Slideshow image

“Christianity is a crutch.”

[This blog is also cross-posted to MatthewRuttan.com]

This is a criticism we sometimes hear. The words might be different, but the idea is the same. “Believing in God,” the argument goes, “is just a way to make yourself feel better. When someone dies the notion of a peaceful afterlife makes people feel nice, but it isn't based in reality.”

Proponents of this way of thinking also sometimes suggest that belief in an almighty God makes you less concerned with the pain and plight of the world. “Since God has a plan, and since it will all work out in the end, no need to fuss too much about all of these temporary problems.”

I've summarized this viewpoint with the statement “Christianity is a crutch.” Think of someone with a broken leg. The implication is that people of faith have something wrong with them. They deal with their problems by making up beliefs that help them hobble through, a “crutch.”

In this series of podcast episodes and blogs, I'm answering skeptics with short and memorable rebuttals. My hope is that they are so concise that you can remember them and then apply that logic not only to your own thinking, but to your conversations with others. When I say “short and memorable” I don't mean simplistic. I believe these rebuttals are robust. I’m simply trying to use concise (and accurate) phrases that springboard us in the right direction when talking about these challenges to our faith.

So, how might I (and we) respond to the accusation that Christianity is a “crutch”?

Like this: A cross is the opposite of a crutch.

Let me explain.

When skeptics accuse us of our using our faith as a crutch, they wrongly assume that it's only about comfort and convenience. Now, before I continue, let me be clear. Our faith in Jesus is wildly comforting. Because of who he is and what he has done for his people on the cross, he has given us peace, forgiveness and reconciliation with God forever! Death is not the closing of a door, but the opening of one. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ (Romans 8:1). As a free gift, he gives us abundant life while here on earth (John 10:10) and eternal life in the next (John 3:16). There will come a day when every tear will be wiped away, and we will be a part of the “new heavens and the new earth” where paradise is restored and where righteousness dwells (Revelation 21:1-5; 2 Peter 3:13). Praise be to God!

There is also a certain kind of comfort that comes from knowing that God is in control, especially when the world seems to be spiraling out of it. In an existential sense, it is also comforting to know that there is a purpose for my life as the hands and feet of Christ. There may be difficult days, but there are never meaningless ones.

Here's where the cross comes into the equation very directly. In Mark 8:34-35, Jesus says: “If anyone would come after me [meaning, follow him], let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it.”

Wow. That doesn’t sound very much like a crutch to me!

Jesus calls his people to a life of self-denying, self-sacrificial love. In the ancient world, the cross was not yet romanticized. People didn't wear it around their necks on chains or necklaces. It was the ancient equivalent of an electric chair. It was (and is) a very real call to die to self, and to lead a life of love for the glory of God and for the well-being of others. We are to put others above ourselves and even to consider them better than ourselves, as Paul says in Philippians 2:3-4. Our example is Jesus himself (Philippians 2:5-11)—and we all know what happened to him, don't we?

What's more is that Jesus explains we should rejoice in the face of persecution (Matthew 5:11-12), and that we should expect trials and tribulations (John 16:33). Following him is glorious and great, but it's certainly not a picnic. As I've said elsewhere, life is a battleground, not a playground.

And what about the charge that faith makes people dismissive about the pain and plight of the world? Again, this couldn't be further from the truth. Jesus calls his people to love their neighbours as themselves (Mark 12:31) and even to love their enemies and pray for those who persecute them (Matthew 5:44). They should also tend to the hungry, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, and visit the sick and imprisoned (Matthew 25:31-40).

When there are global disasters and crises, who are among the first to take up the cause on the front lines? It's the people who follow Jesus. People of faith have advanced good on this planet in epic proportions. They have advocated for schools and accessible education, set up orphanages, fought slavery, pioneered hospitals, protected the environment, made significant advances in science and medicine, established laws to curtail child labour, sought justice, and fed and clothed the hungry and poor without end. You can't follow Jesus without being the hands and feet of Jesus. He's the head, we're the body. What the head wants, the body does. Are we imperfect and sinful? Absolutely. But we are also on the march. “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

The Puritan pastor Richard Baxter wrote: “The heavenly Christian is the lively Christian.”[i] In other words, if you are truly focused on God’s heavenly kingdom, you will be working diligently for that same kind of kingdom here on earth. You will be “lively” in your pursuit of God-honouring priorities. Those words about “Your kingdom come” won’t just be a prayer, but a mission statement.

So, when I say that a cross is the opposite of a crutch, my meaning is that although God most definitely gives peace and comfort to his people, there is also difficulty and self-sacrifice. A life following Jesus includes many comforts, but it also includes a cross. This is often painful and challenging, not a cake walk. Through it all, however, there is no higher calling. There is no higher peace. And there is no higher joy.

David Brainerd was a seventeenth missionary. He wrote: “Oh, that I might never loiter on my heavenly journey!”[ii] May that be our own attitude as well.

"Lord, let us rest in the joy, peace and purpose you give to your people, but give us strength and zeal to be your hands and feet, leading lives of self-denial and self-sacrificial love.”

A cross is the opposite of a crutch.