Hasn’t the church done more harm than good?

In light of the tragic events in Brussels yesterday, we might find people around us asking whether religion is inherently harmful—and Christianity is not exempt from that critique. “The church” has not had a flawless track record either. We can think of sexual abuse scandals that have racked a number of prominent denominations. We can think of the medieval Crusades, the Inquisition of the 1500s and 1600s, or the 20th-century Troubles in Northern Ireland. And we can think of hypocrisy and judgmentalism, which has hit the headlines time and time again. Looking at all this, no wonder so many of our friends, neighbors and colleagues suppose the church is more trouble than it’s worth. How can we best answer this common objection?

As Christians, it is very important that we acknowledge the times when Christians have done wrong in the name of Christ. We also need to distinguish between those who were truly Christians and gravely mistaken and those who claimed to be Christians, acted in the name of “the church”, but in fact were not living with Christ as their King and Savior and did not seek to live by what he says in the Bible. We must not deny that such things have happened. There have been many occasions in which Christians have not honored the name of their Lord. Trying to whitewash this will not help at all.

But as we are honest about these failings, it is helpful to remember some key gospel truths.

Remember: Common grace and sin are universal

Both common grace and sin are universal. By common grace, we mean the fact that though everyone is a sinner, no one is as sinful as they could be, all the time: God has restrained us. We are still capable of being caring friends and productive workers, all the while being in rebellion against God. And at the same time, giving up our rebellion against God and coming under his rule—joining his church—does not mean we cease to be sinful. None of us will be perfect until the day we stand before Christ when he returns.

None of us will be perfect until the day we stand before Christ when he returns.

This means that there will always be instances of human goodness outside the church, and instances of sin within it. Our concern is not to try to prove that every Christian is always better than every non-Christian. It is inevitable that no Christian lives out the gospel with complete consistency. We should not settle for that, but we do need to admit that.

Remember: The Bible critiques hypocrites

We also need to remember that the Bible frequently and powerfully critiques the sins of hypocrisy and self-righteousness. The Old Testament prophets spent far more time condemning the sins of God’s people than those of the nations around them. Jesus’ own strongest condemnations were against the religious, not the irreligious. Inevitable though Christian inconsistency may be, we are never to make peace with it. When Christians are being violent and judgmental, they are being so not in obedience to Jesus, but in defiance of what he taught us.

Far worse and far better

Alongside the failings of Christians and churches have been many instances where the gospel has been truly reflected. Yes, the church has been guilty of wrong. It is most likely far worse than we’ve realized, because not every failing reaches the light of day. But if the church has been far worse than we might think, it has also been far better too. It was Christians—Bible-believing people—who spearheaded the movement to abolish slavery. It was early Christians who bought slaves in order to set them free. It was Christians who were at the heart of the civil rights movement in the USA, and Christians who led the reconciliation movement in post-apartheid South Africa. Today, a huge amount of charitable and relief work takes place throughout the world through Christian agencies, often unreported and unnoticed.

At the end of the day, it is not the church we preach, but Christ.

The church has done harm, because the church is made up of sinful people. But that is not the whole story, because the church is made up of saved people who are being made more and more like Jesus. And, at the end of the day, it is not the church we preach, but Christ. It is his life, death and resurrection—not our track record—that we take our stand on, and that we strive to point people to, both with our words and with our deeds.

This is adapted from Sam Allberry’s new book, Why bother with Church? (The Good Book Company, 2016), which is available from The Good Book Company and through Amazon.

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