Boyd - Myth of a Christian Religion - Intro and Chap 1

8/6/2019 Boyd - Myth of a Christian Religion - Intro and Chap 1

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INTRODUCTION

ONn lJPON A rrfvIE I EMBRACFD TilE IRISTIAN RELI(;ION.

!-'rankly, I wasn't very good at it. Religion just isn't my thing. For

,1 while I felt like a failure. Some religious folk consigned me (and

slill consign me) to th e the. But over time I've come to see my reli

gious tlilurc as a tremendous hlessing.

Because when I lost my religion, I discovered a beautiful revolution.This may surprise or even oftt>nd you, bu t ./C'sus is not th e

founder of the Christian religion. True, a religion arose centuries

after he lived that was called "Christian," hu t as you'll discover in

this hook, in many respects this religion was antithetical to what

It,sus was about. In E1ct, as you'll also discover in this book, th",

Vt'ry t'(mcept of a "Christian religion" is something of a myth when

understood in th e light of what Jesus was about.

What Jesus was about had nothing to do with being religious.

Read the C ; ( ) s p e l s ~ He partied with the worst of sinners and out-

raged the religious. This is what got hi m crucified.

What Jesus was about was starting a revolution. He called this

revolution "the Kingdom of God."

This n'volution isn't centered on getting people to believe par-

ticular rE'ligious beliefs and E'ngage in particular religious behaviors,

though these may be important, true, and helpful. Nor is it cen-

tE'red on to fix the world by advocating the "right" political

causes or advancing th e "right" national agendas, though these may

be noble, righteous, and effective.

No, the Kingdom of God that Jesus established is centered on

one thing, and one thing manifesting the beauty of God's

character and thus revolting against everything that is inconsistent

')



10/ Ifll MYTII II I !\ l ' I I IUSIIAN RELIGION

with this beauty, Th e Kingdom is Cl'ntcred on displaying a beauty

that revolts,

Th e Kingdom, in short, is a beautiful revolution.

Everything about Jesus manifested this beautiful and "revolting"

Kingdom. We see it most profoundly when Jesus allowed himselfto be crucified. On Calvary Jesus puts on display the beauty of

God's decision to suffer for his enemies -and at th e hands of his

enemies-rather than use his omnipotent power to violently defeat

them. On Calvary we also see God's rt'volt against our enslavement

to violence and everything eIst' that us estranged from Go d

and one anotht'r. Th e devil himself is confronted and overcome by

the cross of Jt'SUS Christ.

death sums up the theme of his whole life. Every aspect

of his life, teachings, and ministry pu t the beauty of God's reign on

display and revolted against some of th e culture that contra

dicted this

Th e central call of all who pledge their life to Christ is to join

this beautiful revolution and to therefore humbly live and love like

this. "Whoever claims to live in him," John says, "must live as Jesus

did" (] John 2:6). We're to manifest God's beauty by sacrificially

loving ou r enemies, the poor, feeding the hungry,

the oppressed, welcoming the outcast, embracing th e worst of sin

ners, and healing the sick, just as Jesus did. And no way

to do this without at the same time revolting against everything

in our own lives that keeps us self-centered, and apathetic

toward th e plight of others. Nor is there any way to do this without

revolting against everything in and, we shall see, in th e

spiritual rt'alm - t ha t keeps people physicalJy, socially, and spiritu

ally oppressed.

you see, th e Kingdom has nothing to do with religion

"Christian" or otherwise. It's rather about following the example of

Jesus, manifesting the beauty of God's reign while revolting against

all that is

It's a beautiful revolution that we're all invited to join. But to do

so, we're got to lose ou r religion.

CHAPTER 1

GIANT ESUS

Whoever claims to live in him

must live as Jesus did.

1 JOHN 2:6

CONFESSIONS OF A SKEPTICAL PASTOR

Traditionally, Christians have helieved that the Church is God's

main vehicle I()r carrying ou t his will "on earth as it is in heaven."

