Defending God

I was recently reading a blog in which the author said that he could not support a well-known emergent pastor because he felt that that pastor did not make defending God a central priority in his writings.

This really got me thinking. Why is it that Christians have made such a big deal about defending God. You don't have to look very far on the internet to find someone who considers themselves to be a doctrine defender. Someone who will, without any apparent reserve, verbally assault a popular Christian writer, speaker or pastor who they do not disagree with about every single issue. (All though if you examine more closely you will likely find that they agree about much more than they disagree) And what's worse is that many people who claim to be defending Christ seem to go about it in such an un-Christ-like way.

For me this is very problematic and it raises some serious questions.

1. Is it okay to say awful things about people who disagree with us as long as we do it in the defense of God?

A lot of people seem to have this idea that God makes exceptions for our un-Christ-like, unloving, and often down right hateful attitude as long as we are defending what is right and true. But it seems to me that in Jesus' life what he accomplished was equally important as the way in which he accomplished it. (selflessness, sacrifice, and radically inclusive love)

2. Is it okay to not practice humility as long as we are talking about our doctrinal ideas?

I'm not saying that our doctrines are not important. In fact I think the ideas you affirm about God are very important. So the problem is not the ideas that we hold but the way in which he hold them. Do we hold them so tightly that our hands are clinched around them like fists? Because the problem with making a fist is that you are then more inclined to strike someone with it. I think if we are honest about our own limitations and frailty then we can admit that we probably get it wrong just as much as anyone else. And then it just seems silly to respond violently to everyone who disagrees with us.

3. Is the point of Christianity to affirm all the right doctrinal ideas?

One of the major themes of Paul's writings is this idea of being transformed into a new creation. So maybe the goal of Christianity is not doctrinal correctness but Christ-like transformation. I personally don't think God would be very impressed with someone who somehow managed to get all the doctrines exactly right, and yet didn't show selfless love to the poor, hungry, and oppressed. (Paul might say this is like being a "clanging cymbal") That's why when Jesus talks about the sheep and goats in Mathew 25 he doesn't sort them based off of their views on atonement theories or hell. Instead they are sorted by how they treated the poor, the hungry, and the homeless.

4. Does God need for us to defend Him?

We really do worship a big God! In fact God doesn't really need us to defend Him or prove His existence does He? Notice that the Biblical authors spend very little effort making concrete doctrinal statements about God; And even less time trying to defend His existence. They seem to be more interested in poems, songs and narratives that tell the stories of all sorts of different people from all sorts of different settings relating to the one true God. It's as if the Bible isn't a collection of writings that  merely tells you all about God, but rather one that invites you to experience Him first hand!

When I look at the life of Jesus this way of understanding God becomes especially evident to me. I don't see Jesus spending a lot of time sticking up for certain doctrinal beliefs or trying to prove that God exists. Instead I see Jesus sticking up for the the people on the margins of society like widows, lepers and even prostitutes. It seems like Jesus' idea of defending God is actually to stick up for the people that God loves, and yet the rest of the world has turned their backs on. After all, isn't that the whole point of the story that Jesus tells in Matthew 25 about the sheep and the goats?