Baby or Bathwater?

I’ve been struggling lately with questions like, How much of what I believe is founded in religious tradition and not in Christ? I’m realizing that although Christianity should be about following Christ, that’s not always the case. In fact, at times it seems that much of our “christianity” is not Christ-like. Visiting other cultures brings these issues to the surface even more.

Many people reject Jesus - not because they don’t want Him - but because they saw some “Christianity” or maybe Christian culture that they wanted nothing to do with. The morbid expression, “throwing the babyout with the bathwater” is a fitting description.

One of the books I read this summer, as part of my training, was, Christ of the Indian Road by E. Stanley Jones. What the author found in India was the attitude, “show us Christ that’s not covered up in your Christianity and we will follow Him”. The human heart was created to need Jesus... he is the ultimate answer for the human condition. Like one of the street kids I worked with in San Francisco put it, “how can you not love Him?!”

Sadhu Sundar Singh, a famous Indian follower of Christ, was asked by a comparative religion professor what he had found in Christianity that he had not found in his own religion. He replied,
“I have Christ.”
“Yes, I know”, the professor responded, “but what particular principle or doctorine have you found that you did not have before?”
“The particular thing I have found is Christ”.

Many Christians are threatened by the common “all religions lead to God” philosophy, but there is a bit of truth there. Religious systems are the same in that they all are man’s attempts to get to God or live a moral life. As followers of Jesus, we know that any attempt to get to God is futile and that living a moral life in our strength is impossible. Our true hope lies in God coming to us, which He did in Jesus. Our doctrinal statements cannot save us, only He can. And in that way, Christianity cannot save us, only Christ. We have often traded our King, for a religious system that bears his name.

The non-Christian world often thinks that Jesus is to Christianity what Santa Claus is to Christmas. Ironically, both Christmas and Christianity are supposed to be about Jesus. I hope this Christmas you will see more of the Baby, and less of the “bathwater“.