How can God be good when the Church is so bad?

By Dan Paterson

Photo by Iurii Laimin: https://www.pexels.com/photo/waves-splashing-in-ocean-14431434/

Christians behaving badly has become a serious barrier to becoming one. Why would you want to worship a God if some of his followers perform such outrageous acts? If Christianity is true then shouldn’t we expect Christians to be better?

Jesus saved his strongest warnings about judgment for those who were misrepresenting God, and exposed some religious leaders as whitewashed tombs, where the renovated public image was really just masking the stench of the moral corpse inside. So if you are protesting the evils of the church, were you to read the gospels, you might be surprised to find you have an ally in Jesus.

But Jesus wouldn’t say that Christians behaving badly should stop you from becoming one. Why? Because the Church exists for something beautiful. Jesus launched the church to be the epicentre of God’s work in the world. To be the hands and feet of God’s love.

Many times across history, when Christians have used their freedom to follow Jesus’ script, the Church has been beautiful, and has bequeathed immeasurable goods to the world. Jesus vision for the Church is worth believing in.

Which is why the litany of sacred crimes, then, although perpetrated by Christians, is a betrayal of Christianity.

The problem is not that they were being Christian, it’s that they weren’t being Christian enough.

Here is the crux of the problem: Freedom. When you become a Christian, God doesn’t remove your freedom. And since God’s endgame requires that we be transformed to become wise moral agents who can rule the new creation with Jesus, that future depends upon our free participation. So God cannot remove our freedom and still achieve those ends, even if it would circumvent religious evils. And so the problem of a bad church somewhat mimics the problem of evil. So I don’t see a bad church as evidence against the truth of the Christian story.

In a tragic way, Christians behaving badly ends up being a kind of dark evidence for the truth of the Christian story, since one of the central claims of Christianity is that despite being created for good by God, all of us have become damaged by evil. We all fall short of who we were created to be. Evil is not a uniquely Christian problem; it is a universally human problem.

This is where we get to the heart of the gospel. Christianity is not about being a good person. It may result in that, but being good enough for God is no gospel. Rather the opposite is true; Christianity is about God loving bad people. Where through the cross God invites bad people to experience the transforming power of grace.

Which is why the Church is no showroom for perfect saints; it is a hospital for sinners.

Now if you are reading this and have been hurt deeply be religious people. I’m so sorry. I wish I could undo what was done to you. But you are not alone in your pain. Jesus knows intimately how you feel, since it was the religious establishment in his own community whose dark actions of betrayal and injustice led to his brutal execution. So please, don’t judge Jesus based on those who have misrepresented him.

As for the Church? Jesus is not done with her yet. As broken as she can sometimes seem, Jesus loves the Church and is committed to making her beautiful and a beacon of hope for the world.

Article excerpt taken from How can God be good when the Church is so bad? by Dan Paterson, Copyright © 2021. Used by permission of Questioning Christianity. Full article at: https://www.questioningchristianity.com/resources/goodgodbadchurch?rq=hypocrisy