there is a popular saying among many christians that goes something like this: ‘don’t define yourself by what you are against, but rather by what you are for’ and while i agree with this statement 100%, i think it can be problematic if not thought about carefully. it can inevitably lead to people being okay with injustice and not fighting for change.
since becoming apart of the scientific community in my work and education, i’ve met so many people that become so critical of everything and everyone, that they become down right toxic and destructive. this most notably is due to the scientific process. it is wonderful and genius, and leads to beautiful findings. without a strict level of criticism, we would never have found a cure to deadly diseases, or be able to surgically remove a tumor. you don’t want your doctor to be content when you’re the one on the operating table. you what them to have their eyes peeled for the slightest fallacy or complication so they can act decisively to fix it.
but some people don’t know the difference between coming against something because it is wrong, and coming against something just because. and of course those sorts of people make horrible scientists and overall unproductive people, because they lack hope and imagination. the point of speaking up against something or finding fallacy somewhere, is so that you can find the root of the issue and began to heal it.
so first off lets look at jesus, cause that’s generally a pretty good place to start. we find that jesus undoubtably expresses what he is against more often than what he is for. not only by expressing openly what he found wrong with the religious system of his day, but by also purposefully being for something that was in direct opposition to the dominant beliefs of the time. by being for something, you are inevitably saying you are against something else. so either way you swing the bat, you are going against something that needs to be changed.
jesus was against commercialism in the temple, and literally flipped some tables because of it. [imagine how much trouble you’d get in for flipping those cheesy spiritual tapes by zondervan for sale in the lobby of your church. or when a guest speaker sells their t-shirts and books after they talk.] jesus came against the hypocrisy of the pastors of his day by telling them they express their love for god in the streets, while neglecting the needs of the poor within their own congregation. saying that their words are useless and god does not hear their praises. the reward and praise from their followers is all they will ever receive.
jesus came against the violence of his day, by commanding his followers to turn the other cheek and love their enemies endlessly no matter what. even if they hang you to a tree and kill your friends and family, you love them. you forgive them, even if they aren’t sorry. by jesus dying at the hands of his government and his church, he was both declaring what he was for and against. he was against the corruption of power and the systems of man, because he was for the kingdom of god and the sacredness of human life.
the problem with not talking about what you are against, is that you are not addressing what is wrong. you can not simply talk about all the things you love about christians or about god or about the bible or about life. yes that can be encouraging for some people, but it can also lead to the deliberate ignorance of very real issues that desperately need to be dealt with and fixed.
what you are for is represented by what you come against. if you are for the justice of human life, you must come against the injustice of it. if you are for the freedom of speech, you must come against those who wish to silence the unpopular. if you are for giving a voice to the voiceless, you must come against the people that keep them silent.
what makes you passionate? what gets your blood boiling in a good way? passion can be born out of things that make you happy. you can say you are passionate about how wonderful god is, or how loving people can be. but the passion jesus expresses is very specific. he harnessed his love of the father and for life, and used it to challenge and change the world as it was. change can only happen with the rejection of something. change is not brought about by being content. change does not happen when you are satisfied. jesus was not satisfied. he was satisfied in the spirit. but once you are satisfied in the spirit, you begin to become extremely dissatisfied with everything apart from the spirit. and that’s a good thing. because it leads to change.
we see jesus getting passionate about social issues and the mistreatment of the poor among religious people. he calls them out and says poverty should be eradicated within the church, but instead it is fostered among them, and therefore will continue until people stop saying what is right with the system, and start addressing what is so evidently wrong.
the need for change within the church is not a disputed issue. it is of the utmost importance. anyone that tells you it doesn’t need to change is simply not inline with the spirit of the living god. many people say the issue is that young people have stopped going to church and stopped following after the footsteps of their parents and grandparents. that if they were to simply stop all the negativity and remain docile cattle, sitting silently in church pews, that the world would be fixed. but the world doesn’t need young people to be more like the generation of their grandparents. because our grandparents were a generation of sexists and racists that promoted and fueled the two largest wars in the entirety of human history.
something is profoundly wrong with the world today, and the way in which the church is addressing it isn’t working, because the problems are only growing. it is because the church hates change. the best way to stifle revolution, is to tell people they aren’t allowed to question or criticize the prominent members that hold power and control. that is the essence of tyranny.
because without change, there is only stasis. when there is stasis there is no growth, and with no grow comes no fruit, which inevitably leads to death, both spiritual and physical.
god himself expresses his love and desire for change within humanity when he first speaks abraham, in perhaps the pinnacle of god’s desire for humanity. god told abraham ‘i will make of you a great nation, and i will bless you, and make your name great, so that through you all the families of the earth may be blessed.’ god’s hope was to take a group of people and shape them into a society that is so different and radical than the rest of the world, that in response the surrounding nations would be forever changed by their holiness [separateness].
a rabbinical teacher once told me “thats the problem with protestants. they think they can deliver the content of scripture in a non-disputive form. but the holy is always made present in dispute. and i just have no idea where they can come up with a whole hour where everyone agrees with what the one person talking in monologue form says.” don’t be afraid to question what you are being taught in church, because based on my experience it predominantly conflicts with the biblical narrative even at the most foundational levels.
