Ten Christian Cliches

When Christian Piatt wrote his list of 10 cliches Christians should avoid, he obviously underestimated our tendency to fall back on these trite sayings.

He quickly had to add 10 more cliches and 9 final cliches. Each cliche comes with a quick explanation of why it is often precisely the wrong thing to say. They're a good read - especially if you've had some of them said to you.

There are ones that distort God (and aren't in the bible)

"Everything happens for a reason."
"The Bible clearly says..."
"The Lord never gives someone more than they can handle"

Ones that are insensitive

"Will all our visitors please stand" (in church)
"God needed another angel" (after someone has died)

and ones we use to sound judgemental

"Are you saved?"
"___ is an abomination"

Fortunately, he also provides a list of 10 antidotes, which mostly involving being less conceited, more loving and less like a Jesus-salesman.

Top 5 of 2012

As we ring in the new year, here are your most viewed items of 2012 here on the Sycamore-Fig.

5. The dodginess of soft music and candles theology - that infers Jesus' main task is to buy us flowers and take us out on a date, and how that might be slightly weird for men to hear.

4. The filter bubble. How Google hides stuff from us and thereby alters our perception of reality. And how church probably does the same.

3. Pagan Christianity. The book which details the non-Christian origins of our church practices - which probably explains why they often contradict Jesus.

2. Reverse Jesus. One example of how we do the opposite of Jesus - and a test to see if you remember what Jesus said.

1. Jesus > Religion. The title is about the differences between Jesus and Religion - and how in each case Jesus is much greater. Perhaps we should be talking Jesus more than talking church. (People are OK with Jesus)

Hopefully 2013 is a year of being less churchy and more Jesus-like.

Reverse Jesus

For pharisees "repentence precedes acceptance, with Jesus it's the other way round" says Rowland Croucher, Baptist minister and self-described ex-pharisee.

Pharisees are people who say "You conform to our view, our understanding of what the bible says, then you'll be acceptable round here". Jesus says "I accept you. Now let's work on the process of change, maybe."

Obviously doing the opposite of Jesus is not great. But sometimes it's just because we don't fully remember what Jesus was about.

When preaching, Rowland sometimes asks what Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery. He says he can read people's lips "Go and sin no more" and they've forgotten that Jesus said something before that. "I do not condemn you".

[Source: Podcast]
(Rowland Croucher about 6 minutes in)

Pagan Christianity

This book looks interesting. Its description says:

Church life analysts Frank Viola and George Barna trace the origins of the modern church 'service' that most Christians take for granted, and find that very little of it has any roots in the New Testament. A provocative and eye-opening critique of 'doing church'.

Should be an interesting read. Might explain some of the church customs that directly contradict Jesus.

10 Warning Signs of a Self-Obsessed Church

It's a sad thing for a church to all about itself. I've probably talked about that a few times. The trick is to notice before it's too late. Thom Rainer lists 10 warning signs, including:

Worship wars - internal battles over music, service style, etc

Prolonged minutia meetings - about trivial items rather the stuff that matters

Facility focus - iconic status given to buildings and grounds

Inwardly focused budget - too much on member comforts - not enough going beyond the church walls

Greater concern about change than the gospel - more passion for church ritual than for the gospel of Jesus

For the full list, see The 10 Warning Signs of an Inwardly Obsessed Church

Where you stand effects what you see

Where you stand effects what you see. And I suppose when you stand in a place of comfort, the way that you see the bible, the way that you see your faith is very much through that lens. And so i guess the challenge for me has been to stand in some different places and particularly some more challenging places, and alongside some people who are facing some particular challenges and see how very much different the bible looks from those vantage points.

One day i realised that I believed all the things i was supposed to, and it made absolutely no difference to the way that i lived. I was no different to the person next to me. My wife challenged both of us "If we really believed all the things we say about God - it would actually radically change the way we live." And so I guess our challenge since then has been to bridge that gap between what we say we believe and the way that we live.

Those quotes are from Rev Simon Moyle in an interview on ABC's Sunday Nights when asked about his upbringing in 'middle class, Sunday morning comfort'.

When Jesus says that he's come to bring life, what he doesn't mean is just the white picket fence with a house in the suburbs. He's actually saying something much greater.

It's good to get this kind a challenge from time to time. Often as a church we retreat from the world and focus on ourselves. Too much of this means our faith suffers (through a narrow perspective) and our actions become less like Jesus. This is not good for us, and not good the neighbours we are called to love.

Kingdom Of God

What did Jesus mean by the "Kingdom of God" and how is it relevant today? That was the topic for discussion on the Palm Sunday episode on ABC Sunday Nights.


Suggestions included "a different way of living" and "letting God be in charge for a change". Part of the discussion was how church itself (as a rich institution) is often an obstacle to living out godly values. (Side note: I was recently sent this picture by a friend)

"What other organisation in Australia has people gathering every week in every community across the nation? Why cannot we be a very strong voice for an alternative way of living? We just seem to freak away from it."

One guest, Prof Richard Burridge, asked "To what extent does the church and its teaching follow Jesus?" and gave money and war as two examples of the church historically acting contrary to the gospel. He also lamented the current trend to refer to a "biblical" lifestyle, based on "one or two areas of sexuality" and completely missing Jesus' radical challenge to society operates.

He thinks that "far too often we're reading it (the bible) in terms of a mirror and using it to reflect back our previous prejudices." Rev Ray Cleary agreed, saying "every Christian ought to be up in arms about our treatment of asylum seekers".

Perhaps the most telling remark came right at the end. "Those who want to follow the path of the crucified, have got to look out for thorns." Often, i'm not sure we're ready for that kind of discomfort.

[Download podcast]