“I’m a Christian; I’m sorry.” Really?
Essays, Featured — By Chris Tomlinson on March 25, 2010 at 12:00 pm(Editor’s Note: In the following video, poet Chris Tse drops two f-bombs, so if you’d prefer not to hear them, be ready to mute at 1:59 and 3:21. And if you’re not into beat poetry, be prepared to mute from 0:00 to 3:36.)
You’ve seen this video, right? I caught it the other day at a friend’s site, and the video was getting a lot of positive feedback. In fact, it was getting a ton of positive feedback. There is something powerful about this kind of confession that taps into our own sense of guilt that we have for not being better Christians. We hear that non-Christians don’t want to go to church because of Christian hypocrisy, and that resonates with us. We know many of the historical tragedies that have been committed in the name of Christ, and we hate that His name has been associated with them, so we want to make amends by making apologies for the way Christians haven’t always represented Jesus like they should.
The only problem is this sort of feeling isn’t Biblical.
As we look at Chris Tse’s confession on stage, can we appreciate his passion, and his desire to see authentic Christian living, and his call for us to examine our own sinful hearts, and his plea with us to replace judgment with love, while at the same time not neglecting these errors in judgment?
- Failing to see confession as between man and God, or within Christian community for the sake of healing, and not something Christians do to the world.
- Forgetting we are image bearers of Christ, carrying His standard, sometimes straying off path, being called back to the narrow road by our brothers and sisters, sustained on the journey by God’s grace, but never believing we honor Christ by lowering His banner in shame.
- Believing (perhaps innocently) that we should apologize to the world for the sins of others.
- Neglecting Paul’s testimony that we are not ashamed of the gospel, because we know it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.
- Not acknowledging that it is God working in us when we work out (through our own sin) our salvation with fear and trembling.
- Believing arms of compassion are necessarily better than voices of warning.
- Making the Triune God of the Bible and the Monotheistic God of the Koran the same God.
- Assuming Christians are responsible for our presents wars.
- Assuming Jesus is sadly grieving His bride and asking her “where is the love” instead of acknowledging that God has put all things in subjection under the feet of Christ, in this age and the age to come.
- Minimizing the fact that Jesus spent most of His time with His disciples, and He spent considerable time with His friends, and some Pharisees, while at the same time eating with sinners, talking with the marginalized, and healing the broken.
Corporate confession is an interesting issue. It does show up in Scripture. In Israel, the priest would make corporate confessions on behalf of the people before God. So did Moses. And Samuel. And many of the prophets. But these corporate confessions were always made to God on behalf of the people rather than to unbelieving nations. And I think we would search the Scriptures in vain to find examples of Jesus or the apostles or God’s people apologizing to the world on behalf of the church.
I do find that reflection, examination, repentance, and confession are all worth our time. But so is boldly and humbling declaring we are sinners saved by the grace of God, being transformed into Christ-likeness by the grace of God, desperate to see the world come to see and savor Jesus as its ultimate treasure, and longing to be with our Savior and King who rules even now over all things.
I don’t mean to be a downer; I just want to encourage anyone who feels guilt or shame by what others have done in the name of Christ. God tells us there’s no condemnation for those of us in Christ Jesus, and I want to believe Him, even with the guilt I have from the darkness of my own heart. I’m not sure I want to add to that the guilt of others.
You may say this doesn’t matter all that much, and we should live and let live. But maybe it does matter. Maybe how we view ourselves in Christ has a lot to do with how we view Christ Himself. And perhaps how we view Christ has a great impact on the way we live for Christ, which is what I think Chris was going for in the first place.
26 Comments
amen
but, i’ve already seen the video. it doesn’t show up here.
Should be fixed now.
Here’s a link (my ministry website) where you can see the video…
http://childrensministryandculture.wordpress.com/2010/03/23/im-sorry-im-a-christian-a-poem-by-chris-tsi/
Public confession is a disarming form of evangelism, Chris. Its acknowledging what the world knows already: Throughout history Christiandom loses its way and hurts people. Confessing that clears the way to discuss Jesus.
