But that's not real Christianity.

Note: For the purposes of this entry, I am referring to people professing to adhere to orthodox views of Christianity. There are valid doctrinal concerns to express over what is real Christianity (Trinitarianism, Nicene Creed, etc.), but I won't be covering those in this post. They will likely be explored in a future entry.


An ideology is put into practice and after a period of time, it fails.

Its supporters immediately trot out their defence: "But that's not real ____!"

Fill in the blank. It could be a lot of things. Libertarianism, anarchism, Marxism, Secular Humanism. The list could go on forever. Most of us will agree that quite often it's a hollow defence. As the saying goes, if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck then it probably is.

So when a prominent figure or an organization taking on the banner of Christianity does something reprehensible and Christians resort to this defence, I'm with many in saying that it feels like an extraordinary cop-out. However, I do believe that Christianity has something unique in its beliefs that set it apart from other ideologies or belief systems.

Take Socialism, for example. The driving idea is that people own the means of production and that wealth and resources are shared equally for the benefit of all. Like many ideologies, it's utopian. Yet it fails constantly, oftentimes transforming into full-on Communism and leading to the death and oppression of the people living under it. Why? Because a utopia can only exist if all people are good all the time. Which means that human nature has to go. People can no longer be greedy. Everyone must be willing to work in some capacity. Not only that, but they have to be willing to share the fruits of their labor with people that may not have put in the same amount of work or that they don't even like. Oh, and everyone in the government must be trustworthy.

Christianity does not work this way. It's an overall optimistic belief set, but it's one that assumes the worst in people even when it commands the best from them. Its ultimate success isn't dictated by the deeds of mankind but by the will of God. Sometimes that will is executed directly and other times it's through His children. But make no mistake, God is the one that's making the plan work. That's where Christianity differs from ideologies. Socialism's effectiveness is predicated on the idea that people are going to willingly be selfless and altruistic. While those are both virtues worth extolling, it's not a realistic expectation to hold. Look no further than your news feed and you'll see that it's a pipe dream. There's little indication that mankind is becoming intrinsically better. For every Civil Rights Act that's passed there's a Roe v. Wade to follow it.

If someone that professes to be a Christian does something awful and not in keeping with the Church's values, that doesn't discredit the Religion because Christianity has never assumed that people are inherently good to begin with. Nor does it claim that its stability is contingent on the good works of people. If it did, we'd all be doing backstrokes in the lake of fire. We do good things because we know, consciously or not, that it is pleasing to God and that it's consistent with His nature. We desire to live in His nature (again, consciously or not), but there will always be that constant tug of war with the sinful nature that we were born into and our fates will ultimately be tied to which one we desire more. It's only through Christ living in us that we will make decisions that gravitate toward Him.

Of course that doesn't mean we shouldn't call out sins when we see them or that we should live complacent lives.  Which brings us back to the argument: "But that's not real Christianity!" Is that true? Well... yes and no. It's true that the sinful acts of a person aren't a representation of the Christian understanding of morality. But it's also false to maintain the perception that any Christian is capable of complete and absolute fidelity to that moral code or that our Religion teaches this as even being possible. The history of our faith is full of screw-ups and moral failures. We've got adulterers (David), hedonists (Solomon), liars (Jacob), traitors (Peter), extortionists (Matthew), persecutors (Paul), and murderers (Moses) among other things. Without their relationship with God, they would never have been able to move past their sins. Without their remorse, they would never have progressed in their faith. That so much of Christendom has been furthered by deeply flawed people is telling. It illustrates that Christianity relies on God and the strength of His word and not on the perfection of the people who believe.

-L. Travis Hoffman

8/19/2017