Christian Evolution

Okay - enough about evolution and the Christian. How about the evolution of the Christian? This is when the rough edges are smoothed out and the Christian is transformed from hostile to peaceful, from aggressive to loving, never the other way around. I have a friend who embraces elements of pacifism in his Christian walk, and he doesn't realize it but he is slowly bringing me around to his way of thinking. Why? Because that's the evolution I see in Scripture and in the Christian way of life. We don't see it going from peace to violence, we see it going from violence to peace.

In the OT, which I have studied intensively, I am getting a greater sense of "the plan." I can see an explosion of the new birth with all the violence that accompanies it (have you ever seen a delivery - ouch!). As the plan unravels, as He draws humanity back into His arms though the heart of Christ, peace (the original plan) is restored. It's not as if He's drawn up something new, it's because of man's sin that He must violently bring us back to Him. Free will allows for no other way. Robots could simply be reprogrammed, but the human race is wired differently and I've come to understand and even appreciate what God did in the OT. I no longer have to try to reconcile it with the NT. Violent removals are the natural predecessors to peace.

To those who struggle with it, I simply say: Live now in the revelation of peace that we have through Christ. You don't live in those times! You live in the power of Christ and He is always working to a higher plane of peace and love. As Christ said, let the dead bury the dead. Let the violence of the OT speak for itself and move onto the teachings of Christ. They do not have to be mutually exclusive.

I believe that this applies to the Christian walk as well. As we mature in Him and are slowly scraped clean and transformed, we become more peaceful and less spiritually violent. I think that there is a huge misunderstanding in today's Christian culture which embraces and uplifts the confrontational, political, angry, aggressive Christian. They mistake allowing Christ to invade the world through us for the Christian invading the world under his own agenda (and power). It is all backwards. As we become more mature, we become more peaceful which is in turn more effective because it contrasts so clearly against the mindset of the world. Think: As I raise my children, do I take their natural selfish and violent tendencies and enhance them - or do I try to refine them and smooth these things out?

How can we be seen as ambassadors to something different if we're the same as the way of the world - if we've never grown beyond the childish attitude of aggressive self-centeredness? There must be a 'distinction' in the notes, and that distinction is the love and peace that we bring into a violent and unloving world. Paul talks about this in I Corinthians 14 when he tells the church to make sure that tongues don't cause such a confusion that the lost can't see Christ. He says: "Even in the case of lifeless things that make sounds, such as the flute or harp, how will anyone know what tune is being played unless there is a distinction in the notes?" (I Cor. 14:7) Well guess what the distinction is? It's certainly not violence - that's the backdrop we live in. Violence upon violence is simply more white noise. The distinction is the peace of Christ.

In my own walk I have experienced the frustration of this misconception. By nature I am sharp-edged and opinionated and confrontational - believe it or not. I like to let people know when they're wrong (and when I'm right). I've prayed through this for years and God has been transforming me into a less aggressive person who is able to refrain from slamming someone on the spot for infractions against my idea of what an intelligent thought or decision should be. I hated this in myself and prayed through it to a more accepting and peaceable frame of mind.

But here's the problem: because the Christian culture embraces violence (in the form of confrontation in all areas), this smoothing of my rough edges is perceived as weakness. It frustrates me, because I know in my nature I could easily put down another Christian in confrontation. Obliterate them. I'm not saying this in pride, I'm saying this to my shame. Inwardly I'm glad that God has caused me to evolve into a more peaceful Christian, one less likely to climb all over another person for any foolish reason. But this "type" doesn't fit into today's Christian model, so it's called weakness. This is a major disconnect - when a transformed life is perceived as a weak life.

Peace, loving your enemy, reaching for the fringe, turning the other cheek, walking the extra mile, giving the second coat, praying for those who persecute you, keeping quiet while they strike you - these are the fruit of a more mature Christian. Christ said so and lived so. As we argue though the Evolution/Creation debate - let's not forget a more important fact: the current Christian organism seems to be devolving into a less peaceful and less forgiving body. That's a more dangerous evolution than anything taught in the science books - because it makes us less distinct, which makes us less useful. When Christ found the Temple in the same state, He condemned it and it was eventually destroyed. It had lost it's distinctive flavor. It was not a place of peace anymore, but a place of personal gain, of compromise and of violence.

Let's not lose our distinction - let's keep 'evolving' as Christians into what Christ Himself lived out - radical peace in a violent world.