The Church

The recollection of the crucified Christ obliges Christian faith permanently to distinguish itself from the 'Christian-bourgeois world' and from Christianity as the 'religion of contemporary society'.

A Christianity which does not measures itslf in theology and practice by this criterion loses its identity and becomes confused with the surrounding world; it becomes the religious fulfilment of the prevailing interests, or of the interests of those who dominate society. It becomes a chameleon which can no longer be distinguished from the leaves of the tree in which it sits.

But a Christianity which applies to its theology and practice the criterion of its own fundamental origin cannot remain what it is at the present moment in social, political and psychological terms. It experiences an outward crisis of identity, in which its inherited identification with the desires and interests of the world around it is broken down. It becomes something other than what it imagined itself to be, and what was expected of it.

-Jurgen Moltmann, The Crucified God, pp.38-39.

What if every American Christian read this quote, and while they nodded their head in agreement, really began to understand it and see just how terribly we have corrupted the Gospel, perverting everything Christ said to make our democratic/materialist/capitalist system feel like it came from Jesus' mouth? I don't know how much longer I can put up with all of it.

Peace,
Matt

Currently Reading: PERELANDRA by C.S. Lewis.