Here’s part of what he said…
“Tiger Woods will recover as a golfer. Whether he can recover as a person, I think is a very open question, and it’s a tragic situation with him. He’s lost his family, it’s not clear to me whether he’ll be able to have a relationship with his children, but the Tiger Woods that emerges once the news value dies out of this scandal, the extent to which he can recover, it seems to me, depends on his faith. He’s said to be a Buddhist, I don’t think that faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by the Christian faith, so my message to Tiger would be ‘Tiger, turn to the Christian faith, and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world.’” –Brit Hume, January 3, 2010 on Fox News Sunday
In case there was any question about what he meant, he had this to say…
“Christianity is uniquely and especially about redemption and forgiveness. That is what the cornerstone of what the faith is about. Now other faiths aren’t hostile to the idea, but think of what the message of Christ and Christianity is. It is that the God of the universe sent His only begotten Son, who died a hideous death on the cross, to atone for all of our sins. And we are thereby offered through that act a new covenant in which we are offered forgiveness and redemption on a continuing basis in return for our faith in God and our continuing efforts to live the Christian life. That is a unique doctrine.”–Brit Hume, January 5 on WTOP News Radio
Brit got it right. The Christian faith is built on grace received by faith in Christ alone. It is unique. It is amazingly gracious.
It is sad and odd to me that people would be offended by this.
There are a lot of people turned off by Christianity and to some extent I can understand why. When some people think of Christianity, they think of judgmental mean-spirited hypocritical people. Before I became a Christian that was more or less how I felt about believers.
The problem is not entirely with those that do not believe in Jesus. Part of the confusion and misunderstanding about Christianity is that Christians are mistaken about their faith.
Jesus said in Luke 9:23, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”
Many Christians see that as a personal challenge and as a degree of accomplishment that gives them a right standing with God. They wrongly think, “Hey, I’m giving up my stuff so I am good with God and now God owes me.” This creates pride, a critical spirit, and the general negative view the lost world has of Christianity.
What Jesus is calling for is surrender, not accomplishment. This is the irony of Christianity. While all other religions of the world demand their adherents earn their way into the rewards of the deity, Christians simply surrender and are saved by the accomplished work of the God.
Once we give up on our inability to save ourselves, we can be saved. We find life in the death of our plans and gain ultimate direction by simply following Jesus through Scripture and the indwelling Holy Spirit.
No comments:
Post a Comment