What's at the center of Christianity? (1 of 3)

It's an easy argument that human culture's most influential person has been Jesus of Nazareth.

It's silly, right? He was a typical Jewish Rabbi in a Roman occupied state with a few wise teachings and--allegedly--some unexplainable acts, like healing diseases, restoring sight for the blind, and commanding the weather with his voice.

Let's put aside whether we think he actually performed those miracles. We know what he didn't do: He didn't lead an army. He didn't run for office. Nor did he write a book. On the contrary, he was executed over some theological objections to some of his teachings' implications. On paper, you or I should be more famous.

Nonetheless, this otherwise trivial contributor to human history is quite relevant--to history, to religion, to politics, and to culture, and will continue to be into the next few millennia. Why?

Something convinced those men and women who made up his first followers that he was alive despite his public hanging, and that he was God incarnate (God in human form). They started telling people. As a result, here I stand today, one of a couple billion who thinks this guy is it.

In one sense, that's what Christianity is, to think that Jesus is the one, the man who is not like other humans, the human who shows us the face of God.

Yet we don't seem to pay attention.

I'd like to spend my first three posts exploring a pressing question: Why do we treat the Bible as the center of Christianity when Jesus of Nazareth should be?

You may think I'm asking a stupid question; the Bible is the authoritative book about Jesus, so the more central Jesus is, the more important the Bible, right? I affirm that statement. But I've observed that we often accidentally replace Jesus with the Bible at the center of our faith thoughts instead of explaining him with it.

Often on weekdays I listen to a radio program called “Back to the Bible.” Now, setting aside that this program sometimes has very little to do with getting back to the Bible, why would Christians want to title a radio show like this in the first place? Why not call it, “Back to who Jesus Is” or “Back to what the Bible has to say about Jesus”? Last week on this show they talked for two entire days about one single verse of Job, scrutinizing over the sequence of Job mourning and shaving his head and worshiping. Little to no mention of Jesus. Whaaa??

Once again, I say: What are we putting at the center? “Back to the Bible” is the not a fringe show. In fact, I'd say "Back to the Bible" represents the way most serious Christians think about their faith, if not all the time then some of the time.

I suggest we be more careful to depend on what the Bible says about our all-encompassing almighty master instead of depending on the Bible as the all-encompassing almighty master. The difference can be difficult to see.

In the next post, I'll talk about the kinds of questions the Bible has answers for.

(Click here for part 2.)