What's the Point of Being a Christian?

I'm reading a chapter titled "The Sweet Problem of Inclusiveness" in An Emergent Manifesto of Hope where the author, Samir Selmanovic, expresses his disapproval of the exclusive claims Christians make about Jesus:

Christianity's idea that other religions cannot be God's carriers of grace and truth casts a large shadow over our Christian experience. Does grace, the central teaching of Christianity, permeate all of reality...? Is the revelation that we have received through Jesus Christ an expression of what is everywhere at all times, or has the Christ Event emptied most of the world and time of saving grace and deposited it in one religion, namely ours?  (p. 191)

For Selmanovic, religions other than Christianity can be "carriers of grace." This is because forgiveness and loving actions toward others are most important to him; these things are bigger than our understanding of the person of Christ, and they aren't necessarily tied to knowledge of Christ. It's His instructions about living in the Kingdom, not Jesus Himself, that really matter, and goodness can be discovered by people outside Christianity. Exclusive truth claims, therefore, make no sense to Selmanovic:

In the Scripture God has established a criteria of truth, and it has to do with the fruits of a gracious life....  This is unnerving for many of us who have based our identity on a notion of possessing the truth in an abstract form.  (p. 195)

Somewhere along the way, many people began dividing Christians into two camps: those who value possessing abstract truths and those who live out Christlike lives. But the point of being a Christian, though it involves both abstract truth and good behavior, holds neither of these things at its core. The point of being a Christian is to be reconciled to the true, real, existing God of the universe through our relationship with the person of Jesus. We are after God, not a better world or an intellectual exercise. We desire Him, we love Him, we commit our hearts, minds, and wills to Him. To do this, we need true knowledge of Him, and out of this flow good works, but in the center of all is Jesus.

Selmanovic speaks of a different center:

When I put myself in the moccasins of chief Chomina [who did not want to accept Christ lest he be separated in the afterlife from his family], I feel God's Spirit asking me, "What would you choose, eternal life without your loved ones or eternal death with them?" Chomina knew his answer. He would rather die than live without his beloved. Moved by the Holy Spirit, people like Chomina reject the idea of allegiance to the name of Christ and, instead, want to be like him and thus accept him at a deeper level.  (p. 191)

For Selmanovic, the goal of religion is to be "Christlike" (loving people well just as Christ loved us), and those who do so at the expense of the name of Jesus are more closely following in His footsteps than those who find themselves separated from others for the sake of His name. But is it more Christlike to reject Christ's name in order to "love" people? Or should Christ Himself be the purpose of all that we do? We are to rather die than live without our beloved, yes. But our beloved is to be Christ above all else. There is no deeper level than this. As Jesus said:

If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.  (Luke 14:26)

Selmanovic has embraced the behavioral teachings of Christ, but he has missed the whole point of being a Christian.

Comments

[peg]

Classic liberalism. Are the emergent leaders totally unaware of the lessons of the early twentieth century?

Forrest Church, the Unitarian Universalist leader, makes a rather convincing argument that the civil religion of America in inherently universalist. There is much to support that thesis, including universalist/esoteric/gnostic groups, such as Freemasonry, which join together Christianity, Judaism and Islam under the same one "god." This stuff is in the very fabric of our national consciousness. (I'll leave the Mormon/Romney discussion for another time.)

At least we are now seeing what we always suspected--the Emergent movement is about far more than ecclesiology/outreach/mission.

We've been lied to, but the truth is, well, emerging, isn't it?

[Ed J]

What an excellent answer you give! Selmanovic writes, "Is the revelation that we have received through Jesus Christ an expression of what is everywhere at all times...." In other words, is Jesus an expression of what is universally true? And the answer, as you say, is no. Jesus is not an example of what is true: he is the truth. John 14:6.

[Santos Berrios]

Amy,

I am so glad you have joined the STR blog. Reading your lucid writting is like a drinking a glass of cold water in a hot summer day!

[Amy]

Santos, thank you so much for the encouragement. Thanks for reading.

[Wes]

I agree, I think Amy does a fantastic job!

I would love to see the scripture verse where all paths lead to salvation in the bible. I want to see one example. Unfortunately I think Selmanovic is marching right down the wide gate to destruction.

Acts 16:31
So they said, “Believe on the Lord JESUS Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.

Romans 8-11
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 10For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

John 3:16
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

John 10:9
I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

John 14:6
Jesus said, I am the way the truth and the life and nobody comes to the Father accept through me.

These are just a few examples of the many passages that say it is only through Jesus. How much more clear can the Bible be?

I keep wondering what Bible these guys are reading because it surely isn't the same one I read. Instead of offending someone its better to let them perish. Why does this make my head hurt?

[AC]

They are concerned with offending sinners, but not with offending God! Yikes!

[Sam]

I third that. Amy is the cat's pajamas.

What does that mean?