Lies we tell ourselves

A week ago, I posted an article called 'Politics, Jesus and Us'. It was sparked by the first half of a document called 'The Lies we Tell Ourselves: ending comfortable myths about poverty'. I was basically saying it is a good thing – though a sadly rare thing – that major Christian denominations were speaking up about the issue of poverty. If you haven't read that post, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.

That post wasn't so much about the content of the document – published by the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Methodist Church, the Church of Scotland and the United Reformed Church – as it was about the fact it had been written at all. Today, the content!

Lies and Loud Voices

The paper begins with some introductory bits and pieces, as it seems is required. There is then an excellent section on the overall problem – everyone, from politicians right on down to the person in a pub, seems happy to make assumptions about those living in poverty and present them as fact without any kind of evidence.

If you read it (and you really should!) you will be presented with a speech David Cameron made which begins with "We have all known for some time..." With those seven words, the Prime Minister gives himself permission either not to use or to misuse statistics and facts because, after all, we all know this to be true anyway so why waste time proving it. You'll then be taken through what he said in the rest of the speech and shown how he consistently misuses facts and figures to drastically misrepresent those in the country who are in crippling poverty. Those who haven't got a loud enough voice to counter with "Well, we've actually known for some time..."

All of this means we can keep believing the lies we've told ourselves. And if you keep saying this lies in loud voices, they're going to catch on and carry on.

We have as a nation constructed a view of our poorest which is comfortable for us, because if 'they' are the cause of their own problem it isn't our job to help them out. Even if it were true they had caused it, I can't imagine Jesus just imposing stringent measures and waiting for them to help themselves. I think He'd die to help them. In fact He did. But that's all academic really...

Six Myths Busted

The document then outlines 6 myths we have constructed about those in poverty:

1. 'They' are lazy and just don't want to work
2. 'They' are addicted to drink and drugs
3. 'They' are not really poor – they just don't manage their money properly
4. 'They' are on the fiddle
5. 'They' have an easy life on benefits
6. 'They' caused the deficit

Anecdotally and intuitively, I have had a problem with such statements for a while. But that hasn't been very useful, because the people propagating the myths are also doing so on the basis of anecdote and intuition.

So what is wonderful is that the report takes each in turn and shows how thoroughly baseless and unfounded they are, using proper data and statistical analysis. It is my sincere hope and prayer that those in government (and church leaders who are often just as guilty) will read this, recognise their error and stop using their public status to tell these lies.

When there are no more lies to lean on

But my main hope and prayer is that we'd do something. One of the main problems about these lies, aside from the fact that they get in the way of truth and truth is good, is that they produce lethargy.

It makes it seem as though the problem isn't so bad, or at least not our fault. So we are excused from really acting to make a change in the situation. That surely has to change once we've realised the basis of our inaction was wrong in the first place. When there are no more lies to lean on, the truth must compel us into action.

I fundamentally disagree with the current governments policies in cutting the welfare budget in so many ways. You may disagree with me. You may even disagree with me after reading this document. That is fine. I just hope it's for different reasons.

But those in power who are using these myths to sell their policies are going to need to find some better reasons. Reasons that don't involve lies. Reasons that don't prop up a culture of judgment against those most in need of support. Reasons that are based on truth.

So let's all stand for the truth. Jesus is the ultimate Truth, and any lies we cling to dishonour Him. Let's not speak these lies. Let's challenge these lies when we hear them.

Because I'd rather limp into truth than stride into lies.

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Christlike: Imitation or Embodiment?

There's a lot of talk about being Christlike in the church. This is a good thing. We hear of Christlike mission, Christlike service, Christlike priorities, Christlike preaching, Christlike everything really.

Like I said, this is a good thing. We are meant to be striving towards Christlikeness, each day becoming more and more like Jesus.

The big question we need to work out is this: what does it mean to be Christlike?

Imitators of Christ

I think a lot of the prevailing thinking is that we should copy Jesus. We should study the example of his life and seek to adopt his practices for our own lives. It's what we see in the whole WWJD movement (which is wonderful), always asking ourselves what Jesus would have done in a particular situation.

There is definite merit here, and I believe this to be an important part of Christlikeness, but there are inherent weaknesses. The main one is that there are all sorts of situations we face which Jesus either couldn't have faced or just didn't.

How am I to be a Christlike dog-owner? (This may seem a silly question, but if I am seeking genuinely to surrender my whole life to God's ways and his kingdom, then nothing is not a part of that, including our little Ralph.) It's a questions the Gospels cannot answer – Jesus didn't have pets.

So this idea of copying often ends up getting qualified something like this: "Being Christlike means acting as Christ did when we are faced with the situations He faced, and in the rest we must just try to be more 'like' Him."

This is easy when it comes to teaching – we uphold the Bible, but open up its life-giving message in ways that are creative, engaging and enticing. It's easy when it comes to leadership – we love and serve those we are leading, seeking to release them into all God has for their life and ministry. It's easy a lot of the time, but there are massive gaps. And can we better define being 'like' Him please?

Embodiment of Christ

I have another idea. It's something that's been in the back of my mind for years, and I want some thoughts! (I very much doubt it is original, but I've never seen it expressed this way before. If you know that someone has, please point me their way.)

The fundamental flaw, I believe, in just trying to copy Jesus life during the three year ministry He had is that we can forget He wasn't just a great guy to be more like. He is the Son of God who became human in order to live that life. He is the Son of God who willingly died in order to win His great victory over sin and death. He is the Son of God who rose again bodily, displaying great power and showing His enemies to be powerless.

