The Cult of Personality

On March 5, 2010, In Religion, By Bruce

false_god The Christian Church, from its earliest days had a problem with people becoming infatuated with leaders within the Church.

Paul wrote the following the Church at Corinth:

Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 11For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. 12Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. 13Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul? 14I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius; 15Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name. 16And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other. 17For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.  ! Corinthians 1:10-17

Within the Church at Corinth there were contentions over who to follow after. It seemed  everyone had their favorite preacher. Some liked Paul, others liked Apollos. Some thought Peter was the best preacher in town, and yet others thought Christ himself was. (ponder that for a moment)

Paul ends the first chapter of First Corinthians with these words:

That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

2000 years of Church history show very clearly that the early Christian Church did not listen to Paul. The Christian Church is hopelessly divided. Each sect believes they have the corner on the truth. Each sect believes their leaders are anointed and called by God. One sect, the Catholic Church, believes their leader is Christ on earth.

There is no unity in the Christian Church. Jesus prayed that his followers would be one. That’s one prayer that definitely went unanswered.

What happens when you take a hopelessly fractured Church and wed it with American style capitalism?

Welcome to the mega-church.

Churches aren’t known for what they believe or even the works they do. They are known for who their pastor is.

When asked where they go to Church a Christian will often say “I go to  Pastor Smith’s Church.”

The focus of everything is on the pastor. He is the mover and shaker. He is what powers the machine. Without him it all fails.

Christian TV, radio and publishing is all about the personalities within the Church. Name recognition is the name of the game.

Does anyone really believe Rod Parsley is a good writer? Yet, his books sell. Why? Name recognition.

Everything is focused on and culminates with the sermon and the preacher.

I had people drive 40 minutes to the Church I pastored in SE Ohio. They loved my preaching. They thought I was the greatest preacher since the last guy they thought was wonderful. Really? As much as I think that I am a pretty good public speaker, they had to drive past 40 Churches to get to the Church I pastored. Not one of those  Churches had a preacher that could preach competently? (well maybe not, after hearing more than a few preachers)  :)

What happens when the pastor leaves the Church? What happens when the personalities change, when a new preacher takes over? Strife. Division. People leave the Church. Why? Because Church became about the preacher rather than about Jesus and serving others.

Why is it the pastor’s name is on everything? The sign out front. The bulletin . Every piece of literature the Church produces.

If it is really is all about Jesus then why does it matter if anyone knows the pastor’s name?

Ah, but it does matter. Most Christians are good capitalists. (serving a socialist Jesus) They are consumers first and Christians second.  They know people are “attracted” (the attractional method) to the Church by the pastor, the programs, the building, etc.

They know the pastor becomes the face of their Church. It shouldn’t be this way, but it is, and quite frankly, it is the Church itself that must bear the blame for this.

They revel in the cult of personality. They love having a name brand preacher. They watch Christians TV and listen to Christian radio because  Pastor/Rev/Dr/Evangelist/Bishop/Apostle so-and so is on. Take away the names and it becomes as interesting as eating a no-name hamburger at a no-name restaurant surrounded by no-name people.

Christianity supposedly has a higher calling.  Supposedly Jesus is all that matters. Let him have the preeminence in all things the Bible says.  Supposedly the  Christian is to be counter-cultural. Against the world, not going along with it.

You see, out here in the real world. a world devoid of Jesus, and the Christian cult of personality we have our own cult of personality.

How dare  I criticize Christianity for the very same thing that I do and other worldlings like me do?

Here’s the difference. We don’t set ourselves up as a moral standard. We don’t say our way of  life is “the way, truth, and life.“ We don’t divide the world into those who are in and those who are out.

I  am quite willing to admit  I am a member of the cult of personality. Are you my Christian friend? Are you willing to admit that your cult worship is what Paul condemned in 1 Corinthians 1? Are you willing to admit that really you aren’t any different than us heathens? The only difference being where you spend time on Sunday?

I am a sports fan. What would sports be without personalities?

There are some authors and writers that I consider gods. I will drive to go hear them.

I worship at the feet of Jon Stewart. I am a member of the  Daily Show Church.I worship 4 nights a week.

Wendell Berry or Bart Ehrman come anywhere near here to speak, I ‘ll be in the front row.

Don’t even get me started on musicians I think are rock/pop/country/blues/ gods.

I even watch American Idol. How cultish is that? :)

My Christian friend, truth be told, you are just like the rest of us.

So, maybe you might want to choose better personalities to worship. Do you really want to keep worshipping the likes of Joyce Meyer, Creflo Dollar, Benny Hinn, Mark Driscoll, John Piper, Rick Warren, Ed Young, Rob Bell, and your local mega-church pastor?

Do you really want to keep telling yourself that your Church’s worship band really “rocks”, that they are “rock gods” when you could be listening to U2 or  Sugarland?

In the realm of the gods my gods are better than yours.  :)

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Dealing with Family After You Have Left the Faith

On January 25, 2010, In Life, Religion, By Bruce

road_zanesville

Leaving the Fundamentalist/Evangelical Christian faith can be hard.

The first question that a defector often asks is “what am I now?”

An atheist?

An agnostic?

A liberal Christian?

How do I best describe myself?

Not an easy task is it? We live in world where we tend to label most everything. Yet, there is no purity in our labeling Most of us are an eclectic mix of various labels. While I consider myself a progressive, a liberal I have certain political views that don’t quite fit the progressive, liberal viewpoint. (and perhaps there isn’t a homogenous progressive, liberal viewpoint)

My life seems to be always moving. Rarely does the grass grow under my feet. My ideas, values, and worldview are shaped daily by the things I read and experience. I am a work in progress and I suspect that when I draw my last breath I will still be under construction.