Hi Larry,
Thanks for challenging these thoughts. I guess I’m thinking that if public confession was meant to be an important means of evangelism, we’d see more of it (or any of it) in Scripture.
And even if not, I understand how this sort of confession might resonate with a non-Christian. But what might resonate more is a Christian who speaks to them with humility and grace. I’m not typically a humble man, but during the times when I’ve spoken with non-Christians and am submitting to the Spirit, the #1 thing I hear back is “I’ve never met a Christian like you; you’re so humble and open and not judgmental.” In these moments, they are seeing God through me, because I am judgmental and proud. But I’ve never confessed for the wrongs of Christians; I just talk to them about how great Jesus is and how He’s changed my life and how He wants to changes theirs to if they’ll let Him.
What I wonder is if non-Christians who are attracted to God because of a confession like this might be more apt to be suspicious of the church, or judgmental, all because that has been modeled for them in a way through this kind of confession. But maybe those who are attracted to God because of the humility and grace they see in one of Jesus’ disciples might be more apt to be gracious and humble themselves.
I’d love to hear any more thoughts you might have…
ct
So loving Jesus and the church means never having to say you are sorry?
This isn’t “being ashamed of the Gospel.” It’s apologizing that our “tribe” has veered from it.
Larry,
I think loving Jesus and the church means saying we’re sorry a lot. Confessing to God, confessing to each other, for the sins we commit against God and the damage we do to our relationships to one another. This kind of confession is foundational for unity within the church.
But I don’t know that the Bible teaches us an orientation of confession to the world, and I’m not sure we are in a position to apologize on behalf of our tribe (the entire church). It could even be seen as a form of arrogance to presume we can confess on behalf of others, even if our pursuit is to build relationships.
Jesus is the head of the church, and perhaps He alone has the right to speak on her behalf as a whole. We share in the responsibility of maintaining unity with Christ and one another, which is where confession for our own individual failures becomes so pivotal. Hearts bent towards repentance will undoubtedly be filled with the kind of humility and grace that will melt the ice of judgment in the minds and hearts of non-believers, and this kind of attraction holds far greater power in bringing people to their knees before the overwhelming mercy of God.
As far as all this not being ashamed of the Gospel, I think you make a fair point; they seem to be separate issues, so it may not be fair to pull them together in this way.
Thanks again for engaging, and let me know if you have other thoughts.
Something about this bothered me, too (saw it on Larry’s blog a couple of days ago).
um,he was more than offering a “corporate confession,” i think. sounds like he was agreeing with those who have their beef with christians, validating their reasons why they have a beef christians, and, surprisingly, didn’t seem to be doing it to “clear the way to discuss Jesus,” the typical agenda of christians. the man seemed honestly sorry, and if he had another audience in mind, it was the christians who still aren’t.
I didn’t mean to imply that he was disingenuous. I guess in my conversation with those outside of the church I need to acknowledge this stuff just to demonstrate my orientation to reality.
It is difficult to convey an apology for Christianity (which I still struggle with wanting to disassociate from) vs. and apology for Christ.
I think that a lot of people, myself included, sometimes end up doing the latter in pursuit of the former. And then I hate it, because Christ needs no apologizes and I’m not embarrassed to be his.
I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one who both gets frustrated with excessive apology and also has to “reset” myself in this area.
At first, I thought Chris had misspelled Chris Seay’s name.
I can understand that many Christians will be uncomfortable or even castigate Chris Tse for what he presented. He simply reiterated what most of the world thinks about Christianity and doesn’t shrink from it or try and defend it or explain it away. He states it without a sense of shame and meets people where they are with how they view Christianity.
I think we Christians get too uptight when fellow Christians begin to “criticize” or point out the blemishes. We take ourselves too seriously. We think that by someone doing so they are criticizing Christ himself. We need to get over ourselves.
