God is Bigger than Christianity
Reading this verse, I am left wondering, what were the many “signs” that were not included in John? Which of course lead me to ask other questions about what other information the gospels left out. I mean, the Bible says very little about Jesus’ childhood. We also only get sketches of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus’ ministry lasted anywhere from 1-3 years, and while that is short, imagine all of the parables and miracles he performed that were not included in the gospels? Then I began to think about the Bible as a whole. It is a big book, encompassing thousands of passages and written over centuries. Yet at the same time there are missing stories: for example, while we get some stories about women, the Bible typically focuses on men.
If there is so much we don’t know about God or about key figures in the Bible, how much less do we know about God? For many Christians the Bible is the Word of God and we understand God through Jesus, but in what other ways can God be known? How is God working outside Christianity?
For many Christians, Christianity is it. The Answer to all of life questions. There’s a cliché in some Christian circles that states, “Jesus is the answer.” Specifying the question of course is not necessary, because all of them supposedly lead to Jesus.
But what if God is bigger than the Bible? What if God is bigger than out denomination? What if God is bigger than our individual congregations? What if God is bigger than Christianity? What if like the book of John which incorporates some stories about Jesus but not all of them, Christianity is also one path to knowing God, where we get some information about God but not all?
Of course, the Bible, our denominations, our churches, and Christianity provides us with glimpses of God. I have been shaped for better or worse by my faith. I feel at home in Christianity. No matter how hard I try to leave, my heart keeps pulling me back to Jesus. Even when I am frustrated by Christianity, specifically American Christianity with its adherence to imperialism, racism, and oppression, I still find myself drawn back to Jesus. Jesus advocated for the marginalized. Jesus pushed back against state and institutional oppression and was killed for it. My heart is drawn to the idea of a God that suffers with us and that intimately understands our pain and suffering. For me, I experience God through Jesus.
And yet, having said that I believe that God is not limited to Christianity. God is not limited to our denominational squabbles. God is above and much more than the theological lines in the sand that we draw to keep certain people out.
Growing up, I used to be the stereotypical fundamentalist Charismatic Christian. Not only did I believe Christianity was the only correct religion, I was pretty sure that Pentecostals took the Bible and our faith much more seriously than did other denominations. Of course, that didn’t mean that only Pentecostals would go to heaven, (though Mainline denominations were suspect with their quiet worship styles, short services, and debates about embracing “homosexuals”) but, I mean, it meant that we were trying just a bit harder to be right with God.
But by being so insistent that Christianity, specifically the version of Christianity I practiced, was the only “true” religion and the only way to truly know God, I was in fact placing limits on God. I was placing God in a narrow, tight box and saying, “ok God, because this is how I know you and how I experience you, there’s no other way for others to know you. You will always act in ways that conform to my worldview.”
The idea that I could contain and limit God was very comforting. I would never have said it in this way, but insisting that God could only be known through my faith tradition was a way to control God and make God seem less…dangerous.
Of course, this idea that God could only be experienced through my specific faith tradition was based on a narrow understanding of the Bible. Like many fundamentalist/evangelical Christians, I believed the Bible was the literal Word of God. Anything that seemed to contradict the Bible such as evolution, was to be discarded. God spoke through the Bible and our job as Christians was to do our best to obey God, and that was that.
On the surface, such a view point seems to hold the Bible in high esteem. However, in reality, I was once again limiting the power of the Bible. This view point assumes that the Bible is a singular entity with a singular vision, but the reality is much more complicated. The Bible is comprised of 66 books (more if you are from a tradition that reads and relies on the apocrypha), written thousands of years ago, by numerous authors.
Moreover, the biblical canon was compiled over centuries with numerous debates regarding which books should be considered authoritative. What this means is that the Bible is a complicated book and as such there are internal debates within the text about who God is, how God views the foreigner, what laws/regulations does God require, etc. These internal debates and contradictions are not a sign of weakness nor do they mean that the Bible should be ignored, but on the contrary, the Bible’s complexity is what ensures that it still speaks to its followers, even centuries later.
But yes, this view point that acknowledges that the Bible is complicated text with numerous meanings and interpretations, also means acknowledging that maybe the Bible doesn’t have all the answers. Maybe Christianity isn’t the only way to knowing God.
That admission is scary. We humans like structure and we like definitive answers. We also like being right and feeling superior to others. If God can be known through the words and actions of Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and even atheists, what does that say about my uniqueness and place in the universe?
Now to be clear I am not saying that all “religions” are the same and if you examine the numerous religious traditions that exist in the world, there are many ways in which they disagree and contradict with one another. I mean some religions embrace multiple gods while Christianity embraces one (though the trinity is confusing…).
And of course, each religious tradition has problematic aspects that can and have been used to justify violence and oppression. But I also believe each tradition, can tell us something unique about God and can reveal to us a new way of looking at God. I don’t believe any religious tradition has a monopoly on God. I don’t think any religious tradition has it all right. But I do believe that each reveal truths about God.
The admission that one does not have all the answers is scary and what makes religion-or rather some aspects of it-appealing, is the illusion of control and absolute knowledge that it provides its adherents. But there are also aspects of many religious traditions that tap into our sense of wonder and mystery. That let us know, that we may not have all the answers, but that’s ok.
I mention atheists earlier on and of course they don’t believe in God. So, it sounds weird to claim that one can learn anything about God from atheists. But I sure learn a lot about the goodness of humanity from my atheist friends. Their commitment and passion for social justice, put many Christians to shame. To me, their commitment to bettering the lives of other human beings, is an expression of God’s love for humanity.
I started this blog post with John 20:30-31. Which seems to be so clear: Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. Believe him so you can have life. But yet, even this verse admits that not everything about Jesus is included in that book. What if, in a similar way, the same can be said about Christianity? Christianity has a lot to say and offer in regards to knowing and understanding God. But what if the knowledge is not complete? What if there are different ways of knowing and understanding God?