Andrew Fountain - Seven Myths about Christianity

download


Full sermon notes - Seven Myths about Christianity

Some common myths/misunderstandings

  1. You have to take part in rituals
  2. God only welcomes “good” people
  3. I need a priest
  4. Some places are “holy”
  5. It’s about giving money
  6. Christians are Hypocrites
  7. There are so many brands of Christianity
  • Person who has a basic idea that there is a God
    • All they have seen is a ritualistic religion
    • Believe that if there is a God, they have nothing to fear because on the whole they have been pretty good
    • They have an inner emptiness and lack of meaning

1. You have to take part in rituals

  • rituals were part of the way God taught the nation of Israel to worship him 3,000 years ago
  • however, the rituals were like acted out pictorial lessons
    • we do that kind of thing now, e.g. at weddings it is traditional for them to arrive separately but leave together
    • What if after the wedding the bride wanted to continue to do this? —when ever they went anywhere they should arrive separately...
    • You have the reality now—you don’t need to stick with a picture of being married
  • for example, the ritual of burning sweet incense was a picture prayer and how God enjoyed it when they talked to him
    • But not designed to be permanent, but to be replaced by the reality

Tim Hortons Coming Soon...

Tim Hortons Coming Soon...

  • Just like a “Tim Horton’s Coming Soon”
    • But it would be totally inappropriate to keep the sign up
    • Many of the rituals were to teach them about what God would do for them in the future, when he sent Jesus
      • E.g. the picture of their guilt being transferred to a lamb prepared them for Jesus who would take away our guilt
    • When Jesus came, he specifically said that he fulfilled all the rituals

God only welcomes “good” people

  • Luke chapter 5
  1. Then Levi held a great banquet in his house for Jesus, and there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others sitting at the table with them.
  2. But the Pharisees and their experts in the law complained to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
  3. Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
  4. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

2. God only accepts people who are “good”

  • We might not like tax collectors, but we probably don’t regard them as intrinsically evil
    • But in those days
  • Jesus said “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners (Luke 5)
    • explain
  • So actually the opposite is true: God is not interested in those who are self-righteous, but those who need him
  • Nobody has done too much wrong for God to love them
    • It actually seems to be the people who are most flawed because God is most interested in

Extreme Makeover Home Ed

Extreme Makeover Home Ed

Image source: Source

Rebuilding Home

Rebuilding Home

Image source: Source

  • Repentance means change, but God is on their side to help them change
    • It’s like a rebuild

I need a priest

I need a priest

Image source: US Navy

3. I need a priest

  • Just like there were rituals 3,000 years ago, there were priests
  • People couldn’t come to God directly because
    • God is so pure
    • God is so amazingly perfect
  • They needed an intermediary who was on the one hand pure enough for God’s presence,
    • and on the other was human so as to relate to us
  • The priests of course were not really pure, it was another picture
    • So this was symbolized by extreme washing—as a symbol of purity inside
  • So if the priest was just a picture, how could someone really fulfil that role?
    • To be pure enough to stand in the brightness of God’s presence
    • To be one of us
  • The reality that the priests pointed to was the ultimate priest
    • God himself in the form of Jesus, who actually took on human form
  • He fulfilled the requirement of an intermediary: pure as God, yet human as us
    • He can have sympathy with us because he has experience the hardships of being a human
  • So we can simply pray to God directly, through the help of Jesus
    • “For there is one God and one intermediary between God and humanity, Christ Jesus, himself human” 1Tim 2:5
    • Nowadays it wrong to have priests and Jesus forbade them among his followers
  • What that means is that you can now simply talk directly to God
    • The myth is that you need someone else

Notre-Dame Cathedral Montreal

Notre-Dame Cathedral Montreal

4. Some places are “holy”

  • Some people think that if they want to pray, it is better to go into a church building
  • Never in the Bible was a place special in and of itself
  • Places were only ever special if God showed his presence there, and only for as long as his presence was there
    • “portable temple”
  • God has said that right now he is present every time we gather together
    • It makes absolutely no difference if it is gym, a cave or out of doors
  • but even if we were meeting in a church building, the moment we leave it is just another building
  • There was a woman that Jesus met who raised the controversy about where to worship God
    • Jesus answered that it is not about the place—God’s presence can be anywhere

When and Where to Pray

  • Any Time (don’t need a priest)
  • Any Place
  • In your bed, in the gym, on the bus, walking, running, sitting

Pile of Money

Pile of Money

5. It’s about giving money

  • throughout history there have been people who have thought they can buy their way into God’s favour
    • But in the Bible it is the opposite: Jesus and his followers were deeply offended when people tried to gain God’s favour with money
  • God makes it clear that he owns everything and needs nothing
    • However, when people want to freely and willingly give to God’s work, he is pleased
    • God loves people to be generous, because he himself is generous, and will give back more than is given
    • Example of the widow

How to Get Rich

How to Get Rich

6. Christians are Hypocrites

  • This is a very cynical book!
    • unfortunately there is some truth behind it
  • Many people have had a bad experience with someone who claimed to be a Christian
    • Maybe a parent or authority figure
  • Some point to TV preachers who are always asking for money are accurate representatives of Christianity
  • Jesus said to his followers “Freely you have received, freely give”
    • but if they give you food & accommodation, accept it!
    • Yet since the beginning there have been people who have tried to turn Christianity into a business
  • Not everyone who asks for money is wrong—there is nothing wrong with donations to cover expenses
    • But very very wrong to become rich from taking money in this way
    • but unfortunately many times it has obscured the message
  • the term “Christian” has been badly abused
    • If you ask “was that person following the teachings of Jesus Christ?”
    • The answer is usually “NO!”
    • So if we are talking about genuine “Christ-followers” and not those who merely call themselves “Christians” then there is not a problem with hypocrisy
  • There were hypocrites in the time of Jesus (explain what this means)
    • Jesus was very tough on them
  • But just because there is hypocrisy, doesn’t mean there is no reality
    • in fact there probably is!

Reading the Bible

Reading the Bible

7. There are so many brands of Christianity. No one agrees on anything.

  • Sadly there have been many who have turned Christianity into a political tool
    • or as a way of making a name for themselves
  • Do most of us think that democracy is a good thing?
    • (maybe a few anarchist here)
    • Do most governments around the world claim to be democratic?
      • Are they in fact?
    • So let’s throw out the whole idea—it’s worthless ??
  • But what about all the “brands”?
    • As I just said, the problem is the word “Christianity”
    • Better to say Christ-follower
    • This is not what Jesus taught
    • Among those who try to carefully follow the teachings of Jesus and his disciples, there is not nearly as much disagreement
  • Some places it is just tribalism
    • two groups of people who both call themselves Christians: fighting
  • But if you look at “Christ-followers”, who go by Jesus’ words in the Bible
    • There are not that many different groups
    • And 90% of what they say is in agreement with one another
    • Diversity is not a bad thing if it is not antagonistic
    • Is diversity in music a bad thing?

What Jesus taught

  • Come to me and trust me and I will give you a new life
  • I will totally wash away the guilt of every bad thing you have ever done
  • I will put a new power in you for living
  • You need to do two things
    1. Recognize that you need me
    2. Trust me with your life (which can be a simple prayer)
  • I trust you with my life
    • Please take away all the bad stuff and wash me clean
    • Give me a new power to live life like you did

Updated on 2015-04-12 by Andrew Fountain