In rny early years as a Christian, I was convinced this was true. But

over the years I've lost confidence in this-which is a little strange,

I supposc, since I'm the pastor of a birly large evangelical church.

Th e seeds of douht were planted in my college years wht'n I

first studied the Church's hloody history. Almost all varieties of

the Church Catholic, Lutheran, Reformed, Orthodox, and so

on torturt'd and murdered people "in Jesus' name." Hoy\' could

this be if the Church is God's main "vehicle of salvation"?During that time I also hecame aware of how central following

the example of Jesus is to the New Testament's understanding of

what it means to "be "I This slowly opened my <'yes to the

radical contradiction be tween th e I Jesus calls his tiJllowers

to embrace, on th e one hand, and the typical American lifestylt',

on th e other. Yet it struck me that the Church in America largely

s h a r e s ~ - e v e n celebrates-the typical American lifestyle. Research

confirms that the values of Americans who profess faith in Christ

are largely indistinguishable from th e values of Amt'ricans

who do not. 110W could this if the Church is God's main "vehicleof salvation")

II



I / illl MYTII \ll II CIIRI'ITIAN RIUl;ION

what caused my confidence in the Church to hottom out

completely was a movement that ;Hose in the I980s known as "the

Moral " Christians in this movement tried to grah political

power in order to "hring America hack to God," as they pu t it.

I've never understood what godly period of American historythese fOlks were trying to gel us back to. Was it before or after

white Europeans enslaved millions of Afril'ans and slaughtered mil

lions of American Indians to steal their land?

But what really horrified me was how they were trying to take

Anwrica hack there (wherever "there" might he), Th e leaders ofthis

movement called on all "moral" peopk to sidl' with them in their

political crusade against all those they considered "immoral"

lilwrals, homosexuals, feminists, ahortionists, selularists, and the

like. Worst of all, many of these IE'adcrs did this explicitly "in Jesus'

name," while many, if not most, conservative churches jumped on

the handwagon.

What I never understood was why lllllowcrs of lesus \voukl try

to gain political power owr people when J('sus himself never at

tempted such a thing. Nor could I understand how these Christians

could act as if their sins were serious than th e sins of those they

were lTusading against. Jesus alld Paul explicitly taught disciples

to embrace the opposite attitude. Followers of Jesus are to con

sider themselws "the worst of sinncrs" (I Timothy I: IS 16) and

tomaximize their

ownsins while minimizing

the sins ofothers

(Matthew 7:1

This movement

us anything, it's that

Th e worst

including

Inquisition, witch

Church history, in

were all built on

me as dangerous, If history teaches

make perilous bedfellows.

when religious people

political power. Th e Crusades,

inter-Christian wars throughout

were slaughtered "in Jesus name,"

This same history that mixing politics an d religion is

disastrous not only t()r nations bu t for advancing the Christian faith

as well. Go to any country Christians once ruled an d you'll

CilANT JESUS /13

lind the Church has all hu t disappeared and th e people are gen

,'I;t! Iy more resistant to spiritual discussions than those in other

, ullures.

History teaches that the best way to destroy the Church is to

\ ~ i v e it political power.

Worst of all, people in th e Moral Majority seemed to imply that

;lgr('('ing with a particular political position was a precondition to

"Iltering into th e Kingdom of God, Indeed, it justified all wh o re

j(>,ted the Moral Majority's political posturing to also reject Christ.

It transformed a beautiful into something that could he eas

ily dismissed and understandably disdained.

If I'd been offt>red this version of Christianity as a nonbelieving

tcenager, l'm quite certain I would remained a pagan.

While the Moral Majority died ( lut, its mindset did

! lOt . Th e first tw o th e third millennium brought f()rth

as much divisive as anything that happened in

the I9HOs or '90s.

Like most of megachurches, I reccived an

unprecedented amollnt of prcssure to "steer thl' flock" toward re-

electing George Bush in 2004. Most of this came from mf'mlwrs

of my own five-thousand-person congregation who were getting

worked tip into a political hy Christian leaders on television,

on the radio, on th(> Intcrnet, and in th e maii.

