Pastoral Response to Religious Controversy

Pastoral Response to Religious Controversy

What are we to do with the Jesus Family Tomb, the DaVinci Code, the Haggard Scandal, etc.?

By David Drury

It is a Saturday at 10:30 PM and I am quite unlike most pastors at this particular hour. Most other pastors are either a) asleep already or b) at their church running through their messages, one last time honey, before—if it doesn’t go well—they go through it once again in the morning. These correspond to those pastors who, unlike me, are a) over forty years old or b) a senior pastor and preaching tomorrow. I am not preaching tomorrow. Instead, I will be what large churches call “the announcements guy.” I’ll get up and do the announcements, which we call the “strategic concerns.” Only the people in the church find them to be less strategic than getting some extra sleep that morning—which is why they will come ten minutes late and miss the announcements. Unless it snows—and they may elect not to come at all.

I will attempt to deliver the aforementioned strategic concerns with concise efficiency and pastoral charm in two services in the morning at one of our “worship venues” which is sorta like a rock concert with preaching in it—the kind of service that Jesus would lead, if Jesus was really into Eddie Van Halen. On Sunday night I will also be the “announcements guy” for a video venue where I am the venue pastor. A video venue is a smaller place of worship within a large church where people can become more intentionally and conveniently connected with each other, without inconveniently becoming connected with the senior pastor, who is broadcasted on a huge screen for the message. In our case my gifted senior pastor, who in person would admit to you he is anything but tall, appears to be the size of Shaquille O’Neil at the foul line with a mauve Thinline NIV instead of a basketball.

SO, I’m not doing what most pastors would be doing right now—as I only have to do announcements tomorrow in three venues, and these marginally strategic concerns don’t require much brain power. Because of that I am thinking about other things than most pastors. I am thinking about religious controversy. You see, tomorrow many people will view a new documentary about “The Jesus Family Tomb” by James Cameron of Titanic fame. This documentary has created a bit of religious controversy this week. The Today Show, Larry King show and the Ellen Degeneres show for all I know have all gone gang-busters over this documentary (which is a bit like saying you’re fascinated with the color gray). It’s getting a fair bit of exposure these days, and will continue to receive it as long as out of sheer guilt our reporters give us short breaks from the constant Anna Nicole Smith coverage.

I suppose I could re-hash all of the reasons the Jesus Family Tomb theory is quite refutable. However, many others are doing that with great skill and aplomb. Far more interesting to me, and perhaps more commensurate with my station in life, is what should a pastor do about it. I love all the academic positioning in response to these things. I love seeing guys with PhD’s and tenure civilly bicker on each other’s blogs. Except that I’m just a pastor in a church wondering “so what”—how does this affect my people?

SO, really, how does this affect my people? Here’s how, and here’s how I think I should respond:

My people are irritated by religious controversies. I think this is the first reaction to something like the Jesus Family Tomb documentary. Most of the people in my church aren’t stupid.[1] They weren’t born yesterday. They know just because there’s a pseudo-scientific documentary made it on TV that doesn’t make it true—any more than they think Leonardo DiCaprio was really on the Titanic. They know that sometimes famous preachers like Ted Haggard are secret sleaze-bags. They know that the DaVinci Code is just a fast-paced fiction novel—even if its author doesn’t know that. The first thing I need to remember, as a pastor, is that my people aren’t looking for me to make a religious mountain out of every controversial molehill. I should exercise caution as a pastor when it comes to preaching on religious controversies, or even bringing them up unless someone else does. Controversies come and go—Christ says the same. This past Wednesday I met with my men’s group at 6 AM. They meet with me weekly at that time for deep Bible study and prayer, and also to make fun of how I, as a pastor, apparently only work on Sundays. This joke has a longer shelf-life than a Ramen Noodle package. SO, when I asked my group on Wednesday if they had seen the reports of the Jesus Family Tomb, which I had researched extensively on one of my several routine days off this week, a total of just TWO of them raised their hands. Out of 9 guys only two heard of it. I was surprised. Then I described it—and the rest of them chipped in their thoughts. I was surprised again—didn’t they just say they hadn’t seen it? Well, come to find out every single one of them had heard of the report or read an article but they changed the channel or turned the page before they got into it. The story just irritated them. It was no big deal. About half of them were a bit irritated that I had brought it up, in fact.

