The Overcomplicated Gospel

I spent well over 20 years in several very conservative churches and with covid have now spent a good year watching similar churches online. As I have been on a journey of reconstructing my faith, something has really struck me, kinda like a giant gong on the forehead! The gospel of Jesus is being so incredibly overcomplicated. One intended consequence of the return of Jesus in the New Testament was for his followers to be delivered from following the many, complicated laws of the Old Testament….in theory I suppose, because you know sometimes people still like to use some of those old verses when it fits their particular agenda!

As I watched an online service last week I noticed a pastor, and it wasn’t unique to him by any means, but I noticed the way he flipped through his Bible….with almost an air of flamboyancy, you know, turning right to Ezra without even checking the table of contents. As he was doing this I was thinking how a new Christian might feel (intimidated), or a Christian who has trouble understanding the language of the Bible (stupid), or worse, a Christian, who is just ever so mildly enamored with the preacher that whatever he says will be deemed “gospel”, whether or not it truly is. I’m not trying to say every preacher has poor intentions, or is being an arrogant jerk, what I am saying is that we should not be fooled, no matter how loud they say it, or how much they pound the pulpit, or how many Bible verses they flip to, much of what they say is not critical to the essence of the gospel. You might find some things helpful in living your daily life, but don’t be confused into thinking all this talk and flare and commentary is needed to have a relationship with Christ! BTW, I don’t hate preachers. I do, however, hate the use of the Bible as a weapon and the use of the church as a bully pulpit to further self serving agendas.

I remember attending soul winning classes and learning about the Roman’s road. If you are not familiar with the Roman’s road it is a series of verses that are to be used in a particular order to help you lead someone to Christ. I think if God had wanted us to use those particular verses, in that particular order He would have put them in that order for us. The Bible tells us that we are to love God and we are to love others. Why must we add more? Some serious introspection is in order within some of our churches to help determine what the pay-off is in perpetuating an environment that not only complicates the gospel but refuses to acknowledge the reality of a history of abuse, misogyny, racism and homophobia.

John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that WHOSOEVER believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” This verse literally sums up the gospel! This is it! Why are preachers complicating it? Why are churches complicating it? Why are people being made to feel that the way to Christ is so difficult…that it needs to be explained and interpreted and deciphered in some way? Quit making God unattainable! Do you realize He died on the cross to make Himself MORE accessible to all and your complicated, verse dropping, moral high ground Christianity is driving people away from God and making His death on the cross a wasted gift.