I decided to use the olTasiol1 as a teaching opportllnity. I would

explain th e hihlical reasons why ou r church never has, and never

will, participate in political activity (as well as why we don't have a

flag on ou r premises, sing patriotic hymns, celebrate the Fourth of

July, or do other things like that). So I delivered a four-part sermon

series titled "The Cross an d th e Sword" that spelled ou t th e differ

ence hetween th e Kingdom of God, which followers of Jesus art'

called to promote, and the kingdoms of the world, which politics

concerns itself with.

Th e messages exposed a division in my congregation that ran

through the entire evangelical community. On one hand, I'dnever received such positive responses to anything I'd ever preached.



I c\ / I II I MY 111 (I I .\ l IlIZl\ II AN RH.l l i ION

Some people literally joy, It'cling that th e had been

hijacked by American politics. On the other hand, roughly a thou

sand people walked out.

Looking back, I know I could have been more tactful (never my

strong suit). Rut the mass t'xodus also revealed th e ongoing fusion

of faith and politics in American evangelicalism and mine was a

congregation that had always taken care to keep the tw o

THE DISCOVERY OF THE KINGDOM

I might have fallen into incurahle cynicism, and even left the min-

had it Ilot heell hJf one thing: God had heen ing me

that the Kingdom of God not only can't be identified with any po

litical p;lrty, ideology, or nation; it also can'tIX'

identified with anyhuman institution, including the Church, or any organized religion,

including Christianity, Rather, the Kingdom of God displays the

ht'<1Utiful character and behavior of th,' On e who first embodied it.

lt always looks like Jesus-loving, serving, and sacrificing himself

t()r all pcopk, inl'iuding his ('nemit's.

To the extent that any individual, church, or movement looks

like that, it m a n i l ~ ' s t s the Kingdom of Cod, To the extent that it

doesn't look like that, it doesn't.

It's that simple.

This insight saved rny spiritual life and reignited my passion to

bt' a fol1owt'r of Jesus.

My hope and prayer is that it will do the same f()r all wh o read

this hook.

THE KINGDOM

Jesus went he proclaimed "the Kingdom of God." It's

the thread that connel'ts all his teaching. A kingdom is any area

a particular king reigns. Literally, it's the king's domain. So

the Kingdom of God that Jesus referred to is th e domain of God's

GIANT IESLIS /1 5

I vign. Jesus' life and teachings focused on revealing what it looks like

\\hen God reigns in a person's life and in tht' life of a community.

Jesus didn't just focus on th e Kingdom, however. was th e

Kingdom. According to the Ne w Testament, Jesus was th e emhodi

ment ofGod -

he wasGod

incarnate, to use traditional terminology.li e was, thert'ic)re, the wry embodiment of th e Kingdom of God.

This is one reason why announced that the Kingdom was

at hand wherever he went. It was at hand, because he was

the embodiment of th e Kingdom, Jesus didn't just reveal

what it looks like. He brought it to us. Through his life, minis

try, death, an d resurrection, Jesus estahlished the Kingdom in this

vvodd. Each time a person submits to God's reign, th e Kingdom

grows a jittle more. God's ultimate goal, which he promises to ac-

complish eventually, is for th e whole earth to become a domain

over which he lovingly rules.

Our joh, as people who submit to God's reign, is to do every

thing we can to grow this mustard Kingdom in ou r ow n lives

and throughout the world. We're to pray and live in such a way that

we bring about God's will "on earth as it is in heaven."

J,,'sus came' to plant this Kingdom. Through his Spirit working

in th e liVe'S of all who sllhmit themselves to him, he's expanding it.

This is what Jesus was and is all about. And this is what we who

have pledged ou r lives to Christ are to be all about. We're to be th e

Kingdom and to he used to expand th e Kingdom.

BELIEFS AND PLEDGES

It's never hard to tell where the Kingdom is advancing and where

it's not. Where it's taking hold of people's lives, they increasingly

live like Jesus. Where th e Kingdom is not pn'sent, they don't.

