Wednesday, April 15, 1998
Practicing religion is not always a cup of hot cocoa
CHRISTIANITY: Sweetening truth about believing in God leaves
worshippers with spiritual emptiness
By Alex Schweng
I was disappointed and saddened by the opinions expressed in
"The Forum" on religion and spirituality on April 10. Although I
disagreed with some of the articles that were published, I was more
deeply struck by the quotes printed under the "Speaks Out" section.
The students that were surveyed had such apathetic and
disheartening takes on religion! Why is that?
Surprisingly, the answer has everything to do with coffee. Yes,
coffee. Many people on this campus have probably been exposed to
some form of Christianity, and somehow it did not "work" for them.
Well, one of the reasons is that like good coffee, good religion is
spoiled by too much of two things: cream and sugar.
Let me explain. Recently, I worked in a small office with a
great boss. So great that he even offered me some of his own coffee
every morning. Only thing was that he never had any cream or sugar
stocked in the office. He explained that coffee was meant to be
taken black. Now, I always had my coffee with some of the cow juice
and cavity stimulators. But this was not to be the case in his
office. The coffee was always bitter, bold and black. In time, I
came around, and now I refuse to have any cream or sugar in my
coffee because I have realized that these elements ruin the true
flavor of coffee. Coffee has a great flavor by itself. I often sit
in amazement when I see someone pour three or four dairy creamers
and five or six sugar packets into his/her cup of coffee. Why not
just drink hot cocoa? I mean, isn’t that the effect you’re trying
to get? If that’s all you want, then save some money, stop buying
coffee and break out the instant Swiss Miss.
Sadly, the Christian religion suffers the same fate when too
much cream or sugar is added: it loses its true, good flavor and
becomes hot cocoa. Let’s start with sugar.
When people put sugar into their coffee, they realize that
although coffee has a natural flavor to it, there is no natural
sweetness to a coffee bean. Sugar makes it sweet, and who doesn’t
like sweetness in life? But dang it, that coffee bean can stand on
his own! Pouring all that sugar in corrupts it and hides some of
the bite that coffee is meant to have.
Many Christians, unknowingly, also corrupt their religion by
adding too much sugar. We want so desperately to share the love of
God with others that we often sugarcoat the truth of God and
deceive people into believing that the life of a Christian is a bed
of roses. We want to make it sound so good, and sometimes so easy,
that we neglect to mention how difficult a life of faith is to
live. So when someone gets excited, interested or intrigued by the
claims that we have made, and then takes a step of faith toward
God, we have set them up for deep disappointment.
This is cruel. To promise heaven on earth and not deliver should
be a crime. Christians, and I imagine people of all faiths,
experience depression, loneliness, feelings of insignificance and
insecurity, disappointment and deep sorrow. In fact, I am going
through a "down time" these days. Struggling with sin and
temptation are daily realities of my life. I can list the many
times in my life as a believer that I have wept before God,
wondered why certain unfortunate things happened and – heaven
forbid – even doubted if God was really there.
So is there only disappointment in Christianity? No! Is there
joy? Yes! Is there fulfillment? Yes! There is a deep difference in
being truly religious, but the point is that it is not heaven.
That’s later. For there to be mountain tops, there have to be
valleys.
The love, joy and peace of the Christian life is real, but so
are the times of disappointment, confusion and (sometimes) boredom.
The difference in being religious is that God and his people are
there to help you along those difficult roads. A life of faith is
good, even great, but never perfect. Jesus never claimed to be the
source of hot cocoa.
Now for the non-PC stuff.
Cream makes an otherwise bitter drink a lot smoother. But coffee
is meant to be bold and have an edge; it wakes you up. The
Christian religion is supposed to be bold and have an edge to it.
It may even be offensive! When we add so much cream that we won’t
offend anyone it leads to a religion that is like an episode of
"Seinfeld": all filler, no substance. The price of being smooth and
acceptable is very expensive. It costs us our faith. The Christian
religion upholds some virtues that society readily embraces: love,
mercy and compassion. Yet we have championed these godly qualities
of forgiveness and charity so much that truth has been lost.
Jesus claimed absolute truth. He is the only way to God. There
are moral rules to be honored. Fornication is wrong. It is not all
right to have sex with someone outside of marriage. Divorce, sadly,
is practiced by people of religion as much as the non-religious.
Marriage is a commitment "’til death do you part," not until you
get bored, argue a lot or have eyes for someone else. A
relationship with God is certainly more than obeying rules, but it
is never less than obedience either. And what about hell and
eternity?
It’s real, and there really is a lake of fire. These are the
kinds of issues that make religion powerful: important
relationships (people!) on earth and the eternal consequences of
the soul. That’s why God’s forgiveness is extolled – when taken in
light of His standards, we all fail. Tolerance and acceptance are
good, but not when truth is compromised.
Jesus did not take cream in his religion. He was not smooth or
always acceptable and polite in every situation. He had conviction
and purpose. That’s why they beat him up, crucified him and killed
many of his followers. Absolute truth is real because there is a
God, and that’s why relative truth is a bad philosophical idea. The
Christian faith is not meant to tickle ears.
Coffee is a lot different than hot cocoa. Don’t try to
substitute one for the other. And remember, hot cocoa is for kids.
Coffee is for adults. Good religion can only be taken one way: No
cream or sugar.