Christians have a strange proclivity to fashion Jesus’ teaching on the narrow way into a joyless pursuit that devalues creation and makes the world he created very small. Let me explain.
I chewed a lot of gum that year. I was collecting trading cards for the movie that everyone was talking about—a movie that promised to be one of the greatest science fiction movies of all time, complete with amazing special effects—Star Wars.
My dad loved science fiction and was particularly excited about the movie. He was a big Trekkie and so was the draftsman that worked for him in the land-surveying business he had started two years prior. The movie event was going to be a family affair and we—my mom, my sister, and especially my dad and me—were counting down the days to the May 22, 1977 release.
As my deck continued to grow, I had been showing my friends, at the private Christian school Berachah* had started, my Star Wars cards. One day, a week or two before the movie’s release, I mentioned my excitement to my friend, Fred, one of the pastor’s three biological children. Oddly, he seemed a little concerned and less excited than I thought he should be.
Later I learned he went and told his parents of our family’s plans. My parents were then called, reprimanded, and that Sunday the pastor preached on the evil of going to the movies in such a way that my family was publicly humiliated. He said, “We had a family this week that was planning to go see…” Although we weren’t mentioned by name, everyone seemed to know who the pastor was talking about. In Berachah’s culture, a seasoned member would never think of doing something like this or, if they did, they wouldn’t be so foolish as to broadcast it and get caught. But my parents were the newbies—the baby Christians that like dumb sheep must be corralled and kept in line.
With the struggle of starting a fledgling new business, it was such a rare thing for us to do something this special. And this something special became a cultural and worldwide phenomenon. Most people remember the first time they saw Star Wars—not with the same vividness that they remember JFK’s assassination, the Challenger explosion, or 9/11, but it’s up there. Many families and individuals I’ve talked to over the years went and saw it several times. And we missed it. Why? Because of a stupid rule. Because of an abuse of authority. Yes, this is a first world “tragedy” and, in the grand scheme of eternity, it may not be a big deal, but the Church is famous for covering over destructive abuse. The truth is, in this instance, a local church—Berachah—stole a rare and significant moment of togetherness and fun from my parents and family. They robbed us of a simple, historic, and positive connection to global humanity. Good, clean, harmless, family fun that was none of their business. What’s more, they did it in such a way as to shame and humiliate my mom and dad.
Stories like these still anger me because of the injustice, hypocrisy, and sheer idiocy some religious systems use to dominate, shame, and control their members.
Berachah and other churches like them practiced what Jamie Smith calls the “pietism of withdrawal;” that is, the abstention from culture itself. I’ve come to learn that this abstention, under the guise of keeping people from sin, actually cheapens human existence and is a violation of God’s command to “fill” the world and “have dominion” (Gen. 1:26-28).[1] It further chains good people from deeper worship, as they never learn to enjoy God or bask in the goodness of His creation. Finally, it’s a clear violation of Scripture:[2]
“Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.”
Colossians 2:20-23
*Berachah is the church I grew up in—see here.
[1] This “filling” or “dominion” is often called “culture-making.” Again, Jamie Smith gives this helpful definition: “Culture-making– unfolding the latent possibilities that have been folded into creation– is a vocation given to us as image-bearers of God.” (Desiring the Kingdom, 178.)
[2] It’s also a form of the early church heresy Gnosticism where the body and the material world are viewed as evil.