My people are asked questions about religious controversies. Of course some of the people in my church, simply because other people know them as Christian-types, are asked questions when the controversies come up. People say—and by people I’m in this moment picturing a guy in a trucker hat who has a wad of chewing tobacco in his lip—“how about that Haggard fella? What do you make of that scum-bag? I think all those preacher types are just out to make money, you know, and this guy proves it.” Because of these questions directed to my people I do have some sense of responsibility to equip them to answer them. They may already feel completely equipped—as they likely are in the Haggard case. But in situations such as the Jesus Family Tomb claim, I may need to do some homework for them to be better educated. Here I have a pastoral responsibility to assess the severity of the controversy or conspiracy being drummed up. In the case of this recent documentary, you might say the severity is of extreme importance. A potential discovery of the authentic tomb of Jesus is crucial to Christianity, of course. And of course the inferences in this one which cast doubt on the Christian narrative in Scripture are of crucial severity as well. I would hate if that same bumbling trucker hat fella said to one of my people, “Well, I heard they found that them there bones of Jesus… and a wife and child too! Ha! I knew it was all a bunch of hogwash” and then they had no response for him. Severe false accusations deserve swift but stable responses—and I want to be sure the people in my church are able to give that response if needed. These questions of course are great opportunities for my people as well. A religious controversy in the newspapers may offer a great opportunity to actually talk about spiritual things at work or school. My people can be equipped to make the most of such opportunities.

My people have their faith challenged by religious controversies. Some of the people in my church may actually have their faith challenged by such controversies. A fallen TV preacher is one thing—but other claims may be more cutting to core beliefs. So far archeology has done more for faith-strengthening than anything else. But in the future there will no doubt be similar finds like the so-called “Jesus Family Tomb” that can be mis-interpreted. Other writings by false teachers in the first few centuries will no doubt be discovered. There is a delicate pastoral balance we must walk in such situations because just elaborating on the controversy itself may stress out the weak faith of some new Christians. They might gloss over on the details and walk away having their faith chipped away at. The best opportunity as a pastor in these cases is to clarify the core of our faith. One of the greatest weaknesses of Christianity today is that too many things are considered core to faith. The list of close-to-creedal concerns is too long. Another pastor from here in West Michigan calls this “bricks” thinking. A Christian builds a wall of faith made out of bricks—each one representing another belief, another truth considered crucial to their understanding of Jesus and the Bible. Then someone comes along and “pulls out a few bricks” and the wall begins to crumble. Religious controversies give us a pastoral opportunity to point out this problem and help people rebuild a more structurally sound house of faith, perhaps out of the wood of the cross this time. The DaVinci code was a good example in this regard. Yes—the holes in that story were wide enough to drive a cement truck through—but the core claim, that Jesus was married, is an example of a faith brick no one needed to disprove. Jesus could have been married and it doesn’t change a thing in the Apostles’ creed. Doesn’t change a thing in Matthew, or Acts, or 1^st Corinthians. That’s a brick that’s unnecessary for my faith and your faith. I have a pastoral responsibility to help my people see that.

So, that’s what I’m thinking about tonight—this is what I’m learning from the Jesus Tomb, the Davinci Code and the Ted Haggard scandal. This and of course that TV preachers would be wise to get their crystal meth and their man love from separate providers.

Oh, and if you’re a pastor reading this on Saturday night, are you really confident you have that message in the bag already? We announcement guys in the video venue are counting on you!

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[1] Yes, I said “Most of the people in my church.” Not all. Surprised? How many people do you know? What percentage of those are stupid?