Sunday 11 November 2007

Christian Arrogance? 1

Aren't Christians arrogant to claim to know the truth?
[Lunchbar from Warwick CU - 1st instalment]

Imagine you’re in debt. No wait, that won’t take too much imagination! But I don’t just mean SLC debt and a student bank a/c overdraft. I mean that, and 13 credit card accounts frozen, your parents & friends have stopped answering your calls, and you can’t get a job. You just can’t get a job. Why didn’t anyone tell you career prospects were so bad with a Warwick degree in… maths?
One day you’re walking along outside, trying to think how to pay the rent on your room, when someone approaches you:
- Hey! You were in my year at uni, weren’t you? You were down the corridor from me in halls. Anyway, listen: I’ve got this ace job! They give you a house, a fab salary, they pay off your loans, they…
- What an arrogant… going on about what he’s got. “Who d’you think you are?!”
- No wait, I mean, I’m trying to say – you can have it too! It’s not as if I was qualified, mate – I did Classical Civilisations; remember? I couldn’t get any job, I was a mess; but they just gave me this one!
-
Now look here, you say, I don’t need anyone’s charity! I’ll make my own way!
- Oh. But… um… you don’t seem to be doing very well at that, and truth is, it’s really great – it’d be wrong not to tell you…
- What an arrogant ejit! Who’s he to judge me? “Look, that’s your perspective. I’m not going to sell myself to some benefactor. I’m glad you’re happy in it but you can keep your charity & keep your truth: I don’t want it.”


That's far-fetched. But that’s something like what a Christian feels like when someone says, “Christians are arrogant to go round telling people their opinion.” Your Christian friend is thinking: this is great news – I’ve got to tell everyone: they could have it too! And you’re thinking, how arrogant to think you know what’s what and that I need anything!

But the thing is actually; your Christian friend isn’t claiming to know everything about what’s what. They’re not claiming to be sorted. They’re not claiming they know more than you, are more intelligent than you, or are better than you. They’re not claiming exhaustive knowledge, as if they know the definitive answers to everything and you don’t. But they’re just wanting to share with you that they’ve been brought to know God through Jesus – not through their own intelligence or skill – and he said he’s the truth. We want you to share that: it’s too good to keep to ourselves!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

If I may speak with open mind from experience without touching the spiritual part..

Actually, as far as I know, work success sharing are done by everyone and not only done by Christians.

If some people say it is related to some Christian's arrogant, then it may be true, but only in a very small context and in a very limited .

Work is work and work success normally belongs to those who do their work right. The work principle goes whether you are Christian or not.

J.C. Carvill
Email: support@cosmosing.com
URL: http://www.cosmosing.com/jeanclaudecarvill/index.php

étrangère said...

Sorry Jean Claude, I think that's a lesson in missing the point. The illustration I gave was just that - an illustration. As you could tell from the post title, and from the phrase immediately after the illustration: 'That’s something like what a Christian feels like when someone says, “Christians are arrogant to go round telling people their opinion.”' Of course everyone shares about job success. Of course it doesn't always indicate arrogance: especially in this example when the job was hardly earned or based on qualifications. That was my point. (Do please read on in the next couple of posts - that was part 1 of a short talk I gave.) What I was trying to say is that when a Christian is accused of arrogance for sharing the great news about Jesus, they're as baffled as the guy in the story. It's far better than the story: Jesus revealed God to us, lived the life we fail to live, took the death we should take, and rose again to rule over everything. Trusting in him and what he's done, we can turn from our selfish ways to live honouring him and waiting for him to come back. What better news?