This contrasts sharply with what a lot of people today think

Christianity is all about. Many Christians, for instance, seem to

think Christianity is mainly about believing certain things. If you

believe Jesus died for your sins, you're " If you don't, you're"damned." we're saved by "faith alone" and not "works,"



1(J / If ! I MYTII \)1 " U I R I STI AN RI:LlC ION

how one actually

Christianity.

isn't centrally important in this model of

Perhaps this explains why so many A m('ricans "vho profess faith

in .kSLlS that are indistinguishable from their non he-

lievingNow, I certainly agree died for ou r sins and that we're

saved by faith, not but the idea that Christianity is primarily

about is seriollsly misguided Since Scrip-

hride Christ," try thinking about it this

to my wifc', I certainly need to heliew certain

my wil,' for example. I also nccd

vows to me. But merely believing these

things doesn't me married to her. Believing those things arc

preconditions for my relationship with her. hu t they are not them-

thl:' marriage relationship.

I'm married to my wife only because I'm willing to act on my

belief, by pledging my litc' to hef and living faithful to this pledge

every day of my lit(,. This doesn't mean my marriage is based on

"works," as though I had to cam my wifl"s love every day. Rather,

living faithful to my vows is simply what it rneans to be married,

In the same way, we nt'ed to \wl icve certain things to be Chris

tian, We must accept that Jesus exists, for example, and that Cod

will faithfully keep his word, Hut merely believing thesl' things

doesn't us "the hride of Christ," These h e l i e f ~ are th" precon

dition for a marriage-like relationship with God, hu t they are no t

the relationship,

, " , a ' ' ' ' ' ' ~ ' L ' the "bride of Christ" only when we act on ou r he

ou r lives to him and living faithful to that pledge

doesn't mean we're savt'd by "works." as though

we to earn God's loYt'. Rather, living faithful to one's pledge

to is simply what it means to be married to him. It's what it

means to submit to God's reign, It's what it means to bt'long to

And as we do this, we increasingly look like Jesus.

IA N JISUS /1 7

O wr the yt'ars the media h:ls coined the term red-

Id er Christians to to believers who believe they're supposed

1 \) obey Jesus' teaching and live as he lived. (Some Bihles print

I"sus' words in red the tvrm red letter), What we've seen

,{) far is that there is, in reality, no other kind of Christian, Obeytllg what Jesus taught and living as Iw lived is simply \vhat th e term

"'( 'hristian" means,

EXPERIENCING KINGDOM LIFE

,iving under the feign of Cod, as modeled by Jesus, is as contrary to

t Iw ordinary vvay of doing li k as anything could he, It's t ~ l r more radi

, ~ \ l and countt'rntitural than most people fl'alize, so much so that it

\\'ould be impossible i()r somcone to live this way hy their own power.

rhis hrings us to the centef of what the Kingdom is all about,

I've that tlw Kingdom is not primarily ahout beliefs, f()r

definition it how we live, But this doesn't mean the

K is about how we livt'. Rather, the reign of Cod

I\·d('fines how we live \x'causc it docs something even more funda,

lI1el1tal \"vithin us: it us a whole new hind of Uk (Throughout

this hook I'm going to capitalize Life when reit'rring to this nl 'W kind

of Li/c' in order to distinguish it from mere biological or sodallif",J

When we suhmit to the fl'ign of Go d hy pledging ou r lift' to

him, he LIS eternal Lik This Lifc' participates in the beautiful

l.if(, of God, It is th e abundant Lifc' JeslIs said he came to give us,

I t\ the only kind of Lilt' that satisfies ou r innermost need to t'xperi

('nce profound love, worth, significance, and security, It's the [

We' were lTeated to shafe with God,

Th e Kingdom is about living in a radically new way only Ix'cause

it's first and foremost ahout participating in a radically new kind of

I Followers of Jesus live and love like Jesus only hecause they

participate in th e fullness of Life Jesus unleashed into the world.

