Who Defines Christianity?

And why I get along better with atheists than “progressive” Christians

I recently read an article about from a person who left the Christian faith after a semester in Yale Divinity school. I did not find this surprising; few, if any, Ivy League schools consider the Bible as authoritative, even in their divinity departments.

What did surprise me was the author’s statement that the beliefs in a literal resurrection of Christ and salvation by faith were not a central tenants of Christianity.

Jesus doesn’t “save” us through his death on the cross. Jesus shows us a path of redemption based on how we should live our lives. We “save” ourselves by changing our lives using the model that Jesus provides…Discussing this passage, our teaching fellow remarked pointed out that, “there are some people who don’t even consider this view Christian.” Ever the contrarian, I raised my hand. “It’s not,” I said. “I mean, I don’t know of any polling, but I’d venture to say that the vast majority of the world’s two billion Christians wouldn’t define Christianity this way.” (Andrew Springer, read the article here.)

The reason I consider this statement odd is because the doctrines of the resurrection and salvation by faith seem to be the central themes of virtually every book of the New Testament. Jesus frequently spoke of his death and resurrection as the means of salvation.

“for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matthew 26:28, ESV)

“and [Jesus] said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” (Luke 24:46–47, ESV)

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (John 10:11, ESV)

The resurrection is the pinnacle event in all four of the gospels and on at least four occasions Jesus specifically told his disciples that he would rise again from the dead (Matthew 16:21, 17:23, 20:19, 26:32). On other occasions, He heavily implied the resurrection.

Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”(John 2:19, ESV)

“And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” (John 12:23–24, ESV)

A Christianity that is distinct from salvation through the gospel message, does not find support in any of the writings of the New Testament.

So who gets to define what Christianity is?

The answer is obvious; only Jesus gets to define what it means to be a Christian and what we believe. For Jesus, being his disciple meant following Him and obeying his words (Mt 28:19–20, Lk 14:27, Jn 14:15).

Here’s the problem I have. I interact with a number of atheists on this site. Lilith Helstrom typically argues against Christianity on the basis of the hypocrisy that she sees in the church. Sheng-Ta Tsai typically approaches things from more of an apologetic standpoint, arguing that the foundations of the Christian faith are unreliable.

I understand their objections, and I appreciate that they are honest about who they are (even if “Lilith” is obviously a pseudonym). They don’t claim to be be Christians; they would both state unequivocally that they don’t believe in Jesus or the Bible.

What I don’t understand is the number of professing “Christians” who claim allegiance to Christ, yet seek to dismiss the very teachings of Jesus Himself.

For example, many people profess Christ, but don’t like the idea of hell. But of the 13 times the word hell (γέεννα, “Geenna”) is used in the Bible, 11 of these are on the lips of Jesus (Mt 5:22,29, 10:28, 18:9, 23:15, 23:33; Mk 9:43,45, 47, Lk 12:5; Jam 3:6, 2 Pt 2:4) One could argue that the very doctrine of hell comes almost exclusively from Jesus’ teachings.

Now I’m not trying to convert anyone to the dark side (though I hear they have cookies) but it lacks intellectual honesty to claim to be a part of something that you don’t truly believe in.

So instead of saying, “I believe the Bible, but I don’t believe the stuff about fornication and homosexuality,” why not just say, “I don’t believe the Bible”?

Instead of saying, “I follow Jesus, but I don’t accept his teachings about being the exclusive means of salvation,” just say, “I don’t follow Jesus.”

Instead of saying, “I’m a Christian, but I don’t believe that Jesus was the Son of God or that He rose from the dead,” just admit the truth:

You’re not a Christian.

You don’t have to bring it up at Thanksgiving and break your nana’s heart, but please quit trying to present some ideology that there is some “historic Jesus” that totally affirms the cultural values of today. There’s not; there’s just the Jesus of the Bible, take Him or leave Him.

Before anyone claims that I am creating a version of “all or nothing” Christianity, such a dichotomy is perfectly consistent with Jesus’ own words.

“Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word…Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.” (John 8:47, ESV)

“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” (Luke 11:23, ESV)

What this means for us is that if you will follow Jesus, He must be your Lord. But whoever you are, if you believe that He is raised from the dead and you will receive Him as Lord, you will be saved.

Live for Jesus.