Do you really teach that stuff?

I had an interesting conversation with a member of the Alley Pond running club last Saturday night. We were at a dinner dance and awards ceremony and over the meal I was asked, “So what do you do?” The question comes up often, as in any conversation, but even more often when I tell people that I work in Hawaii on a regular basis. They seem to want to know what kind of cushy job I must have that takes me 6000 miles away in paradise. I don’t like telling people I’m a pastor. They start to treat me differently. They quit swearing in front of me—unless of course I swear in front of them which then gives them permission to be themselves but Jan says it isn’t classy and I agree so I try not to do it. But on this occasion I swallowed hard and told the truth. Part of this was motivated by the fact that I was sitting next to a friend who knew the truth so I couldn’t fudge. “I’m a pastor, and I work in churches in transition and this one happens to be in Hawaii. I work on a team.” The guy asking the question was great and began to philosophize on his religious upbringing. He was incredibly gracious and an interesting person. But then towards the end of the conversation he said, “So, I mean, do you really teach this stuff literally, the Bible, after all this is 2008?” I’d heard the question before and didn’t know exactly how to answer on this occasion, but I said something like this, “Absolutely! We believe that you can’t make up the Jesus of the New Testament. The tendency we have today is to drag Jesus down to our eye ball level so we feel comfortable with him. That Jesus won’t change your life. He’s just like you. We believe in the Jesus who really lived, died, and rose from the dead, the Jesus who claimed to be God. That Jesus will confront you when you screw up and comfort you when you feel bad about yourself. The New Testament is very different from much of what we see in religion today. In the Bible, God moves towards us. He pursues us. And we let that gospel, that good news, inform how we live. It touches every facet of our lives from how we handle racism, to conflict, to our money. We definitely teach the bible literally in the churches we work in.” His response to my explanation seemed to be one of genuine interest and respect.

For me personally as a Christ follower, I can’t pick and choose the commands that I want to keep. If Jesus is who he claimed to be then when he says, “Don’t lie” or “Don’t sleep around” that doesn’t mean I can do it now because it’s 2008. “Don’t murder” and “Love your brothers as yourself” is also something he commanded us. If that hasn’t changed, why have the other harder and inconvenient commands, changed? If Jesus is Lord, it doesn’t matter what he tells us to do or not to do. He has the final say. That’s my take on it.