Christlike thing Kingdom people do simplym a n i l ~ ' s t s

theJesus that Kingdom people participate in,



I1II !11ynl (l l A U IIUSTIAN RELIGION

GIANT JESUS

New Testament writers express the truth that the Kingdom is about

participating in the Life or God by refl'rring to JeSlIS followers as

"the hody of Christ."

JeSLIS acquired an ordinary body when he was born in Bethlehem, hut now he has acquired a collective hody with the Church.4

Th e Church is his hands, mouth, and ff.t't operating in th e world

today. Th e sanw L i f ~ . ' that was in his first hody is in us, his second

hody. And Vit' who helong to this second body take ou r marching

orders from the same "head" as Jesus' first hodv.

This is why l.uke hegins his work on the "history of th e early

church by reminding his readers that in his earlier written Gospel

hc "wrote ahout all that ksus hegan to do and to teach until the day

he was taken up to heaven" (Acts I: I). To say that Jesus "hegan"

to do certain things in his incarnate form implies that ksus is now

continuing to do certain things in a corporate i()rm-through his

Church. In I.uke's mind, his Gospel was about what Jesus did

through his first hody, while the hook of Acts is ahout what Jesus

continucd to do through his second, corporate body.

In otlwr words, Luke sccs the Church as a sort of giant Jesus.

And this nt JesllS is still ministering to the world today.

In the hook of Acts you can also S,>l' that Jesus identified with

his corporate hody. WI1l'1l JesliS knocked Paul oI l his horse on th e

road to Damascus, he identified himsdf as "Jesus, whom you are

pt'rSl'cllting" (Act s 9:4). Since . J ( ~ s u s had ascended to heaven several

years earlier, how could Paul bc perseclIting him: Ckarly, he was

duing so pl'rsecliting the Church. Jesus apparently considered

whatever happclwd to th e Church as happening to him. Pain i n ~ f1ictcd on his Church is pain inflicted on his body, as much as when

spikes were driven into his hands and feet on Calvary.

Tht' call to imitate Jt'5US is not something people are to carry

ou t by their own efhxts. Rather, it's the call to yield to th e Spirit

and there'hy manifest the truth that Christ himself is working in

and through us. Christ himself is transf()rming us into his image.

GIANT IISl/S I 1<)

Ihris t himself is working through his corporate hody to carryon

I II\' work he hegan in his earthly hody.

Kingdom people truly constitute a corporate, giant Jesus.

THE BEAUTIFUL REVOLUTION

When people serious about their call to follow Jesus' example,

It's revolutionary. Literally. Th e Kingdom that Jesus ushered into

t1w world is a revolution. It rellolts. In manifesting the beauty of

( reign, the Kingdom revolts against everything in the world

t hat is inconsistent with this reign.

But the Kingdom revolution is unlike any other the world has

known. It's not a revolution of politicdl, nationalistic, or religious

ideas and agendas, for Jesus showed no interest in such matters. In

,ked, these "revolutions" are trivial by comparison to Christ's, and

whenever people have tried to transform th e K ingdnm into one of

these revolutions they have trivialized th e Kingdom and denied its

('sscntial character.

Th e revolutions of the world have always hcen ahout one group

trying to wrest power from another. Th e revolution ksus launchcd,

however, is tar more radical, for it declares the quest for power over

others to be as hopeles s as it is sinful. Jesus' Kingdom revolts against

this sinful quest for power over others, choosing instead to exercise

power under others. It's a revolution of humhle, self-sacrificial, Icw-

ing service. It always looks like JeslIs, dying on Calvary t()r the very

people who crucified him.

For this reason, the Kingdom doesn't wage war the way people

do. It's not like the French or American revolutions, in which pcople

rdied on violence to overthrow tyrannical regimes. On the con

trary, th e Kingdom revolution Jesus unleashed wages war by loving

and serving enemies instead of harming and conquering them.

