Why Christianity Makes Sense

I was on vacation last week. I was sitting on the side walk eating in little Italy at my favorite Italian restaurant—Paesano’s on Mulberry Street—when I met two couples from Canada. We struck up a conversation. It was 2:00 pm. They were drunk! I know they were drunk because after talking with them for a few minutes one of the women started saying, “Oh, isnt’ he cute? He’s so cute! I could listen to him talk all day” right in front of her husband. He did nothing but nod his head. “Oh, he’s so cute.” She kept saying. Anyone who calls me cute like that must be drunk. At any rate, the conversation went from food to religion then to tourism then back to religion again and as I got up to leave, I said, “Consider Jesus. Really! Consider Christianity. It makes sense.” They nodded their heads and she said once again, “Isn’t he cute.” I left and doubt they’ll remember much of our conversation, but why would I say Christianity makes sense? Over the past several years I’ve pondered that and came up with a short list of reasons it makes sense to me. This is not definitive but its something to build on. To me, Christianity makes sense because:

•A robust Christianity provides the best foundation for answering our deepest questions about life (like why are we here), our deepest wants, our deepest desires, our deepest needs.
 •Christianity is not rooted in some religious code of morality that we follow so that we can be better than others, but rooted in the belief that our best efforts at being moral end in failure and make us no different than others--therefore we all need a savior!
 •Christianity believes that while it’s a mystery as to why God allows evil to continue, he’s not indifferent to it. God takes our suffering and misery so seriously that he is willing to be involved in it personally through the life, death and suffering of Jesus Christ.
•Christianity believes that God wants to free us from the thing that enslaves us the most—the compulsion to make good things ultimate things and center our lives around temporal things that were never really intended to satisfy us—things that leave us empty.
•Christianity believes that people are full of goodness because we’ve all been created in the image of God---though every part of our lives is tainted by bad and sin.
•Christianity believes that because we are so flawed ourselves, it’s patently unfair to be judgmental of others! We must discern right from wrong and justice from injustice, but judgmentalism has no place in Christianity.
•Christianity believes in loving our enemies and those who are different or those who disagree with us, because God loved us when we were his enemies, and sent Jesus to die for us, so who are we to be hostile to others!
•And furthermore, since Christianity believes that God has revealed himself in time and space in the person and work of Christ, we humbly and tactfully invite others to consider what we claim to be the revelation of Gods truth because it makes more sense and answers more questions than other religious claims.

Honestly, the Christian religion is rooted in history, embodied in the person of Jesus Christ, and expressed in the church. The apologetic or defense of the Christian faith is not in logic or reason but in revelation! A revelation embraced by the church and embodied in the scriptures the church embraces as true and reliable. And because its rooted in revelation, Christians can relax when talking about it because the goal isn’t to prove it rationally but to show that it makes sense.

Burp Castle--a review

I visited a local pub with my daughter not long ago. It’s called the Burp Castle. It’s in the East Village so just going down there is like going to a circus. It claims to be the Temple of Beer worship. Now, I’m not a big beer guy but this place is fun. The tenor of the place is quiet so you can actually talk. When it gets too loud the bar dude (or dudette) says, “SHHHHHHH” and the place actually quiets down. There’s a picture of Jesus on the wall with grains and hops in his right hand instead of the Word of God or a sword like he’s described with in the New Testament. I’m not sure I like that, but I understand what they are trying to do.

Frankly, it’s the kind of place I think Jesus would have spent some time in, though I’m not sure he would have appreciated the way they pictured him on the wall. He looks kind of wimpy and way too religious with angel sort of things around him celebrating the grain and all. But it is sort of normal to bring Jesus down to our level these days. He’s easier to manage that way! People want to manage Jesus instead of letting him manage and take leadership over their lives. But there I go—getting all spiritual and stuff. I can only imagine how the New Testament writers would have written about this image, “And out of his mouth came grain and…” Not an overpowering picture of the guy who claimed to be God! Instead of riding on a horse, like it says in the Bible, he’d have to be riding on a combine! That kind of Jesus is a little too small for me and certainly not in line with what the New Testament says. Matter of fact, its that kind of wimpy Jesus that turns me off to religion. That’s not the real Jesus. You can’t control the real Jesus. But that’s another story.

It’s a fun experience if you want to be with people. If you don’t like people, don’t go there. The place is always crowded!!! They don’t serve food just high quality Ales and a good atmosphere. It’s small and you can easily walk by it. The address is 41 East 7th St., New York, New York. Enjoy! It may even be a good place to talk about Jesus!