June 23, 2010
iEl!' JJortlanii (Observer
Page 19
Judgmental Tone Turns Off Faithful
Pastor reflects
on reasons why
J ake T homas
T he P ortland O bserver
It’s no secret that churches are
hem orrhaging y o ung p eople at a
rapid pace. B ut A dam H am ilton, a
p asto r from K ansas and a u th o r o f
m any books, thinks he know s the
reason w hy.
In his new book, “ W hen C h ris­
tians get it W rong,” H am ilton ex ­
plains that a ju d g m e n ta l, n arro w ­
m inded, and very vocal tone in C hris­
tianity is turning o f f people from the
faith. B ut H am ilton, w ho w as in
P ortland recently for a conference,
has a couple thoughts on how to
change that.
by
W hen do C h ristia n s g e t it
wrong?
describ in g all the people that they
think are living sinfully, w hile failing
to see that the very act o f sending
that letter is a sign that som ething is
no t q u ite right in th eir heart. O ne o f
the ex am p les I give in the b o o k w as
I w as do in g a funeral for a young
m an w ho co m m itted suicide and I
w as try in g to co m fo rt the fam ily. I
had a couple com e up to m e after the
serv ice and said, pastor, you really
blew it w ith this funeral. Y ou should
have told p eople that he w as in hell.
I looked to them and said, do you
k n o w that? I think there is a host o f
other p laces w here they get it w ro n g .
W hen they try to m ake the B ible into
a 2 1 st cen tu ry scientific textbook
instead o f tiy in g to recognize its
p o etry its, its inspiration, and how
it’s not so m uch tel 1 ing us how things
cam e to be bu t w hy. I think w e get it
w ro n g w hen w e think w e know the
m in d o f G o d w h en it co m es to oth er
faiths.
I think C hristians get it w rong
any tim e they stop living like Jesus
did and m ake people feel sm all or
A s a pastor it seems like you
they becom e like the P harisees that need to take some sort o f moral
Jesus really w as in conflict w ith. stand at times. How do you bal­
T h a t’s a natural tendency for us as ance that?
C hristians to begin to ju d g e other
I look at how Jesu s w o u ld go
people, forget w here w e com e from , about doing this. W hen Jesus asso ­
and think it’s really about telling ciated w ith prostitutes he show ed
o th er people how to live there lives them love and grace. So it’s this
as opposed to us trying to live the b alancing act o f show ing his fol­
life that C hrist called us to live- a life low ers the highest standard: love.
o f com passion, ju stic e, and m ercy. E v ery th in g else is m easu red in the
What are some examples o f that? light o f love. Jesus also d em o n ­
P eople regularly send m e notes strated w ith his interactions w ith
Adam Hamilton
people w ho w ere no n -relig io u s or
n o m in ally religious this ex trao rd i­
nary grace. T h at’s the thing w e ought
to be about.
What are some issues that Chris­
tians ought to pay more attention
to?
W hen w e talk about C hristian
ethics first o f all w e are talking about
how w e as C hristians live o u r lives,
not how o thers live th eir lives. I t’s
one thing fo r m e to say that this is
w h at Jesus thought in this area o f
that area, bu t w hen it com es to m e
tellin g b ro ad er society that y o u ’re
w ro n g to live this w ay, I think that
starts to get it w rong. I think that w e
should be asking q uestions like,
w h at does ju stic e look like? W hat
does it m ean to love o u r n eighbor?
W hat is the loving th in g to do w ith
each p erson I co m e in co n tact w ith?
It’s ap p ro p riate for C hristians to ask
q uestions ab o u t policies that o ur
co u n try is pu rsu in g that bring harm
to oth er people.
Why are younger people turn­
ing away fro m the church?
I think that part o f the challenge is
w hat th ey ’ve seen o f the C hristian
faith isn’t a reflection o f w hat Jesus
taught or the w ay to live. I’ve heard
over and over again from young adults
that Christians are asking them to
stop thinking or becom e this narrow ­
m inded person w ho m akes other
people feel small. W hen you talk to
young people about Jesus, th ey ’re
like, yeah, Jesus taught som e really
great things; I ju st d o n ’t see Jesus in
m any o f his followers.
B7» r has this narrow mean-spir­
ited tone in Christianity become so
prevalent?
I th in k th e sam e ten d en cy is
p resen t in every religion. I think w e
also live in a very p o larized society
w ith a lot o f people afraid o f changes.
I think it leads us to d em onize the
p eo p le w e are afraid of. I th in k there
is a large group o f p eople w ho w ant
things to be black and w hite. Som e
p eople w ant to k n o w that they and
ev ery o n e like th em are g o in g to
h eaven and ev ery o n e else is going
to hell, and they d o n ’t have to think
ab o u t it.
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