Christianity is NOT about "me & God"

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the nature of Christian faith. Missy’s post has promted some of this reflection but this is in no way to be construed as a response to her or anyone else (btw – I had no idea what was going on with you, Missy, when I posted earlier. I’m sorry if I sounded insensitive; You are in my prayers).

Since the Enlightenment, Christianity (esp. as it has evolved in the USA) has become very individualistic and oriented toward the present. This is to say (in plain terms) that many conservative Christians in the USA understand their Christian faith as “my personal relationship with God” here in the present. Thus, when “God fails me” there has been a breach of relationship. Often we’re told to remain faithful and true “even when God seems absent.” Obviously, construed this way, it remains difficult to see why anyone would want to serve an absent God or a deity that was not able to keep evil things from happening to me.

This is common in the USA and further accentuated by the American myth of prosperity. Mixed with Christianity, this tends to perpetuate a gospel that links “well-being” with the goodness of God. But this is very different from the way that earlier Christians in the first four centuries of the church construed their faith.

Up until the time of the emperor Constantine, Christians were persecuted and suffered in ways that we can only imagine. They were physically tortured, economically taken advantage of, given over to be eaten alive by lions in the Roman arenas, and many suffered from rampant poverty & bubonic plague. Talk about a rough existence.

But these early Christians did not construe their faith in such individualistic terms. Rather, their orientation was communal & social. That is to say that the promises of God were NOT directed to the individual Christian but to the Church as a whole. While individual Christians may suffer, God’s faithfulness is to the Church as a whole. God’s call to his people (the Church & Israel as a whole) is to remain faithful just as Jesus was faithful all the way to the cross (ultimate suffering).

It truly is difficult to see where we get the notion that suffering is not part of our Christian existence. While I am an academic by nature, I do speak having experienced much personal suffering & witnessed great tragedy (I had a family member working in the Pentagon during 9/11 and have had a dear friend – a 13 year old girl – die of leukemia right in front of my eyes; this is only the beginning). But the New Testament is really more about how the Church is to live in the midst of suffering.

Finally, we do ourselves much disservice when we forget that our faith is really oriented toward the future. It is not about our individual selves in the present. It is about the corporate future with Jesus. Christian faith is really hope for the future when Jesus will return & all suffering will be eliminated. But the elimination of suffering only comes by way of the cross. Jesus conquers suffering by facing suffering and overcoming it. His disciples are to follow Jesus to the cross and hope for the future when Jesus will return.
In sum, I want to offer a reflection on the life of a Christian. For too long we have talked about God in the abstract as if this abstract deity is responsible for good and/or evil. But we have failed to see this God through the lens of Jesus Christ (God incarnate). The overcoming of evil & suffering is by way of the cross, by facing suffering to our death with the hope of future resurrection like Jesus’. His resurrection is the first fruits of our future life with him. Thus, a Christian response to suffering is not neither a trite “all things work together for good” nor is it a pendulum swing to the other extreme of total rejection of the Christian God. Rather it is a realistic recognition that God’s promise is not to keep us from suffering but to overcome it through the way of the cross. In the present we suffer and experience pain with the hope that in the future death and suffering will be no more. Our faith in God is ultimately our hope for this future centered in Jesus.

Pax Christi.
-Gallegos