Because of being a part of the blogging community for a few years now, I had been vaguely aware of the name of Shane Clairborne, and have to admit that I would not have chosen to go and listen to him speak. As sometimes happens however, after agreeing to take my daughter to what she thought was a concert for Rend Collective Experiment (a band she heard and liked at a summer camp), it turned out in actual fact to be primarily a platform for Shane Claiborne to promote his message.
Admittedly my initial reaction when I sat down and realised what I had actually attended, was to leave immediately, but because I felt a little guilty of pre-judging (and my ticket had been paid for), I decided to hear what he had to say. What follows is my honest assessment of the event for anyone else considering going to the tour elsewhere.
Firstly the music was led by an Irish band called Rend Collective Experiment, who I have to admit were very good. It could be debated as to whether or not the music could have been considered valid praise and worship in a communal setting, but the words of the songs were Gospel centred and doctrinally sound, accompanied by extremely well performed folk rock/pop type music. All in all I thought they were very good, and after listening to them, I was sort of half hoping to be proved wrong about Shane Claiborne, and the message I expected him to preach.
My first impressions of Shane Claiborne, leaving his appearance out of the equation entirely (my assessment is about the content of his message, not his wardrobe!), is that he is a warm, friendly guy with a good sense of humour. Nothing at all gave me reason to question his sincerity, and the passion in his message bordered on being infectious. I also found myself in full agreement with the points he made about the need for true Christian faith to impact the world around it in love. But I’m afraid from that point onwards, we parted company completely.
From a very early point in the message, it was clear that whilst Claiborne is very familiar with the Scriptures, it is abundantly clear that much stronger emphasis is given to the way we live as Christians, than what it is we believe. In fairness he did remark that he felt it important what we believe, but the overall content of his message made it crystal clear that he deems it far more important the way in which we live. The problem is though, this is probably true of a large majority of other professing Christians too.
The overall bulk of this guy’s message is to encourage Christians to the good works of feeding the poor, sheltering the homeless, and comforting the outcast. Obviously these are all good works that Christians should be well known for, but not at the cost of neglecting the more “menial” good works we are all called to, such as being good parents, husbands, wives, employees etc., and generally responsible citizens. It was clear to me that Claiborne does not hold the same view in this, and in his desire to promote a “radical” faith, virtually throws common sense out of the nearest window.
My exhortation to anyone desiring to listen to this guy’s message, would be to seriously think twice if you’re not completely familiar with the Gospel message of Christ crucified, for the message Claiborne preaches smells extremely sweet, and yet in reality is nothing more than a “social” gospel with no power to save sinners at all. Yes it’s absolutely true that if there were more people like Shane Claiborne in this world, then it would probably be a much nicer place in which to live. There would probably be less hungry mouths to feed, less homeless people on the streets, and a more equal distribution of wealth if he had any political power. But couldn’t the same be said of a multitude of socialist figures in the past with absolutely no faith in Christ whatsoever?
The Gospel is not about making the world a better place as Shane Claiborne would have you believe, but it is about saving sinners from the coming wrath of God upon this fallen world. God does not have a dream that He desires to shape the world into through our hands, as was the remark of Claiborne in his message, but He has proclaimed His intention to judge the world in righteousness, following which He will make all things new. Contrary to the claims of Claiborne, the kingdom of Christ is being established in the hearts of His people on earth, whereby they are purchased by His redeeming blood, and given over to being slaves of righteousness. But those who are saved by grace, through faith in Christ, look forward to a coming kingdom where only righteousness shall dwell, that shall only be revealed after His return to judge the living and the dead.
By all means, be stirred up to serve your neighbour radically in love. But don’t let this be at the cost of the main desire of your heart being to call the lost to repentance and faith in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. For without that forgiveness through the sacrifice of Christ, all you are doing is sending people to hell with a full stomach.
PDF Possibly related posts:
