Seven Lies Christians Tell

Tony Kriz had a piece in Christianity Today some while ago about the lies Christians tell when they evangelize, or, as he puts, about “How to talk about your faith without being a total jerk.”  He’s writing from an evangelical point of view; but I thought his points were worth talking about from a Catholic point of view.  You’ll want to read his piece first (it’s short) to get his descriptions of the “seven lies”.

1. We lie when we claim we are more confident than we really are.  I admit I do try to write with a confident tone, but as regards the truth of the Catholic faith, I’m actually pretty confident.  Mind you, I’ve spent five decades getting to this point.

2. We lie when we claim that unexplainable things are in fact explainable.  Last Sunday was Trinity Sunday, and the joke is that no priest can preach a homily on the Trinity without uttering at least one material heresy.  It’s too easy to misspeak. But the fact is, Catholics are comfortable with “mysteries,” as we call them.  God is, in fact, wholly beyond us; what we know, we know only because of His revelation, and that often imperfectly.  None of the explanations of the Trinity we have even begin to comprehend the reality, though they can be interesting and helpful.

3. We lie when we don’t acknowledge our doubts within the drama of faith.  I count this as a repeat of “Lie” #1.  In any event, what Kriz expresses as doubts I would call questions for further study.    That I don’t have a good answer (or a good enough answer) off of the top of my head doesn’t constitute a doubt.

4. We lie when we pretend like the Bible doesn’t say some really nasty things when in fact it does.  And this is true; so we mustn’t do that.

5. We lie when we claim we understand other beliefs, faiths and world views. Here I’ll simply note that there’s a middle ground between knowing nothing and knowing everything about something.  I would never claim to know everything about Islam, but I do claim to know something about it.  On the other hand, people are even more varied than world views are.  I might know something about some particular world view, but people are frequently baffling.

6. We lie when we claim that all of our beliefs are a “10”.  Here he’s ranking doctrines on how important they are, and claiming that some are more important than others.  He’s right, which is why the Church talks about the hierarchy of truths.

7. Finally, and most importantly, we lie (insidious and barbaric lying) when we pretend like we really, really, really love the other person when in fact we don’t.  It’s certainly easy to talk the talk without walking the walk.  The thing to remember, though, is that it isn’t about whether my feelings match my demeanor; it’s about whether my actions match my demeanor.  If I don’t listen but instead spend the time formulating my next speech, as Kriz notes, then I’m not loving no matter how brightly I smile.  Then Kriz goes on to say that I’m truly loving a person I’ll find their stories riveting, and them shockingly beautiful and fascinating.  If I were fully imbued with the charity of Christ I might find them so, but in the real world many people are boring and dull and unlovable. That’s why listening to them is so hard and why actually listening properly to them is such an act of love.  True love is listening when you don’t want to…or hanging on a cross for the people who shouted “Crucify him!”

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Kriz ends with a plea for friendship rather than division, and to that I can only say, “Hear, hear.”  Polarization isn’t helpful.

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photo credit: MADONNE TABERNACOLI CRUCIFISSI_MADONNAS TABERNACLE CRUCIFIX 132 via photopin (license)