Instead of trying to discredit those who are simply pointing out what seems obvious to everyone who isn’t part of our club, why not help those passionate about the injustices that occur in the name of Christ to use that passion to find ways to make God’s Kingdom visible to the world.
Hi Henry,
Thanks for your thoughts. I wonder if there’s a difference between acknowledging that the bride of Christ is ugly at times and apologizing that she is that way. I don’t know that Christians who don’t resonate with this kind of public confession are chaffing at the fact that Christians are being criticized. I think it’s more that it’s not really our place to confess to the world in this way.
Maybe one way to think about it is to use the analogy Paul uses to describe Jesus as the groom and the church as His bride. What kind of wedding would it be if a guest of the bride stood up during the ceremony and started apologizing to the crowd for the fact that the bride was ugly, or that she’d slept around, or that she didn’t love the groom like he loved her? I don’t mean that flippantly; I just think it might give us a picture for what non-Christians might see when we go about apologizing for Jesus’ bride. Everyone at that wedding may know she’s ugly, and that’s she’s not pure, but Jesus loves her anyway. Jesus thinks she beautiful. What if we called her beautiful because of that, or more importantly, we called Him beautiful for loving her in spite of her faults.
I share your passion for wanting to help those who are passionate about the world’s injustices in the name of Christ to make God’s kingdom visible to the world. I just think the best way to do that is to focus on Jesus, to talk about what a marvelous groom He is, rather than apologizing for the state of the bride.
I’d love any other thoughts you might have as well. Thanks for sharing your perspective!
Here’s a link to something Kate McDonald said about this very subject. It was easily one of the most beautiful, and challenging, descriptions of the bride of Christ, and our treatment of her, that I have ever seen. Thought you might like to see it, it relates so well to what you and Chris are talking about:
http://katemcdonald.wordpress.com/2010/04/16/the-bride-of-christ/
Wow, Chris. Great article. Way to look at this from a scriptural point of view. Some Christians do indeed spend a lot of time apologizing.
I have seen people come to Christ who had a negative view of Christians but we never apologized to them as a launching point to talk about Jesus. I find it to be counterproductive. We just lived lives as Christ taught and they noticed that we were “different” Christians. I believe the difference was that we should be introducing people to Jesus, not so much the religion of Christianity. (Which is what Chris Tse may be trying to say, but never really said)
One thing that is interesting to me is how some Christians say they are not Christians but rather Christ-followers (which is a great term and I use it). But sometimes they use it as if to say…”see, I’m not like those people who call themselves ‘Christians’.”
The funny thing is that non-believers are not fooled. You’re still a Christian in their mind.
It’s when they see the difference in how you live out your life that they will say…”yeah, you’re different.”
Again, thanks for the encouragement that it’s OK to call yourself a Christian.
Chris, if you are looking for an example of public confession try the Confession Booth scene in Blue Like Jazz. And confession for evangelism’s sake was unfortunate word choice. How about “confessing for the sake of building relationship”?
Hi Larry,
I did think of the Confession Booth scene in BLJ, and I wondered about posting this essay at BWC because I know of Don’s roots here. I know a lot of people were inspired by that scene (and I include myself in that group), but I guess I might have some of the same questions about that as I do Tse’s approach. I may not be able to say this at BWC without offending, but just because the believers at Reed did this doesn’t necessarily make it right.
I know the Bible doesn’t tell us everything about our lives, but I try to orient my posture in life towards Scriptural principle or example where it does speak. And I still struggle to see how public confession to the world fits in the teachings of Jesus or the evangelism of the gospels or the relational approach of the apostles. I see how proclamation of Jesus and the gospel fits in, or how budding relational evangelism can work, or how humility and grace can lower people’s defenses, or how confession within the church can bring healing.
I don’t think I’m saying God can’t use public confession to bring people to Himself; maybe just that there’s a better way to build relationships without bringing some potential baggage.
