What Is A Christian?

by Chris Marsden on January 4, 2007

Just stumbled across this great quote…

You are a Christian only so long as you constantly pose critical question to the society you live in… so long as you stay unsatisfied with the status quo and keep saying that a new world is yet to come. — Henri Nouwen

I need to a little research here, but I wonder if this guy, Nouwen, would include "church" as part of society. "Church" has become a very much status quo kind of operation for so many people. We have replaced faith in the eternal with comfort in the ritual. (I like that…I may quote myself on that one later…put it up on my wall or something).

CLARIFICATION: See comments

[ht to Resonate Greenhouse which I believe would make it Pernell Goodyear's doing]

Another quote from Pernell’s Blog.

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Tagged as: Henri Nouwen, Resonate Greenhouse

  • http://www.fusionlife.org Ben Boles

    Henri Nouwen is an accomplished Christian writer probably penning more that 30 or 40 books over decades. His prospective is probably one to take and dwell and ponder on. Posing critical questions doesn’t neccessarly make us a part of society but should help us to not be judgemental, atleast in theory. This is my take on it.

  • http://chrismarsden.com Chris Marsden

    Maybe it is bad wording on my part, but my intention in asking would Nouwen include “church” as part of society is to wonder whether we shouldn’t be more critical of not only society around us, but the “church” society we are in. Nouwen’s point, as it seems to me, is that we should not become happy with the status quo, that we should continue to challenge the world around us and let people know that a “new world is yet to come”.

    We are often, as Ben points out above, judgmental of the society around us (and sometimes the church(es) around us), whereas critical might be a more productive mentality. But my concern is that while I think we should be critical of society, challenge them to be more than what they are, and reminding them (or telling them for the first time) that there is a new world coming, should we not also be critical of the church in the same way. Not jugemental, but critical of the status quo and constantly reminding them that the 1950′s or John Calvin, Martin Luther, Alexander Cambell, Barton Stone, or any other great leader is not the standard we are called to, but the Kingdom that Christ founded.

    As I write this, I am realizing the addon link from above is now crucial.

    “When you become a Christian, Jesus will invade your life and make you into somebody he can use to change the world. Through you, he will challenge racism. Through you, Jesus will attack sexism, poverty, and militarism. That was never taught to me when I was growing up. I never heard that I could be an instrument that God could use to change the world. All I was told was that being a Christian meant I would go to heaven when I died. I was never told that the primary reason Jesus saved me was to make me into somebody whom he could use to change the world into the kind of world he willed for it to be when he created it.” – Tony Campolo

    It is not about being judgmental (inside the church or of society) but about critically evaluating the world we live in and challenging it to be better, in part, by first challenging ourselves to make a difference and living in the promise that there is an eternity waiting.

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