Wed 1 Aug 2007
I'd like to begin this short post with an apology: I'd like to apologize on behalf of Christians who have, throughout history, done some pretty rotten things supposedly in the name of Jesus Christ. The Crusades? Witch hunts? Inquisitions? Priests who molest? Televangelists who scam? All sinful and awful, and Jesus is appalled that such things have come to be associated with Him and His church. While some of these sort of tragedies have been exaggerated (most notably the witch hunts, see Six Modern Myths chapter six) that doesn't make them any better, and I wish to say, on behalf of 99% of all Christians who are living today and who have ever lived, that we agree with you that these actions are awful, immoral, and un-Christlike. As trite as it may sound and in fact may be, it pains me deeply when I read about these things, and I am truly sorry.
That said, what do such bad things done by Christians prove about the truthfulness of the Christian faith? The answer is: not much. First of all, Christians do not claim to be sinless; in fact, we recognize that although we become new creations in Christ, we remain fallen people in a fallen world, and therefore the threat of succumbing to temptation is ever-present. Second, there are approximately 2.1 billion Christians in the world. With such a huge sample size, should we be surprised when we learn that a small percentage of them do really bad things (molest children, swindle, etc)? Thirdly, how do the actions of a small portion of Christians which contradict the teachings of Jesus and the Christian faith prove anything regarding whether the Christian faith is true or not? In fact they do nothing to prove that the facts of the Christian faith are untrue.
I know this is difficult to accept if you have been personally wounded by the church generally, or a particular Christian person specifically. But please try to keep in mind that any person who acts contrary to a set of principles maligns themselves, but not the principles that they have chosen to disobey. Does the fact that certain NYPD officers are racist and commit immoral acts mean that all police forces should be disbanded? Certainly not, because their actions are contrary to what a police officer should be.
So please, don't discount Christianity because of the worst "Christians" that you know … or even the best ones! After all, based on Christianity's own teachings, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23) and that "the whole world is a prisoner of sin" (Galatians 3:22), but by God's grace "Jesus came to take away our sins, and there is no sin in him" (1 John 3:5). For more on this subject, please see my post "Good people".
Thank you for your time.
17 Responses to “Christians do bad things”
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August 2nd, 2007 at 6:05 pm
[…] a page from Donald Miller, Darren at Why Faith admits: "Christians do bad things." Darren, a Christian himself, apologizes for these, but raises the interesting point (also raised by […]
June 16th, 2009 at 12:17 am
I agree. The fact that people who call themselves Christian do bad things does not make Christianity bad.
…but…
Did you know that the fact that people who call themselves Muslim and do bad things does not make Islam bad.
I can call myself a Pine Tree but it doesn't make me one!
September 30th, 2009 at 3:02 am
i think its true. christian is only religion that does not promote coexistence with the other culture. as christian only believe in one god. christain force others to believe in them and even fought war.
using christainity as a reason to conquer or dominate the land of others does not make christainity a good religion and i am sure this is not what juese himself would like to see.
October 20th, 2009 at 11:35 pm
grr dam jesu…….sorry my phone cut out
April 13th, 2010 at 9:25 pm
Your argument becomes extremely moot in light of what's going on with the Catholic church these days. First, its brought to light that the Pope himself was a co-conspirator in covering up child rapes by priests.. and now the church is trying to blame HOMOSEXUALITY for the pedophilic actions of its shepherds??
The entire Christian community should condemn this horrendous blasphemy. You people are worried about the antichrist.but I can't believe he could do any worse than you've already done to these children and your followers.
May 10th, 2010 at 9:26 pm
LadyeCatte, I agree that the scandal in the Catholic church is a terrible thing. And I do condemn it.
These horrendous acts however do not disprove the truth of the Christian faith. Does the fact that these things happen prove the church should cease to exist? Only if the fact that a higher percentage of schoolteachers sexually assault students means that we should get rid of all schools.
Again, I do condemn these acts. I have no interest in defending Christianity, in the sense of the Christians who do these deplorable things. But I will defend wholeheartedly the truth of the gospel and the faith that Jesus Christ embodied and gave us. Please don't paint the entire Christian community with the same brush.
July 1st, 2010 at 4:57 am
I am a Protestant. I have been earning and surviving with one MLM Co for over 10 years. Lately, they purposely did not renew their MLM license, thus my income has been stopped completely. The point is, the boss there happen to be a Protestant Christian also, even helping out in some of the church activities. How can a Christian do that?
July 5th, 2010 at 8:27 pm
This is so true. When I think about the word Christian, it breaks down to the word "Christ-like." So if the person is not doing what Jesus would do, then they are NOT Christians. The word did say that just because you cry "Lord Lord" doesn't mean your going to enter into the heavenly gates. So those that claim to really be Christians may not be so. Just be careful. God is love, so if its not love, its not God.
September 22nd, 2010 at 10:17 pm
I call myself Christian because I have done what the bible says we need to do to take that word….I try very hard to live everyday for Christ….No one is perfect, only Jesus was without sin, and we battle with sin daily…But I see others that call themselves Christian that do many bad things…Maybe for money, power,or whatever….And they can't see that they are wrong…They can find somewhere in their minds justification for what they do….This is very sad to me…And can cause a fall from Christ in good Christians that witness this….Very SAD….And very tradgic to witness…But we need to remember that we live our own lives, and only answer for our own sins, no one else…I thank God for that…
June 10th, 2011 at 7:48 pm
We were hurt so badly by 2 Christians that I don't think we will ever recover from it. We trusted them and they betrayed our trust and we almost lost our business, our home, our marriage and our family due to their UnChrist like ways. They did not hesitate to lie, cheat or steal to get what they wanted. They called it 'doing busines' We prayed and so did our congregation, we didn't get any help. We have questioned our faith and now I can't really considerer oursleves Christians anymore. They look good to their congregation singing in the choir every Sunday but we know the truth!
November 28th, 2011 at 12:41 pm
FGBDFGDF
March 1st, 2012 at 8:32 pm
Muslims,Christians and other religions have all done bad things. So i dont know why people think of bad things when some one is talking about their religion, if you have nothing good to say dont say it at all. Everyone and all religions have done bad things, but they all have done good things too. Soooo, be positive guys! (-;
hahaha.
November 7th, 2013 at 2:33 pm
Okay here's what i noticed, an example, if somebody from another country is being mean or rude do you consider that whole country to be bad?, no, that's kinda racist, and rude, i "was" Christian, & i'm glad i left, this Mormon Christian thing is just too much for me & confusing as it is, so please, don't mail me & try to make me believe, i was a child at that time, so, it's over, (i was also baptized as a child), just please, forget it & don't bother me with it, & i agree with Nusha, be positive and think that way, think that, well what i said above, don't think that whole freaking subject, country or person is bad, thats how they are, if you can't accept it, move on and ignore it, nobody asked you to be in there business, remember that saying, don't believe what you always read.. that includes the Bible, like dragons for example, good gosh there made up creatures, why are they in there anyway?, why would you put a "fictional" animal in a book you worship?, see what i mean?, & also the book ask's you to judge gays & people related to that, really?, if thats something you're gonna believe just read another book, it makes me wonder why it's even in there, who ever wrote it has got to get a life. -_-.. sorry okay?, what else do you expect from me?
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December 22nd, 2013 at 10:50 am
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