I don’t mean to go back and forth too much on this, so I’ll leave the final word to you if you have one. Thanks for the conversation!
When I first saw this video I was unsure of what to think. At first I think my defenses stood up and I hated it. Then, I stop to think about it and saw some highlights. Lastly, I wondered if my initial reaction was right.
Then I prayed.
And I realized that if someone talked to/about our wives the way most people talk to/about the bride of Christ we would be furious.
your comment reminded me of a quote it says something like.. “the church is the only army that kills its wounded, in war when a soldier is hurt he’s taken care for, protected. We(the church) kick them out.”
Couldn’t agree more with what you said. We aren’t called to hide each others faults but to protect, love and restore.
I completely agree with this article. There is a modern shift towards public confession and jumping on the bandwagon to agree with the world’s view of Christianity. And while we will all agree that people have done stupid and even horrible things in the name of Christ, I don’t think these public confessions will ultimately have the result some intend. As you said in one of your comments, Chris, the power of the Gospel is within speaking of Christ and how wonderful He is.
The concern is that we allow the world, whom Jesus says will hate us anyway, to define for us what the Church or Christianity is all about. That in our efforts to enter into some sort of discussion or dialogue to appear reasonable or even compassionate, we give credence to the opinion of the world, which is by nature against God. Give credence to and declare God’s view and people will be drawn to Christ, not drawn into a litany of abuses that place the focus more on us than on Him.
Chris,
This is very refreshing. The conversation on public confession to non-believers aside, it seems we tend to want to criticize Christian unlike ourselves, church history, those making apology, those not making apology, our any number of other things. This is the trend these days; but you’ve made a strong effort to bring it back to a view through the gospel and biblical understanding. By doing this, we Christians remember that these issues are not just about how we do church today, a movement, or debate, but instead about Christ and his church (which he is building). It should also remind us that sanctification is a process, I think both corporately and individually.
Thanks!
Bryan
I think there’s something to owning the sins of your people for the sake of others. While I haven’t necessarily been guilty of all the things said in the video, I have chosen to identify myself with a group of people and a long history of people who follow the same God who are.
I am willing to do the same being white and being American things I have no control over.
I’m not sorry for being a Christian, but I am sorry that people have used Christianity to hurt others. I’m not sorry that I’m white but I am sorry that there’s a history of white people who have hurt others based on race. I’m not sorry for being American, but I am sorry for many of the things my country has done supposedly for my sake.
Perceived hurts can be a huge barrier…even if I haven’t personally done the wrongs I am a representative of the Church when I say I’m a Christian. There’s no room for false pride. As long as such confessions are heartfelt and made in love, I think there is a place for them.
Its hard to know, but it feels indiscriminate…I believe there is something incredibly powerful about face-to-face/one to another/auricular confession…if blue-jazzed memory serves me correctly, that was part of the beauty of the Reed story – a booth, right?
Another poet, David Whyte, refers to always needing to explain yourself/apologize for yourself as a ‘gospel of despair’…yes, the audience clapped in the moment for Chris, but I wonder what kind of feeling they were left with when they got home…
Thanks for the post, CT.
i’m glad this is a conversation that has been brought up, especially at a site where blue like jazz has probably been read by many who follow BWC, myself included. don’s book was monumental in my life, but it is so critical to evaluate whether the things we are saying and doing match up with what appears in Scripture. this has become such a “cool” Christian thing to do, and i commend you for seeking to spread truth.
I didn’t agree with some of the video. I don’t believe he apologized/regretted being a Christian, that would be reading too much into it. He apologized for the way he/we come across.
In my eyes he apologized for the times in which he didn’t honor Christ or the title “Christian”.
As someone already said we shouldn’t apologize to a world that WILL hate us. But there is a share of people who want to believe in Christ but have been drawn away by Christianity, by Christians like us. I think those are the people Chris Tse is apologizing to, admitting we’re human and that though we’ve made mistakes while professing to be Christians those mistakes aren’t what Christ is about.