Faith and Works

Here at the Blasphemy Blog, we consider ourselves Christians. However, if you pressed us, we would have to admit that we can’t really explain what that means. It seems to us that you’ve got basically two kinds of Christians running around these days: the kind that think you should express your Christianity mostly by helping others, and the kind that believe you should express your Christianity mostly be praising the Lord.

Which sort of Christian are we? We’re really not sure, and this uncertainty is what we think about most often while sitting in Church. We wish it were as simple as saying, well, we praise the Lord and we also help others, or we help others by praising the Lord, or we praise the Lord by helping others. But it really doesn’t seem that simple.

For one thing, when we do things like build houses for Habitat for Humanity, we honestly don’t feel God’s presence. Actually, when we put down that hammer after nailing those shingles on that roof, we feel quite bound to this earth, and in a good way. We feel quite connected to something, but it is to the community of our fellow human beings. We feel that we’ve accomplished something worthwhile, but we don’t think about Jesus.

Likewise, when we ponder the awesome power of whatever force created the universe, we don’t feel like we’re really helping anyone. We’re enjoying ourselves, certainly, and this does perhaps make the world a slightly better place, in that happy people make the world a better place. But this contemplation doesn’t do much in terms of, say, ending world hunger.

So. The two things appear to be separate. Can we then divide our time evenly, contemplating on Mondays and Wednesdays, helping other on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and alternating Fridays? We suppose we could, but that doesn’t seem to make us members of any particular religion. Honestly, it makes us seem kind of wishy-washy.

This is a stigma we are willing to accept, but we do wish we could answer this unanswerable question: how do you get to heaven? Is it the faith that counts? Or is it the works?

One thing we’re sure of, though, is that we can’t engage in the kind of praising the Lord that we see on TV most of the time. Our President and lots of the people who voted for him definitely believe that it’s the faith, stupid, and nothing else. The President said, when he was running in 2000, that his favorite political philosopher was Jesus Christ. Some people snickered, but we thought that was not actually that bad an answer. That is, until he said why: the President believes that Jesus is the greatest politician because he “changes your heart.”

Huh? What about turning the other cheek, considering the lilies of the field, and rendering unto Caesar but also unto God? Nice, but not the President’s cup of tea, apparently. Jesus is a great philosopher because he changed the President’s heart. The President is inspired by the power of the Lord, not the wisdom of the Lord.

This is actually quite troubling to us at the Blasphemy Blog, and we wish more people would talk about it on TV instead of the filibuster. We’re troubled because it sounds suspiciously like the President believes that Jesus has made him a better person just like that, without the President having to do anything except acknowledge Jesus’ power to do so.

To us, this seems to turn religious belief into nothing more than a contract: I promise to believe in you, Oh Lord…and in return the Lord promises to wave a magic wand and make us better people. The President seems to be talking like he’s been…perfected somehow.

This is totally alien to our experience at the Blasphemy Blog. How on earth can acknowledging someone’s power over you make you into a better person? Wouldn’t it fill you with constant fear of retribution if you do wrong, and jealousy of the other’s power over you? Is the purpose of Creation nothing more than a demonstration of the Almighty’s power? Is the recognition of that power the beginning and the end of wisdom, with no room for the improvement of our lot as human beings? Aren’t we endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?

Call us shrill, but the President’s kind of Christianity seems kind of…well…un-American.

No, that is not for us. We’ll stick with the hammer and the nails and the shingles and trying to help others, though it takes us farther away from the contemplation of God. And perhaps, from now on, when asked if we’re Christian, we’ll say, “That’s not for me to decide.”