A Teeny Tiny Faith

My daughter asked me how I can still be a Christian. A good question.

1. Where else am I going to go? — There was a point where Jesus said something so utterly ridiculous that he lost many of his followers (They were quite literally following him around back then). He walked on, when he turned he saw a few still following. He asked them why they were still following him. They responded by saying, “Where else are we going to go?”. I feel this. I see Christians leading people away from Jesus with ridiculousness on a daily basis. Just moments ago someone shared a video with me of a “Christian” pastor screaming that you can’t be Democrat and be a Christian. Ridiculous. But where am I going to go? I’m done enough comparative religion studies.. I’ve dug pretty deep into different philosophies and beliefs systems to be able to weigh my options pretty evenly. But none have been as compelling as simple builder in the Middle East who claimed to be the face of God. It’s completely crazy, but every option is. It’s the best I’ve got. And yes, all the options are truly crazy if you dig far enough. If your response here is, “Yeah but science..” .. keep digging.
2. What does it even mean to be a Christian for me? — There is all of one person who was promised paradise in the Bible: He was one of the guys crucified next to Jesus. He basically leaned over to Jesus and said, “I think you are legit” and Jesus said, “Cool, see you later.” That’s it. No baptism, no belief in the Trinity (that word wouldn’t be invented for a few hundred years), no years of service. I mean, Jesus said this quite a few times through parables. He was warning everyone that they weren’t going to like the people he let into the party. They were everyone else rejected. And yet the modern Evangelical American Christian seems hellbent on creating new ways to keep people away from Jesus. If don’t believe _____ you can’t be in. It’s a weird mix of New and Old Testament law they require. My only governing law is “however you judge people, that’s how you will be judged”. The logical conclusion to that rule is that I’m going to assume everyone is “in” or “saved”.. who am I to judge? My judgement on theology just needs to go through Jesus’s basic filter: Does this make me love God and Neighbor more or less? If less, it’s trash.