I read something in the comments the other day over at Eugene Cho’s blog that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about. The post was in relation to the whole Seeds of Compassion event. I’ve been slightly disturbed by the outcry from some sects of the faith as to why Christians (Doug Pagitt and Rob Bell specifically, apparently Desmond Tutu doesn’t count to evangelicals) would participate in an event with the Dalai Lama and other non-Christians. Then after the fact the complaints turned into certain voices getting their panties all in a bunch because those guys didn’t give the four spiritual laws or something. I tried to ignore those fringe voices trying to cause trouble, the whole idea of not being in dialogue with people of all faiths is so farcical that it hardly deserves comment. But then I started hearing other issues raised – ones I found infinitely more disturbing. This comment illustrates the issue well –
Christ does not call Christians to ‘make the world more compassionate and a better place’. Christ calls us to proclaim the Gospel message of Christ Crucified for sinners. This message is not compatible with any other religion or spirituality.
The idea was that Christians have no place at an event discussing compassion since that has nothing to do with Jesus. I don’t deny that we are called to proclaim the Gospel (although I have a feeling that I might differ with the commenter on what exactly that involves), but to say that Jesus didn’t call us to spread compassion? Has this person read the Bible? Ever? Does she ignore the story of the good Samaritan and the subsequent command to “go and do likewise.”? Or ignore Jesus’ call to give food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, and care for the least of these? Or Jesus’ proclamation that he came to set the oppressed free? Or his commands to love, bless, and pray for even our enemies? Or his response when he witnessed the lack of compassion in the Temple?
Often when some of us talk about the full Gospel, or about reclaiming the message of Jesus, we are told “but everyone believes that anyway” (implying we should stop talking about it). The idea is that just because it isn’t talked about, or takes a secondary place to preaching a doctrinal formation doesn’t mean that people have forgotten about it. But here I see the full extent of the dichotomy between doctrine and the Bible in action. When some can claim that being a Christian has nothing to do with making the world more compassionate I know petty prejudices have usurped scripture.
Perhaps since such commenters refuse to engage with people of other faiths, they may not have heard how many people see Christianity as utterly irrelevant because of this dichotomy. I’ve heard numerous people dismiss Christianity because all we care about is converting people to our club and not about meeting their real needs. They have not heard of Christ’s call to love, to give aid, and to make disciples who do the same. This truncated Gospel not only distorts scripture, it hurts our message. I would prefer truth to be discussed and demonstrated, but sadly that doesn’t always happen. But even more disturbing – are there really people who think compassion is a bad thing? how has the church let this happen?