The Stepford Christians

Take my heart and please be fair Handle it with loving care For I’m just a puppet on a string You can do ’most anything to me --Puppet On A String, Elvis Presley I'm a bit behind in my movie watching. I just watched the remake of THE STEPFORD WIVES. (Warning: Possible plot revelations ahead if you haven't seen it!) Everything was just too perfect in Stepford ... all of the wives dressed the same, spoke the same, had the same expressions, were enamoured of their husbands, and seemed unable to communicate beyond a set of simple expressions. There was something "too right" about all of it. In the remake, a computer chip had been implanted in all of them in order to control behavior so that they were all the same. Of course it seemed that they were operated / controlled by their husbands. The husbands weren't so perfect a lot, but all that mattered to them was their perfect wives. A male chauvanist paradise that goes awry. I might be tempted to think that we are to be a Stepford Church ... all infused in our brains with the Holy Spirit. We're being driven to become like God, and in so doing we are becoming more alike each day. But when I look at the infant church in the New Testament, I see anything but a Stepford Church. (See my previous post on the Corinthian church for examples!). What a diverse crowd the church was. And what a diverse crowd the church is. In fact, there have been many problems perpetrated upon God's Church by well-meaning Stepford Christians who thought that every Christian had to look just like every other Christian. This applies to terminology used, habits avoided, duties enjoined, and a kind of regimented Christianity that is just a little too perfect. This will never work. I would be willing to bet that when you get down to the bottom of most church troubles, someone wanted everyone else to be replica Stepford Christians in all of their understanding. Marching to the tune of different drummers, we just aren't wired up to be the same. The Apostles weren't the same. Look at any congregation revealed in the New Testament and they weren't made up of exact replicas of each other. Nor were they replicas of Jesus Christ in every way. Why does it bother us to look differently at things? Why does it irk us when one Christian feels the liberty to do something that other Christians feel is taboo? No one can be a Stepford Christian without being a self-righteous person, because he sets himself up as the standard. Before you think I'm being too hard on people, I will confess that I would like other Christians to be just like me. At times I make my understandings the basis of judgement. I make my actions the standard. And I make my thoughts about certain doctrines the orthodox view, and others who dare to break from the mold are to be rejected. At least in recognizing it, I try to fight it. No one can be a Stepford Christian if they study, think, and educate themselves on their own. Only those willing to be puppets ... spoonfed the 'approved' dogma ... can become a part of this imaginary perfect community of believers who never see any issue differently. I've met many Christians who thought that this was heaven. To me, it is more like hell. Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. Romans 14:4