challenge, question, and create. come against illiterate teachings, seek mentorship from elderly women and men that echo the lifestyle of jesus, empower the weak/suppressed/forgotten, and through this you will reflect the spirit of the living god in an unprecedented way that your parents could have only dreamed of.
since becoming apart of the scientific community in my work and education, i’ve met so many people that become so critical of everything and everyone, that they become down right toxic and destructive. this most notably is due to the scientific process. it is wonderful and genius, and leads to beautiful findings. without a strict level of criticism, we would never have found a cure to deadly diseases, or be able to surgically remove a tumor. you don’t want your doctor to be content when you’re the one on the operating table. you what them to have their eyes peeled for the slightest fallacy or complication so they can act decisively to fix it.
but some people don’t know the difference between coming against something because it is wrong, and coming against something just because. and of course those sorts of people make horrible scientists and overall unproductive people, because they lack hope and imagination. the point of speaking up against something or finding fallacy somewhere, is so that you can find the root of the issue and began to heal it.
so first off lets look at jesus, cause that’s generally a pretty good place to start. we find that jesus undoubtably expresses what he is against more often than what he is for. not only by expressing openly what he found wrong with the religious system of his day, but by also purposefully being for something that was in direct opposition to the dominant beliefs of the time. by being for something, you are inevitably saying you are against something else. so either way you swing the bat, you are going against something that needs to be changed.
jesus was against commercialism in the temple, and literally flipped some tables because of it. [imagine how much trouble you’d get in for flipping those cheesy spiritual tapes by zondervan for sale in the lobby of your church. or when a guest speaker sells their t-shirts and books after they talk.] jesus came against the hypocrisy of the pastors of his day by telling them they express their love for god in the streets, while neglecting the needs of the poor within their own congregation. saying that their words are useless and god does not hear their praises. the reward and praise from their followers is all they will ever receive.
jesus came against the violence of his day, by commanding his followers to turn the other cheek and love their enemies endlessly no matter what. even if they hang you to a tree and kill your friends and family, you love them. you forgive them, even if they aren’t sorry. by jesus dying at the hands of his government and his church, he was both declaring what he was for and against. he was against the corruption of power and the systems of man, because he was for the kingdom of god and the sacredness of human life.
the problem with not talking about what you are against, is that you are not addressing what is wrong. you can not simply talk about all the things you love about christians or about god or about the bible or about life. yes that can be encouraging for some people, but it can also lead to the deliberate ignorance of very real issues that desperately need to be dealt with and fixed.
what you are for is represented by what you come against. if you are for the justice of human life, you must come against the injustice of it. if you are for the freedom of speech, you must come against those who wish to silence the unpopular. if you are for giving a voice to the voiceless, you must come against the people that keep them silent.
what makes you passionate? what gets your blood boiling in a good way? passion can be born out of things that make you happy. you can say you are passionate about how wonderful god is, or how loving people can be. but the passion jesus expresses is very specific. he harnessed his love of the father and for life, and used it to challenge and change the world as it was. change can only happen with the rejection of something. change is not brought about by being content. change does not happen when you are satisfied. jesus was not satisfied. he was satisfied in the spirit. but once you are satisfied in the spirit, you begin to become extremely dissatisfied with everything apart from the spirit. and that’s a good thing. because it leads to change.
we see jesus getting passionate about social issues and the mistreatment of the poor among religious people. he calls them out and says poverty should be eradicated within the church, but instead it is fostered among them, and therefore will continue until people stop saying what is right with the system, and start addressing what is so evidently wrong.
the need for change within the church is not a disputed issue. it is of the utmost importance. anyone that tells you it doesn’t need to change is simply not inline with the spirit of the living god. many people say the issue is that young people have stopped going to church and stopped following after the footsteps of their parents and grandparents. that if they were to simply stop all the negativity and remain docile cattle, sitting silently in church pews, that the world would be fixed. but the world doesn’t need young people to be more like the generation of their grandparents. because our grandparents were a generation of sexists and racists that promoted and fueled the two largest wars in the entirety of human history.
something is profoundly wrong with the world today, and the way in which the church is addressing it isn’t working, because the problems are only growing. it is because the church hates change. the best way to stifle revolution, is to tell people they aren’t allowed to question or criticize the prominent members that hold power and control. that is the essence of tyranny.
because without change, there is only stasis. when there is stasis there is no growth, and with no grow comes no fruit, which inevitably leads to death, both spiritual and physical.
god himself expresses his love and desire for change within humanity when he first speaks abraham, in perhaps the pinnacle of god’s desire for humanity. god told abraham ‘i will make of you a great nation, and i will bless you, and make your name great, so that through you all the families of the earth may be blessed.’ god’s hope was to take a group of people and shape them into a society that is so different and radical than the rest of the world, that in response the surrounding nations would be forever changed by their holiness [separateness].
a rabbinical teacher once told me “thats the problem with protestants. they think they can deliver the content of scripture in a non-disputive form. but the holy is always made present in dispute. and i just have no idea where they can come up with a whole hour where everyone agrees with what the one person talking in monologue form says.” don’t be afraid to question what you are being taught in church, because based on my experience it predominantly conflicts with the biblical narrative even at the most foundational levels.
challenge, question, and create. come against illiterate teachings, seek mentorship from elderly women and men that echo the lifestyle of jesus, empower the weak/suppressed/forgotten, and through this you will reflect the spirit of the living god in an unprecedented way that your parents could have only dreamed of.