The incarnation, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus are the things which truly define Him, not His parables or His humility. Without these three things – each totally earth-shattering in their own right – the rest of His ministry couldn't and wouldn't have happened. Each was necessary.

My thoughts is that it is these parts of Jesus which we should try to embody in our lives, not just his activities that we should imitate.

We must be incarnate – entering into the lives of others and coming alongside, not keeping our distance and looking down on the world that so desperately needs our help. We must be crucified – not accepting the world's ways of working (who dies to win?), but surrendering our whole lives to God's kingdom, dying to ourselves. We must be resurrected – that death to ourselves must lead to a new and vibrant life, one that is defined by resurrection power, enabled by the Spirit, to live within God's plans and purposes, His will not ours, all things we can never do if ruled by our old selves instead of by Him.

And this is where it gets interesting. What if instead of saying we need to do X like Jesus, we say that in everything we do, including X, we must seek to be incarnate, crucified and resurrected. Not one in this scenario and another in another. All three, all the time, in everything. I believe that's what Jesus was like – everything He did was marked by the humility of the incarnation, the surrender of the crucifixion and the power of the resurrection.

That way, if we're doing something Jesus Himself did, then great – we can see how He was all those things and try to embody them too. If we are trying to own a dog or do things He never did, we can still ask the same question.

Is this a better way?

What do you think? Is this better? Worse? Actually the same, but with different words? I personally think this is more demanding, and it leaves us no excuse for not being Christlike in any situation. But it also opens up a wonderful and beautiful opportunity for us to follow Him more and more of the time.

I think a lot of this needs fleshing out – defining more clearly these three ideas of being incarnate, crucified and resurrected will be important. I plan to blog more into these ideas, but I would really value your thoughts. I sense that Christlikeness is a pretty important thing, so worth wrestling with what it means and what it looks like.

Also, anyone got any ideas about Christlike dog ownership?

The whole 'Christlike' series can be found here.

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Politics, Jesus and us

I am halfway through reading a document put together jointly by the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Methodist Church, the Church of Scotland and the United Reformed Church. It is called 'The Lies we Tell Ourselves: ending comfortable myths about poverty'. The full document can be found here.

Like I said, I'm only halfway through. So far it's brilliant, and I'm sure I will be posting some thoughts and reflections after completing it (update: I now have, and they are here!). But even the fact it has been written is worthy of comment!

A bold move

Four large UK denominations have grouped together to write a report on poverty in our nation. But not just about poverty in general – rather they discuss the ways in which poverty is spoken of in our public and private discourse, targeting that as one of the biggest barriers towards alleviating poverty. This is an important move, but also a bold one.

They are challenging not policies, institutions, or individuals. Rather they are challenging our culture, our entire society to commit to truth, not just our own (pre)conceptions of what poverty is and what causes it. This is good – we should be about the truth.

An unusual move

It might just be me, but I was slightly surprised by this report (deeply encouraged and excited, but surprised nonetheless). I feel as though the issues the church tends to mobilise over fall into two broad categories:

• Explicitly 'Christian' issues, affecting churches, individual Christians or things like religious education.
• Issues traditionally seen as 'ethical', whether this is to do with sexuality, issues of life (e.g. abortion) or anything else.

The issue of this report (poverty, welfare systems, benefits, etc.) does not seem to fit easily into either category, because it affects everyone, not just Christians, and is a political issue rather than an ethical issue.

Or so we sometimes kid ourselves. But it doesn't require much thought to realise it is a deeply ethical issue, cutting to the heart of issues of human dignity in the midst of horrible situations and great pain. And it must certainly be seen as a Christian issue, one which Christians have a duty to care about. God consistently tells Israel that the way they treat those in most need is a matter of huge importance. Jesus certainly doesn't do away with that, and gives very strong words about what God will think about those who do not serve those in poverty (see Matthew 25). And it is a given in the New Testament that the church will look after those in need.

We must care about how those in poverty in our country (and elsewhere) are looked after. We must stand up for them when their reputation and character is being maligned in order to score political points or perpetuate systems of attitudes of injustice.

We need more moves like this

Christians are known for certain things. The non-Christian world has heard Christians time and time again make clear their views on some things. This is not wrong. It can hurt our reputation, but in itself it is not wrong. If we have views, we should express them. I do not believe we should expect to be listened to anymore than anyone else based on this endlessly perpetuated idea of Britain being a 'Christian Nation', but we should express these views.

But we have done ourselves – and Jesus – a disservice in the narrow range of issues we have chosen to care about. We have given the message that they are all Jesus cares about.

But they are not. When legislation comes up in Parliament about discrimination based on mental health issues, Jesus cares. When Housing Benefits are discussed, Jesus cares. When education reform is proposed, Jesus cares. And if He cares, we must care also.

I believe we need to be more politically engaged as Christians. Not in a party-political way – our allegiance is not to any political leader or group, but to Jesus. Not in an angry and aggressive way – in His dealings with political leaders, Jesus was far quicker to lay down His rights than demand they be recognised.

Perhaps the nature of our political engagement should be the topic of another post (comments deeply welcome though!). For now, I'm very pleased about the subject matter that four major denominational leaders have chosen to address, and pray that more Christians will make more moves like this more of the time.

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