By Addissu Admas
There is no country in the world where the words Christian and Christianity have been bandied about as much as in America. Yet, there is no country in the world where the “Good News”, i.e. the teachings of the New Testament, have been interpreted as to fit the most heinous ideologies and practices. Genocide, slavery, racism, segregation, ruthless capitalist exploitation, wars, etc.… have been rationalized and justified in the name of Christianity, while this religion has not only had nothing to do with them but is diametrically opposed to them. The tendency in America has always been to find justification, confirmation and support for one’s heinous beliefs and actions on some biblical passage rather than take the Christian message as a unity. That is why in America, especially among protestant churches, we encounter virtuosi quoters of the Bible rather than messengers of the teaching and spirit of the Gospel. When the Bible is dissected minutely to extract passages that confirm or support one’s practice and beliefs, the true overall message gets lost, and as a result the Christian message gets lost also.
As any Christian theologian could tell you, Christianity is both a religious and moral event. In other words, an event that requires both faith and practice. When the insistence is on the first by relegating the second to a mere lip service, Christianity itself becomes irrelevant to our mode of living. It is true that St. Paul states that “…you have been saved by faith… not by works…” (Ephesians 2:8-9); he says also to “know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ” (Galatians 2:16). However, it was Paul himself who further in the same chapter states “to do good works”. His message therefore is clear enough: Christians are saved only through their faith, no amount of good works in and of themselves can secure them salvation. However, as Paul himself put it, Christians and by extension all humanity “are handiwork of God destined to do the good works that God has prepared for them in advance” (Cf. Ephesians 2:10). Even though Paul subordinates “good works” to faith, he never maintained that it was unnecessary to Christian living. The insistence of Luther and his followers on faith alone (sola fide) is something that came much later and not always to good use.
If Christianity consists only in believing strongly, and not be concerned too much with one’s sinful condition and actions, as Luther’s famous saying “sin strongly, but believe and rejoice in Christ more strongly” would suggest, then what would distinguish a Christian from an adherent of another belief system except for his or her belief system? One can even go further in saying that if this were the case the Christian would be no different from a pagan or non-believer except by his/her faith in a differing belief system. I would like to think instead that what identifies the Christian should be his/her striving to live life in accordance with the moral injunctions and examples provided by Jesus Himself (“Be perfect as I am perfect”. Matthew 5:48). It should go without saying that his or her faith will definitely underpin his or her life, but it would not be its sole defining element or purpose.
When one focuses on the “sola fide” alone, there is the danger of not only neglecting personal moral growth, but also that of one’s society and state. Worse yet, it will lead to condone or countenance the most depraved, cruel and disturbing action of others and of society at large. Even though this is an accusation I maybe justifiably address towards those Christian confessions founded on the theological tradition of “Salvation through faith alone”, in point of fact, the others who insist on the importance of “works” in the life of the Christians, like the Roman Catholics, have not done any better in America, or for that matter, in all of the Americas.
To come to my point, in America, there is plenty of “sola fide”. Every Sunday, the churches are filled with worshippers with pastors and priests sermonizing, congregations and choirs praying, singing and even dancing; all hoping to one day acquire eternal bliss. Is this really what Jesus meant by the “kingdom of God is among you” (Luke 17:2)? If I have understood this famous passage, then it should mean that wherever believers of Jesus Christ posit Him as head of their society or nation, then they have realized his kingdom. Accordingly, peace, harmony, brotherly love and charity would be the guiding principles. Sadly, wherever Christians have gathered in the name of Jesus Christ they have been rather busy doing the opposite. Indeed, those who have insisted passionately to arrogating to themselves exclusively the appellation of Christian have been found to have understood the Christian Good News the least. Their actions speak louder than their words.
Today, some American denominations have invented the most oxymoronic, and most devious term, that of “Christian Nationalism”. If the term was coined in the spirit of realizing in this world the “Kingdom of God” as Jesus meant it, it would have been embraced by all Christians desiring renewal. But the term, as we have come to realize, has nothing to do with Christianity and everything to do with white nationalism. It is really disheartening to see again the word Christianity hijacked to signify the opposite of what it stands for. Nationalism of whatever color can never claim inspiration from the teachings of Jesus Christ. As St Paul would have it “”There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28). Christian nationalism is, once more, one of those brain children of people that have never understood what the Good News are all about.
What has Christianity, a religion anchored in the morality of the Sermon of the Mount, anything to do with racial segregation, with the politics of exclusion, heartless exploitation, persecution and imprisonment of the migrants, disregard and cruelty to the poor, supporting a party whose raison d’être is to manipulate “Christians” in the pursuit of its extreme capitalistic agenda? When every so-called Christian strains to deliver the most beautiful sermon, sings the most beautiful hymn, he or she needs to ask first what he or she has done for the least of his or her brethren.
One need be offended if not concerned and even disgusted when a nation declares to present itself as Christian to the four winds while it has only been known so far to have expropriated a whole continent through genocide, built vast wealth through slave labor, continues to marginalize its minority peoples, and continues to intimidate the world by its economic and military power. If these are the fruits of Christianity, then I must have completely misunderstood its core message.
Editor’s Note : Views in the article do not necessarily reflect the views of borkena.com
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Good points. Ever heard of Ethiopian evangelical copycats? Sickening.
Dear Addissu Admas
Thank you for your article . An engaging and educational presentation that reinforces a sound understanding of the Holy Bible and the teachings of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. Your article is compelling and motivates readers to explore not only what EOTC scholars teach but also what the Holy Bible itself states, rather than the interpretations offered by certain Christian denominations. It appears that some scholars are embedding their own agendas into the text to avoid obstacles when acting on baser desires and to justify inappropriate actions.
NB :Most scholars of the ‘Luther Renaissance’ would agree that Luther’s doctrine of sola gratia [salvation by grace alone] definitely shifted his theological focus towards sola fide [by faith alone]. Luther inherited the Pauline principle that it is not because of anything in the individual that one becomes the object of God’s saving grace. Rather, as Luther would write on his deathbed, ‘we are beggars’ (Kellerman 1999). Salvation therefore, if it is by grace alone, becomes ours through faith alone. Rediscovery of the biblical teaching of justification by faith alone proved to be the Archimedean point of resistance to the medieval system of salvation. Luther (1965a) contends:
Formerly, when our hearts were blinded by errors in teachings from Rome, we imagined that God was a salesman who sold his grace in exchange for our works and achievements. Now, however, since the light of the gospel has dawned, we know that we are credited as righteous only by faith in Christ. (p. 140) Source -The Legacy of Martin Luther’s Sola Fide ,Aleksandar S. SantracI, https:://///scielo…org….a/scielo….php