Growing up in a fairly religious household, one in which every member stakes their existence, their very essence, on the Incarnation of God in this world was an amazing childhood. There was never a time in my memory that God and church were not important to us. The majority of my friends from my teenage years came from my youth group. I grew into my faith, but that is not to say it was indoctrinated. I have always questioned my faith – its tenets, reasonings, theologies, histories. "Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear.” This quotation is attributed to Thomas Jefferson, a man who always had a unique view on God.
I could keep writing about the Pascalian and Cliffordian struggle and how faith and reason complement one another. I could outline my whole argument for belief in the Triune God. I could explain why I converted to Catholicism. I could try to explain unexplainable phenomena.
I will not do any of these things.
Instead, I need to talk about how the rise of the “Have you accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior?” facet of Christianity is degrading the body of Christ.
This area of mainstream Christianity – which can be seen on Christian television programs, heard on Christian radio and asked by well meaning evangelists and apologists – is the worst way to spread the Gospel and to save others.
When people ask the Lord and Savior question, their first and only intention is the spirituality and religion of the questioned. They do not ask how they are, what they need, what questions they have. They do not try to understand the needs of the person first, but rather charge forward with their own wants. This whole process is counterproductive.
James 2:15-16 says, "If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,' but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it?” The author of James writes that true faith produces true works. He also writes in 1:27 that religious people should care for widows and orphans. Widows and orphans were the members of Jewish society whose existence was totally dependent upon members of society who stepped up. They needed others to care for them since they could not care for themselves. Likewise, Christians who truly stake their existence on God should care for those who cannot care for themselves. To be a Christian means to love before all else.
Even as I write this, I can hear the counterarguments to what I am asserting. I know people will retaliate saying that if we do not explicitly share the faith then it will die; that if we do not have more people accept Jesus as Lord and Savior then the world will descend into hellish disaster. To those who fear these things, I remind them of one of my favorite hymns, “They’ll Know We Are Christians,” which states simply that they will know we are Christians by our love. This simple line comes from John 13:35, where Jesus tells his disciples that the entire world will know they are his disciples by their love. Love manifests itself by helping those who need help, by stepping up to do what needs to be done so that people can survive.
Let us take care of others first. Let our love be greater than all else. Let our faith produce works. The spreading of the gospel will follow naturally from these acts, since we will show people that we care for all of them: their mind, body and soul, not just their soul. We are not in heaven yet, so we must care for the entirety, otherwise how can we claim to care at all?
There is another reason to not ask, “Have you accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior?” but it is more theological so I write it more as a footnote. Christians profess a Triune God, who is three distinct persons – Father, Son, Spirit – but who is one and only one God. There have been many models to explain this, but the majority of them border on some form of heresy, so it is best not to use a model. In all Christianity, this is perhaps the hardest part to understand and accept. But in the words of St. Anselm, "For I do not seek to understand in order to believe, but I believe in order to understand. For I believe this: unless I believe, I will not understand.”
When people ask about Jesus as Lord and Savior, they omit the other two personages of the Trinity. True, Jesus is Lord and Savior, and through his death and resurrection we are saved, but by only focusing on him we minimize the complexities of our faith and make it seem as if anyone can stumble their way into belief. This is impossible, to understand the God we profess takes revelation, it takes questioning and doubts and disbelief and misunderstandings. No one will accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior if you ask them about him, but they will stake their existence in the God who is three in one if they ask about him.
Our God is bigger than a 10-word question. To spread the word of God is to walk the journey with others knowing that we must travel together if we are to travel at all.
The God who spoke to Abraham, the God who is Jesus of Nazareth, the God whose spirit still moves us today wants our faith not only to spread, but affect real change. That will never happen if all we do with our faith is ask if someone has accepted Jesus as personal Lord and Savior.
