she also should meet with Christians for
conversation about their own experience of Christ. In the experience of
others we begin to understand what is happening to us and how we can
respond to this call. Worship with a congregation that celebrates
rightly the sacraments of baptism and communion is also essential
because these rites articulate in action the call of Christ to accept a
new identity in the world and to live in communion with Christ' living
presence.

There is no way to declare that Jesus Christ is alive and calling each
of us to be his disciple without inviting someone to try a set of
practices such as reading the Gospels, conversing with people of faith
in small groups and participating in sacramental worship. The only
reason someone would accept this invitation is because he or she senses
something in our lives that he or she is seeking. Our witness matters
more than our arguments, but our arguments offer a rationale for
explaining why we are witnesses.

>It's the best way to live

Why be a Christian? The second response is that the life of being a
disciple of Jesus Christ is the best way to live.

Someone is not likely to find this response compelling unless he or she
is dissatisfied with his or her life. Still, nearly everyone feels this
dissatisfaction in some way at different moments in life. One may feel
anxiety as great as floating on a turbulent sea with no firm ground in
sight. This anxiety comes from lacking the buoyancy of faith in a God
who cares for us. One may be oppressed by loneliness, which is overcome
by being baptized as a member of Christ's church. One may feel rootless
in a mobile society, but acquire a home and a heritage in the Christian
tradition. Or, one may know guilt over having wasted one's life so far
or having done harm that cannot be undone and find freedom in the Good
News of Christ's forgiveness.

The Christian life offers not only a way of meeting our spiritual needs,
but also a direction for how to live our lives. We are shaped by such
daily practices as honesty, hospitality, kindness, charity and courage
to confront wrong. Without these kinds of practices, our lives have
little meaning or substance except merely trying to enjoy our existence.
As we mature in the Christian life, we begin to realize that our daily
practices have to be related to our responsibilities as citizens to
advocate for social policies that are more just.

Our testimony that the Christian life is the best way to live is not
likely to be compelling unless the person with whom we are talking sees
in us a pattern of living that is attractive. Once again, we have to
remember that convincing cannot be separated from witnessing.

>The way things are

A third response begs time for much conversation but can be summarized
by saying there is no vision of reality that is a more adequate
interpretation of the way the world is arranged than the Christian view
of life. Included within this view are Christian understandings of
creation, the interpretation of the drama of human history, the meaning
of suffering, the ordering of sexuality, the role of possessions in our
life, the hope of life beyond death, and so on.

Anyone with whom we are talking probably has a basically secular view of
the world. Since this is still a culture affected by Christianity, he or
she probably makes some assumptions about what Christians think, which
are probably very wrong. To sort through all the questions takes time.

I am convinced that there is no vision of reality that is as adequate as
the Christian view. It has demonstrated its validity over and over for
2,000 years against alternative views, including Greco-Roman paganism
and modern scientific materialism. It also will prevail over post-modern
skepticism and relativism.

Consider one example. Christianity affirms that God created the world
out of nothing. The pagan philosophers scoffed at this claim because
they had inherited a worldview that assumed "matter" is eternal. The
greatest of their philosophers, such as Aristotle, posited that there is
a "prime mover," but the eternity of the material universe was assumed.
Today, the majority of physicists agree that evidence shows the universe
had a beginning in an instant of a "big bang" of energy. While Christian
teaching about the Creator is not bound to any scientific theory in any
age, our best scientific evidence today is consonant with Christian
teaching that has been based upon revelation for two millennia.

Many secular people assert that there is no need to posit a Creator
since science offers explanations for the beginnings of things, but they
fail to perceive where the "laws" of the universe, which explain
beginnings, come from or why there is something rather than nothing.

In the end, ultimately everything is a mystery. Religions always will
exist because their response to the mystery of being is to offer another
mystery to explain it. There is no escape from being enveloped in
mystery, and we who are Christians have discovered that the mystery that
makes the most "sense" out of the mystery of being is the mystery of God
who is revealed in Jesus Christ.

To help others begin to perceive the Christian view of the world
requires that we try to understand it ourselves. That is why being a
Christian witness should involve a lifetime of Christian education. The
role of pastors and Christian educators is to guide Christians in
studying sound theological literature so that we may be able "to make
your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope
that is in you (I Peter 3:15)."

There comes a time when each of us must say "yes" to Jesus Christ in
order to become his disciple. The British evangelist Bryan Green used to
say that you cannot ooze into the kingdom of God; you must choose to
enter the kingdom of God. While each of us must choose, every
congregation ought to have a way of inviting and nurturing persons to
come to faith. And, within every congregation that is effectively making
disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world, there are
members who are giving some kind of answer to the question, "Why should
I be a Christian?"

*Whitaker is the bishop of the Florida Annual Conference. This
commentary was adapted from e-Review, the online news service of the
Florida Annual Conference.

News media contact: Linda Green, (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

>********************

United Methodist News Service Photos and stories also available at: http://umns.umc.org

----------------------------------------------------

To unsubscribe from this group, go to UMCom.org, log in to your account, click on the My Resources link and select the Leave option on the list(s) from which you wish to unsubscribe. If you have problems or questions, please write to websupport@umcom.org.

Powered by United Methodist Communications http://www.UMCom.org