\"fhile ordinary revolutions achieve their objectives using th e

power of th e sword, th e Kingdom revolution achieves its ohjectives

using the power of the cross. While ordinary revolutions advancehy engaging in ugly violence as they sacrifice all who oppose them,



20/ II1I 1'v1YTlI (11 II CIIRISTIAN RELIGION

the Kingdom revolution advances hy manifesting the outrageous

beauty of God's love that leads people to sacrifice themselves on

hehalf of those who oppose them.

Th e radical Kingdom Jesus emhodied and established is all

about maniit'sting the heauty of God's love and revolting against

every ugly thing that opposes it.

Christians debate a million complex theological issues. Many

are important an d legitimate. But from a Kingdom perspective, all

those issues are st'condary to this one: Are we who proft'sS Christ

as Lord imitating his love, service, and sacrifice f()r others? Are we

individually and collectively participating in the beautiful revolu-

tion Christ unleashed into th " world?'

Villa fa rello/utiull!

'A t tht' end of each chapter I strongly encourage readers to go to "What Can

We Do ) An Action " beginning on p. I for sugges tions on puttingthe material of each chapter into practice.

CHAPTER 2

CHRIST

AND CAESAR

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood.

but against ... spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

EPHESIANS 6:12

'T:IE KINCI)()IVIIS 1/0/.Y-- MI ANIN(, "SII ' / \RAII , Sf'l AP,\RI, (()NS]( HAILI).

It looks like Jesus, nothing else. We can't simply equate the King-

,Imn with everyth W l' think is good, nohle, and true. Nor can

we align Kingdom with any nation, government, or political

ideology. Th e Kingdom Jesus emhodied an d estahlished is one of'

;l kind.

When Jesus was on trial, Pilate askt·d him if he considered him

self to he th e king of the Jews ./esus responded, "My kingdom is

I lOt of world. I it were, my servants would fight to prevent my

<lrrest."

Governments and nations have always relied on fighting to sur

vive. They punish criminals who threaten their welbre. They go to

war against enemies who attack their borders or stand in the way of

their agendas. This is how the kingdoms of the world maintain law

and order an d advance their causes.

By contrast, the Kingdom that Jesus embodied and established

refuses all violence, which is why Jesus pointed to his followers'

rt,rusal to fight as proof to Pilate that his kingdom was not of this

world. In fact, when Jesus was arrested, one of his followers tried

to fight in a kingdom-of-the-world fashion. He pulled ou t a sword

an d cut off a guard's ear. Jesus rebuked hi m and then healed th eguard. He was demonstrating that th e Kingdom he was establishing

21



WHAT CAN WE DO?

AN ACTION GUIDE

CHAPTER 1: GIANT JESUS

Returning to the Source. For each chapter I include practi-

cal action steps that can take to put the chapter's teaching

into practice. Th e first action step for each chapter is a

reminder to "Return to th e " I include this in each chap-

ter because it is h)Undational to everything th e Kingdom is ahout.

Everything we do in the Kingdom manifests the fullness of Lite

we get from Go d alone. He is to he ou r source of Life. We

will find it impossihle to live ou t the radical, countercultural call

of th e Kingdom as ou r con' sense of worth, signifi-

cance, and security is anchored in God's low felr us, expressed on

Calvary.

I thus encouragl' to commit to continually relinquish all

idols and to return to their one true source of l,ite. Engaging in the

classic spiritual disciplines alone and with other followers of Jesus

is profoundly hdpful in this regard. (For information on these, seeth e suggested readings at www.gregboyd.com.)

Th e spiritual discipline I and many others have found most help

ful in experiencing Cod's fullness of Life involves the hiblical and

traditional practice of imaginative prayer (sometimes called "cata-

phatic prayer")l Paul teaches that while unht'lievers have a veil

over th e minds, the Spirit removes this veil when a person submits

to Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 3: 16). He then adds,

Where the Spirit of the Lord

with unveiled face, beholdingchanged into his likeness from one

175

is freedom. And we all,

of the Lord, are beingof glory to another;

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