I receive a lot of private email from people who are thinking about leaving Fundamentalist/Evangelical Christianity or who have secretly left already but are afraid to publicly declare their defection.

One person I knows goes to a Fundamentalist/Evangelical Christian Church every Sunday with their spouse. The spouse does not know that their husband/wife no longer believes. I can only imagine the travail of soul that one goes through listening to sermons they no longer believe the message and singing songs that speak of a faith that they no longer embrace.

Another person I know owns a business in an area that is dominated by Fundamentalist/Evangelical Christianity. They want to “come out” and declare their independence from Christianity but they know if they do so their business (and livelihood) will be ruined.

I get email from Fundamentalist/Evangelical Christian pastors who no longer believe the Bible is the inerrant, inspired word of God. They have read Bart Ehrman’s books and found them to be persuasive. They don’t know what to do. They consider themselves liberal Christians. They still believe, but they no longer believe like THAT. They fear coming out publicly and declaring their true beliefs. So they rehash old sermons making sure that their new found liberalness doesn’t seep in. They feel like hypocrites. I suspect, they are.

It is not easy to leave the Fundamentalist/Evangelical Christian Church.  It was a long, long, long process for me that took place over 10 years. I gradually moved left to a progressive, liberal brand of Christianity. I found comfort at this spot for a long time, but over time I continued to move left until I finally fell out of the Christian fold into the arms of agnosticism. It remains to be seen whether the mistress of agnosticism will continue to satisfy me.

The biggest challenge a person faces, any time they make a  big change like leaving Fundamentalist/Evangelical Christianity, is what to do about family. Sometimes a husband and wife are on the same page and they turn to a new chapter in life together. Many times though the journey is solitary with the spouse deciding to remain in the Fundamentalist/Evangelical Christian Church.

Then there are the children. The grandchildren. Mom and Dad. Grandparents. Aunts. Uncles. Nieces. Nephews.

Complications.

Lots of complications.

My wife has six Fundamentalist/Evangelical Christian preachers in her extended family. (I made seven in the day) My family? Religious but not practicing, with a few atheists sprinkled here and there.

Family is important.

Sometimes family is all that matters.

So how does a defector from Fundamentalist/Evangelical Christianity deal with family that is still following the path of the chosen?

Some families ignore the defection. “Oh this is just a phase they are going through. They’ll be fine.”

Other families confront defectors. They preach at them . Quote Bible verse to them. Pray for them . Berate them . Judge them

And some families, showing the way of their master, just love the defector. Not in a deceptive love that has the ulterior motive of winning the defector back, but a familial love that transcends religion and politics.  Such families are rare among Fundamentalist/Evangelical Christians. Taught that their brand of truth is THE truth and that evangelism is the duty of EVERY believer they feel compelled to confront the defector.

Over Christmas our family spent time with my wife’s family in Newark Ohio. On Christmas eve the entire family got together at my wife’s parent’s home. 43 people in a cramped space. Six preachers and one agnostic. Lots of kids. Lots of food. Did I mention six preachers and one agnostic?  ;)

I feared that there would be a problem. The family had been talking about my defection for a long time. Of course they never talked to me directly. Always behind my back at family gatherings. I feared that one of the preachers in the family would try and straighten me out. “Bruce how far you going to let this go. My God you let your boys marry Catholics and your wife even wears pants now!” “Now this agnostic stuff.” “You know you can’t lose your salvation but if you keep this up God is going to chastise you.” “Perhaps your MS is God trying to get your attention!”

So I went to the family Christmas gathering with trepidation.

And it almost happened. The patriarch of the family is an uncle who has pastored the same Baptist Church for over forty years. He is a DR. (an honorary doctorate given to him by the school he graduated from) Even in my days of fidelity to the family religion he and I clashed. He was arrogant, pushy, a know-it-all…and so was I.

The uncle had let it be known that he intended to “confront” me. Everyone knew what that meant.

Then a miracle happened. A miracle I could never have expected.

My mother-in-law told him (This being recounted to my sons by a cousin) “I’ll not have any of that in my house. I have lost one daughter and I won’t lose another.”

In a moment’s time my mother-in-law went to the top of my chart.

Her stopping the challenge had nothing to do with religion or my agnosticism.

It was all about a motorcycle accident.

Memorial Day 2005. My wife’s parents are at our home. We were eating, watching a movie.

The phone rang.

The news no one wants to hear.

She’s dead. A car hit us and she is dead,

In a split second a mother lost a daughter and my wife became an only child.

My mother-in-law still grieves the loss of her youngest daughter. She fears losing her oldest daughter.

So she put a stop to what she knew would drive us farther away.

She understood what I wish every defector’s Fundamentalist/Evangelical Christian family would understand.

The family relationship is more important than the tribal religion.

Oh, I am sure she wishes it could go back to the way it was. Bruce and Polly pastoring, going to Church, living for Jesus.

Perhaps she even hopes we may yet return to the fold.

The chances of a return to the fold are slim to none.

What kind of family relationship can be built from the rubble and ashes of the past remains to be seen.

I am hopeful.

Life is too short.

We are dying.

Let’s agree on what we can and forget the rest.

Let’s hold one another’s hand in that final moment and say:

I love you!

(picture shot Summer 2009 Creamery Road near Zanesville,Ohio)

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