The God Who Wasn't There, and Moderation

I just finished watching the documentary The God Who Wasn't There, a film intended to disprove that Jesus really existed and to basically say that modern Christianity is silly. I didn't think that the film did a very good job of actually disproving Jesus' existence. In fact, it spent much more time examining modern Christianity than its historical foundations. Most of the project seemed like a vendetta of the director, a former fundamentalist, against the silliness of the religion that had oppressed him for so long. Nearly every time Scripture was quoted, it was taken out of context or quoted from a bad translation. I didn't think it was very intellectually honest with itself, or objective. The guy who did this went out with a mission to make Christianity look stupid. And i'm sure lots of people will believe him.

The film also took great advantage of interviews with Sam Harris, the champion of atheist antagonism. Harris has written two books, The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation, both best-sellers. Harris is very intolerant against all religion, particualarly Christianity and Islam, which he sees as the two most dangerous paradigms for modern society. I haven't read his books, but i've read excerpts, and although i think Harris is more intellectually honest than this film was, he still seems to have a predetermined antagonism in his work that hinders historical and religious objectivity.

Aside from that, there were actually some good points made in the film. One of the best ones (i thought) was that moderate Christianity makes no sense. This came up while they were on the issue of Christians and homosexuality. Because the Bible says (somewhere in Leviticus) that homosexuals should be put to death, these extremist Christians were actually right in hating homosexuals. According to the film, moderate Christians know about what the Bible tells them, but decide that that's too radical for them. So moderate Christianity makes no sense, because it says that it believes the Bible is the infallible Word of God, but then doesn't obey it. I'm actually in complete agreement with this, but from a different perspective. Moderate Christianity makes no sense. It says one thing and believes something different. It is in conflict with itself, a house divided, and it will eventually fall. From a New Covenant standpoint, in which the message of the love and forgiveness and the Kingdom of God proclaimed by Jesus is central, it is understood that Jesus is the only one with the right to judgment. I believe that, as Christians, our place is not to judge but to show love to our neighbors AND enemies, even those who are labeled as "sinners." If we are following the example of Jesus, at least, this should be our aim. But the issue of homosexuality is not the main point. When Christians read the words of Jesus, our Lord and Savior, whose teachings and actions are the foundations of our faith, and we ignore them, THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE! When we do that, we are contradicting ourselves.

When we read, "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" (Matt. 5:44), but continue to throw stones and protest funerals, we are contradicting ourselves!

When we read that Jesus judges our eternal salvation partly on how well we clothe the naked, feed the hungry, care for the sick, visit those in prison (Matt. 25: 31-46), and we continue to rest in our own comfortableness, we are contradicting ourselves!!

When we read Jesus' words saying, ""If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:26), and we by-pass that verse because it makes us uncomfortable to think about it, then we are contradicting ourselves!

I could go on. But the point is, for us to be true disciples, we must embrace the whole truth of the Gospel, truly seek the Kingdom of God with all our heart, and learn to love the people that God has called us to. If we do not do this, whether out of fear or complacency or discomfort, then we contradict our own talk, and we will fail. Moderate Christianity makes no sense. If we do not act on what we believe, then do we really believe it?