Between Jack Abramoff, Tom Delay and Pat Robertson it’s not easy to believe in Christians anymore.
It’s a tangled web we weave when first we practice to believe. Because unlike any other faith, Christianity offers redemption through grace, the goodness of God and the sacrifice of Christ, rather than the goodness of our own lives. And yet, the caveat is added that once you are a Christian you ought to live like you’re earning that place in heaven. So there is a constant back and forth, we sin but we’re saved. But if we’re saved we ought to act like we never sin. And so, we white wash our sepulchers with the calm joviality of Tom Sawyer painting a fence.
It’s no wonder Gandhi famously pronounced that he would have been a Christian if he hadn’t met so many of them.
I was sitting in a living room of a family I know, respect and love. “Would you vote for Hilary Clinton? Do you really like her?” A member of the family asked me. Not wanting to ruin the evening but not wanting to lie, I responding by joking, “She’s not bad. Contrary to popular belief she doesn’t have the number 666 tattooed on her forehead.” I received a few nervous laughs before I was reproached.
“No matter what she says, I don’t believe she’s a Christian.”
Wham, bam, thank you Lord. Right then and there her soul was judged.
In his book What's So Amazing About Grace?, Phillip Yancey recounts a story about Hillary Clinton being invited to a Bible study. After bracing herself for the usual barrage of criticism, Hilary entered the Bible study only to be met with an apology. We’re sorry for the way other people have been treating you and judging you, was the message the women sent to the much-maligned first Lady. And it’s the message I want to send now.
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