Do I Stay Christian?: A Guide for the Doubters, the Disappointed and the Disillusioned

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Brian also encourages us to stay Christian because of our love for Jesus and because all religions (like all humans) are imperfect. And while traditional theistic theology (“that old Big White Guy on a Throne in the Sky”) has to go, he believes Christianity can evolve into something far more beautiful. If we stay, we can participate in that evolutionary movement toward a more enlightened faith. Several other reasons to stay Christian are also included. And more could have been added, especially the deeply felt human need for the friendship, support, and belonging of Christian community.

Do I Stay Christian?: A Guide for the Doubters, the Dis…

He continues, "When Mohammed testified in 613 that he had received a revelation from the God of Adam, Abraham, Mary and Jesus ... the same God worshipped by Christians, Christians could have welcomed him as a brother, or at least entered into respectful dialogue."McLaren, like any doctrinaire progressive, lays out his doctrines with the absolute conviction that he alone has the truth, while simultaneously claiming that those who think that they have the truth should be avoided.

Do I Stay Christian? by Brian D. McLaren - The Church Times

Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha and Mohammed Cross the Road?: Christian Identity in a Multi-faith World The psychology of anti-Semitism is as complex and convoluted as its history. But one thing is clear: anti-Semitism is not like a freak accident that happens randomly to individuals. It’s more like a conspiracy theory that an unscrupulous cable news station spreads among susceptible groups, recruiting the naive as accomplices in ignorance, lies, and bigotry. For most of its history, the Christian religion has been this tawdry cable news station, hosting a wide array of dangerous anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists, and in many places, it continues to do so.McLaren's] earnest, conversational tone sounds as though he's speaking directly to each individual listener." - AudioFile on Do I Stay Christian? Jesus never tortured or killed or ruined the life of anyone, but the same cannot be said for the religion that claims to follow him," McLaren continues.

Do I Stay Christian? by Brian D. McLaren | Review

Not surprisingly, the Roman Empire saw Jesus and his nonviolent movement as a threat to their violent regime, so they had him tortured and publicly executed as a matter of standard procedure. By pinning a naked human being to wood the way a dead butterfly or grasshopper is pinned in a display case, the empire showed its own absolute dominance and its victim’s absolute defeat. The message was clear: Jesus’ message of truth and love meant nothing in the face of the empire’s crushing power and domination. Again, McLaren either doesn't know, or deliberately misrepresents, the Christian teaching about God. It is of the essence of Christianity that God is the Trinity – and that the second person of the Trinity, Jesus, is God. Muslims regard this as blasphemous. It is condescending, Western, imperialistic paternalism to tell both Muslims and Christians that they are both wrong and that in reality they do worship the same God. But first he admits and chronicles the many reasons why it is very easy to leave. “Because Christianity Has Been Vicious to Its Mother (Anti-Semitism)” is chapter 1. “Because of Christianity’s Suppression of Dissent (Christian vs. Christian Violence)” is chapter 2. “Because of Christianity’s Real Master (Money)” is chapter 5. There are ten of these all total.More reasons could be added, including the reality that traditional theistic theology no longer rings true for a growing number of people. But the section is compelling as it is, and if readers finish it with the thought, “Case closed, I’m done with Christianity,” it would be difficult to fault them. As McLaren clearly spells out, there are many good reasons for giving up on the Christian faith and the institutional church. McLaren informs us that he thinks it is "highly likely that Jesus existed and that he was a uniquely extraordinary human being. But that does not mean I take every story about him literally." I have found the permission and freedom to be a new kind of Christian, a progressive Christian, a contemplative-activist Christian, a Christian humanist, or whatever you want to call me. I am learning to be content whatever I am called, as long as I remain passionately eager to embody a way of being human that is pro-justice, pro-kindness, and pro-humility. McLaren begins by laying out ten solid reasons for abandoning Christianity. These include historic (and current) antisemitism; the church’s habit of crushing dissenters; a history of “Christian colonialism” that includes support of slavery, White supremacy, and White Christian nationalism; toxic institutionalism; financial greed; White patriarchy; rigid theology; the failure of Christianity to transform lives; an anti-intellectual streak that rejects science and encourages poisonous politics; and an aging demographic in the church that trends toward regressive views.

Do I Stay Christian?: A Guide for the Doubters, the

When I saw the beautiful cover art by Young Jin Lim, I felt that in a few simple lines, he had captured the emotion that many of us feel. Is it time for us to migrate away from Christianity entirely? Or is it possible for at least some forms of Christianity to experience a breakthrough and evolve into something the world needs and we need? McLaren was once an evangelical preacher. So it’s only fitting that the final paragraphs of his book have the feel of a revival meeting altar call. He invites his readers “to become the most just, kind, and humble version of ourselves that we possibly can, day by day” as we “practice a faith that expresses itself in love” so that we might “lean with others into a . . . new kind of humanity, open to every good resource that can help us, explicitly Christian or not.” His closing words are, “A new humanity—humble, just and kind—can be born. Can you imagine that, fellow human?” Evangelist and blogger David Robertson offers his take on Brian McLaren's latest book, Do I Stay Christian?In the letter I explained that my approach to parenting was strongly influenced by Christian leaders whose teachings I am now repulsed by.1 I trusted those leaders because they were respected in the Evangelical community to which I belonged and because they used a magic word, biblical, to describe their teaching. Now, I’ve come to see that what they called biblical was actually authoritarian, and I am coming to terms with how much better a parent I could have been if I had found better teachers. This breaks my heart, I wrote, because fatherhood has been the most meaningful experience of my life and I sincerely wanted to do it right. Brian McLaren offers 10 solid reasons to abandon Christianity: A review of Do I Stay Christian? | The Christian Century I was born a decade after the Holocaust, at a time when fundamentalist Christians like Jerry Falwell, Sr., seemed to embrace Judaism as Christianity’s equal partner in creating the West in general and the United States in particular. Falwell constantly spoke of the “Judeo-Christian tradition.” (A rabbi friend of mine noted, with appropriate skepticism, “Judeo-Christian usually just means Christian.”) Falwell’s son carried on the pairing.11 Along with TV preacher John Hagee and many others, the Falwells became fervent supporters of the nation of Israel, offering further evidence, to some at least, of their anti-anti-Semitism. It’s clear, however, that their brand of Christian Zionism bears only superficial resemblance to Jewish Zionism. In the end, Christian Zionism reduces Jews to the status of pawns in the fulfillment of end-times prophecies that many Christian preachers love to speak and write about.