Danny ChaiSince I’m on the subject of things that anger me, here’s the fundamental thing that bothers me about liberal Christians. It’s not that they believe whatever they do, I mean I think they’re wrong, but whatever, they have their reasons. What bothers me more fundamentally is their incredible arrogance.
What I mean is that they somehow believe that they know more about what Jesus actually was, what he actually said, and what he was actually about, now, 2000 years after the fact, than anyone before. Like with the whole Jesus Seminar thing. I’ve read a little about it and I’ve come to understand it more and not think it’s entirely absurd. But I do think it’s incredibly arrogant. What they basically believe is that they, now, can know what Jesus actually said better than those people who actually wrote the Bible.
Actually, what they’re really saying is that they can know now what Jesus’ intentions and message was better than those people who actually walked and talked with Jesus. That somehow, even though they knew Jesus, the message they wanted to communicate in the New Testament was wrong, and now, 2000 years removed, they know what Jesus was really about. To me, that’s hubris.
A lot of my anger stems from a particular book, Stealing Jesus. The title refers to the author’s belief that evangelical Christians are taking the name of Jesus and applying it to their beliefs which are not true, hence they are “stealing” Jesus. OK, whatever. Evangelicals are trying to be faithful to a tradition that started as soon as Jesus left this earth. We can trace why we believe what we believe to the very beginnings of the church. And we’re the ones that are “stealing” Jesus? Seriously, forget the Contender; I can’t think of a single thing that has angered me more than Stealing Jesus.