DID YOU THROW THE BABY OUT WITH THE BATH WATER?

Wikipedia says, “If you throw the baby out with the bath water, you lose the good parts of something as well as the bad parts, because you reject it as a whole instead of just removing what is bad.”

Many people have seen the bad parts of Christianity and thrown it all out.  Jesus is out, God is out, the church is out.  It’s all out.

Let’s explore for a minute some of the good reasons to throw out the bathwater of religion. 

Christianity has been sold to many as a way to secure a ticket to heaven…period.   So you just “ask Jesus into your heart” and you are one of the lucky ones who has a corner of the truth and your future is secured.  There is no rub in your personal life.  There is no need to love the people around you (even, or especially, if they are different than you).  There is no need to be inclusive, to manage money and the earth’s resources responsibly.  Thereis no need to forgive others.  You just have your ticket.  

Any thinking person knows this all seems like dirty water that should be thrown out.

Christianity has been used to cloak patriarchy in the authority of God.  It’s been used to subjugate women as the “weaker sex’, It was not illegal to beat your wife in the US until 1920.   Women were not allowed to get their own credit cards or apply for loans until 1974.  Most denominations still do not allow women to serve in positions of leadership.  I remember sitting in my college theology class being told women do not have the gift of teaching and are not allowed to teach (unless, of course it is to children).   In many Islamic countries women must wear black robes over their whole bodies and faces, they are not allowed to pursue education or work outside their homes.  All of this and much more is carried out using the ideology of religion. God has placed men at the top of the pyramid of power.  Women are always UNDER them.   

This is dirty water that should be thrown out.

Much of religion is treated as private club with very strict rules about who can join.  If you are straight, if you are white, if you dress like us and talk like us, you’re “in”.  But if you’re gay or disabled, or black, or smelly, you’re not so “in”.  

Since God is a God of diversity and inclusion you know this is dirty water and should be thrown out.

Many religions reject science.  They insist that the Bible (every single word) is accurate and true.  Therefore, the earth was created in a literal 7 days.  In the past is was the conviction that the earth was flat. Galileo was imprisoned for having the audacity to insist that the science he had discovered proving the earth was round was true.     

You know this is dirty water and you threw it out.

Many of you have been judged, ostracized, and diminished by the church.  You have a gay kid, or a trans kid, you were mentally ill and caused a fuss during worship service and therefore, you were made to know that you were not welcome.  

You knew that was dirty water and you threw it out.  

Some of you have experienced times of great grief.  The church you were part of for years was absent in your need.

You knew that was dirty water and you threw it out.

Richard Rohr says in his book ‘Jesus’ Plan for a New World’ “Americans have, like few people, known two hundred years of massive cultural idolatry.  We think that our country, our form of government, our way of doing things fell straight from heaven, as if it were God’s plan for the world.” 

If you go to a rodeo, a school board meeting, a city council meeting, or a sports event you will smell the strong odor of Christianity.  We pray to begin.  We mention God and the Bible often.  We equate being a patriot of America to being a good Christian.   

So in your gut you knew all this was dirty water and you threw it out.   

Brutal horror and atrocities were committed in the name of religion during the time of slavery.   Human beings were owned like horses or cows. Over 2 million human beings were enslaved in the United States.  The Nazis actually studied our system of enslavement to validate their treatment of the Jews.   They were property to be used for the financial gain of their masters.  Many of these masters claimed to be Bible- reading, God-believing Christians.  They condoned slavery using vague out-of-context verses in the Bible.

You knew that was dirty water and you threw it out.

You are right to throw it out.  It is corrupt and nothing like the heart of God.  Jesus was enraged by these structures of evil.  He called them out and lived a life diametrically opposed to them.  

BUT, I want to challenge you to ask yourself if, in throwing out the water,  you also threw out the baby. 

Jesus is nothing like this evil, oppressive, arrogant, aristocratic religion.

 Jesus saw dirty little kids and put them on his lap and valued them. Jesus crossed cultural lines constantly.  Jesus touched the untouchables and brought healing and hope to them.  Women were among some of Jesus’ best friends.   He threw big parties and absolutely everyone was welcome.  Jesus flew in the face of religious structures, politics, and wealth.  He took his place as a servant.  He washed feet instead of demanding his be washed.  He cried with those who wept and rejoiced with those who rejoiced.  No one was diminished.   All were welcome.   

You were right to know the water that was dirty needed to be thrown out.  But Jesus did not need to be thrown out with that water.  If you leave Jesus, where else is there to go? 

We can live our lives endlessly entertaining ourselves. We can bury ourselves in our careers.  We can spend money as if there was no limit.  But that bag full of stuff we bring home, or that Netflix series we binged on, the substance we use to numb ourselves to reality, the career in which we excel, that beauty we zealously maintain are all empty substitutes for the real thing.   

Just consider that there might be something there.  Something like the baby that you threw out.  Something that’s worth seeking.  The dirty water needs to go.  But not the baby.