People and Dogs: The Gospel of Cultural Christianity
The Shaved Ape never changed. My mentor in business when I was very new, WC Dorrill told me, “People and dogs. If you reward people and dogs they will return to their vomit over and over. When Jesus multiplied the fishes and loaves a substantial part of the five thousand were there to listen to the dynamic Rabbi, but never forget that there were many who showed up for the free lunch.
The Prosperity Gospel is nothing new. Cast your bread upon the water and you will get back a sandwich. And if you don’t there’s something wrong with you! Richard Dawkins claims he is a “Cultural Christian.” I’ve met many Mormons who don’t believe one word in The Book of Mormon, but do not want to give up the family-oriented framework of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. To all these there is lip service given to “picking up their cross,” but inside they hope that they will never be issued one.
A large part of Jesus’s parables concerned everyday life. Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die. It is ordained that everyone dies once but we must live until then and how we apply Christianity tells the tale on the last day. As we navigate the maze of life the teachings of Jesus cushion or at least explain the rough spots. And there is no one size fixes all.
Any organized system will work for a while but Buddha is dead. Mohammed is dead. John Lennon is dead. Jesus is the only one who lives and greater minds than mine have spent two thousand years trying to prove that He didn’t just sit up that Sunday morning and walk out of His tomb like he had good sense. And Christianity is not a “cultural” thing, Jesus is the Living Word. And the Word was with God. And the Word was God!
It’s not a Pentecostal feeling the spirit and talking in tongues. Or a Mormon concentrating on the Book of Mormon until he feels a burning in his breast. Or the Catholic in confession swearing that he has remorse while he’s planning to see her again at the first opportunity. It’s day do day life with all its ups and downs, ins and outs and applying the concepts of a Christian life as you can. And while not being perfect, at least trying to finish the race.
People strain at the gnat when reading their Bible, looking for loopholes that will let them continue living an anti-Christian life designed to avoid the embarrassment of being discovered and no concern about the results when the trumpet calls for them. Because Cultural Christians do not believe. They want as few bumps in the road as possible with no thought of accountability.
It is tempting to take the easy way. Many are called but few are chosen. And the Cultural Christians are honored. People remember them with glowing hearts. Sometimes they leave great works. They form great foundations. And they leave them in this world where they belong because they will have business elsewhere on that day. As you walk through this Vally of the Shadow of Death you must put on the armor of God. Special underwear won’t save you. Or giving alms or going to church or casting your pearls before swine. In the end it’ll be just you and Him. What you gone do?
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