Argument against growing

I hear many people talk about Church and doing "spiritual things" in terms of what they get out of it.

"I go to worship to get fed." 

"I meditate to become calm."

"I give my time to feel like I make a difference."  

There is nothing wrong with these motivations, however they are rather superficial and very self-centered.  We do things in order to "get something" out of them and when we no longer get something out of them (say worship) we stop and seek something else that we can get our "need" met.

It makes sense and is logical.  We do spiritual practices in order to become better people.  

That is fine, but I am not sure it is what Jesus taught.

Jesus did not teach the disciples to pray in order to become better people.  Jesus did not attend worship to feel connected to God.  Jesus did not fast in order to feel humbled and realize how frail we are when we are alone.  

Perhaps contrary to popular understanding, Jesus did not do or teach the disciples to become better people.  Jesus did not teach a moral code that would help people improve their lives, get to heaven or have better self-confidence.  

The message of Jesus has little to do with becoming a better version of you.

Spiritual practices/Jesus/Christianity have everything to do with learning to die to yourself. 

If we are seeking out prayer or worship or meditation or fasting in order to get something out of it, then we are really not learning what is intended.  We are still seeking to become better versions of ourselves.  We are seeking a version 2.0 of ourselves rather than a whole new operating system.

When we discover the "goal" of Christianity has more to do with something larger than ourselves then we are beginning to understand why spiritual practices matter.

If you are seeking to become a better person, I know that Christianity can help in some ways.  However, if we are content at "arriving" at being better people then we will always miss the larger point of Christianity and we will always be on the look out for the next spiritual thing that will "fulfill" our need.

Do we all have a variation of Anton-Babinski syndrome

One of the perceptions non-Christians have of Christians, according to the book unChristian is that Christians are judgmental.  This judgmentalism is most often seen when we Christians go around the world proclaiming that we have a monopoly on Truth.  We beat people over the head with our agenda and even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, we stick to our guns.  Take for instance the oft-sited debate of creationism and evolution.  Some of us Christians stick to some variation/combination of the two creation stories in Genesis and at the same time some of us evolutionists are just as convinced to the contrary. 

We Christians ought to be able to see something here.  Both the religious and the non-religious are being equally stubborn in their views and neither side embodies humility.  Each side is busy trying to outshout the other side with their "proof" all the while unwilling (or unable) to concede anything.  

It is difficult to admit a concession to an argument if we are "convinced" that we are "right".  Just like it is difficult to accept that you are actually blind when in fact you think you can see.  

This is an actual medical condition called Anton-Babinski syndrome.  

In case you did not follow the link, Anton-Babinski syndrome is a condition in which "People who suffer from it are "cortically blind", but affirm, often quite adamantly and in the face of clear evidence of their blindness, that they are capable of seeing."

While that condition is difficult for me to even consider, I would submit that perhaps all of us have some sort of version of Anton-Babinski syndrome of our thoughts.  

We think we are correct in our views and affirm, "often quite adamantly and in the face of clear evidence" to the contrary, that we are correct and others are wrong.

There is a reason Christianity begins with repentance (see Matthew 3 for more information on this).  When we repent we confess that we may not have been walking in the correct ways.  We embody humility and concede we are wrong.

Even Jesus admitted he was wrong.  Even Jesus had a little bit of Anton-Babinski syndrome when he initially refused to see his purpose to the non-Jew.  

Good weed

I always thought of a weed as I think of termites or roaches.  They are pests. 

Not so.

It was shared with me not too long ago that a weed is really just a plant that is out of place. 

This made me reconsider for a moment the inherent goodness in a weed (or a roach for that matter).

God creates all things and in all things God calls them good.  In fact God calls all of creation Very Good in the early chapter of the book of Genesis. 

Even roaches are good.  Even weeds. 

In the Church we have a tendency to want to ascribe the labels of “good” and “bad” on things in order to help segment out our lives and actions.  We do this in an attempt to help identify who is one of the chosen ones or who is a true disciple and who is not.

Just like what I have done with plants.  There are some that are good (flowers and grass) and there are some that are bad, and weeds are the king of bad plants. 

However, it is clear that God does not operate in this way.  All things are very good, and when things look like they have gone “bad” perhaps it is not the case at all.  Perhaps all that has happened is that this good is out of place. 

For instance take the action and emotion of hate.  Many Christians work to eradicate hate from our lives and world because it is “bad”. 

However, it is clear that hate is in fact a good thing when in its proper place. 

Should we not hate slavery?  War?  Violence?  Abuse?  Exploitation? 

Perhaps it would benefit our spiritual development if we stopped viewing the world through categories of good and bad.  What would it do to our spiritual development if we were able to see the Good in ALL things while noticing when things are just out of place?