Talk about hittin’ the flippin’ nail on the head.

Say what you will about Brian McLaren, but I like him. I’ve read several of his books and I don’t agree with everything he says, but he certianly challenges me to think.

In his new book Finding Our Way Again he recounts an interview he conducted at a pastors conference with Dr. Peter Senge. It went something like this:

Dr. Senge was saying that in any given bookstore, the best selling books are first, “how to get rich” and second, books on Buddhism.

“Why are books on Buddhism so popular, and not books on Christianity,” McLaren asked.

Senge replied, “I think it’s because Buddhism presents itself as a way of life, Christianity presents itself as a system of belief. I would want to get Christian ministers thinking about how to rediscover their own faith as a way of life, because that’s what people are searching for today. That’s what they need most.”

Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity. They seem more afraid of life than death.
- James F. Byrnes

How many of us live that way?  Come on be honest. I know I fight it. That need to feel secure juxtaposed with the call of the Lord to let go…

I feel like I’m hearing the same conversations and the same arguments about the same things lately. I’ve gotten ear fulls. And it’s always about the same two things. The two things that have been making me sick are: religion and politics. Needless to say, I’ve been pretty cynical lately. Then, I heard some quotes from founding father, Thomas Paine, over the radio today that only spurred me on further.

Thomas Paine on Politics:

Society in every state is a blessing, but government, even in its best stage, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one.

Thomas Paine on Religion:

All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.

So, I’ve come to these two conclusions: 1) religion and politics just don’t work and 2) there’s not much difference between the two.

They’re both about conviction, power, control and being right. Both involve pushing forward a certain dogma of beliefs and practices. The problem with both is that they’re all too human and easy to define. They both seem to boil down to “what we can do.” And the more I follow after Christ, I find out that life has less and less to do about me. It’s not about power or control, but giving those things up. The more I walk, the more I find myself being farther and farther from those two things. So I could care less about religion and politics, thank you very much.

“I am learning that my tradition includes the rabbis and reformers and revolutionaries and monks and nuns and pastors and writers and philosophers and artists and every person everywhere who has asked big questions of a big God.” - Rob Bell

So my question to you is this… have you asked God any big questions lately?

“Jesus did not die at the hands of muggers, rapists, or thugs. He fell into the well-scrubbed hands of deeply religious people, society’s most respected members.” -Brennan Manning

If this is true… then why do so many Christians aspire to be so religious?