Why Jesus Cult?

Independently, friends of mine, fellow Christians as well as atheists, have recently described free church circles as a “Jesus cult.” Not across the board, but according to concrete experience. I myself had recognized it that way for quite some time. There is talk of a Jesus cult when something sectarian and unreflective is recognized. This almost blind focus on Jesus is suspect to many.

I myself changed the perspective every now and then. From the times when I was very active in free churches, I naturally know such objections. How did I react then? Well, I have tried to refute the arguments. “It’s not like I’m blind,” “we don’t do it that way,” and the like. However, a stale taste always remained in the mouth. The objections were not unjustified.

Everyone believes for himself

At the very beginning of this paper, I would like to state that everyone can have his faith only for himself and before the face of God (Rom 14:22). You don’t put your trust in your church or congregation, not in the pastor or minister, but in God alone. That’s all it takes. This is between you and God, who blesses us in Christ, chooses us, predestines us, graces us, gives us redemption through His blood and forgiveness of offenses according to the riches of His grace – and much more (Eph 1:3-12).

Everyone believes for himself alone, because there is no other way. So here is the differentiation: each one stands as an individual in this grace. Everyone stands before God himself. In the community, however, we can support each other. We share the same calling and the same grace (Phil 1:7). In the community we meet as called and share the richness, learn, support each other, make possible many forms of togetherness. The desired result: we can bring life and faith to maturity in each other’s fellowship (1 Cor. 13:10-12, Eph. 4:11-13).

Up to this point, it’s a concept. The foundation is excellent. However, it is implemented in the respective community culture. This is yet another step. In the community, the concept is adapted. This results in the community culture and the way we interact with each other. Naturally, a certain degree of synchronization also takes place here, usually for pragmatic reasons. However, conformity is not the goal, otherwise one adheres to an ideology and no longer cultivates a living faith.

Now we should distinguish carefully: Faith is always personal. A church does not believe – it is only people who can believe. If I feel comfortable in a particular community, it’s because of the community culture. The same is true when I feel uncomfortable somewhere. Church or community culture is not to be equated with the message of God’s grace.

So if any people run away after an encounter with Christians, it usually has little to do with the core of the biblical message (unless the teaching is slanted). However, it has a lot to do with community culture. People turn away from beliefs and lifestyles that seem alien to life. A Jesus cult is alien to life.

What faith means at its core and how it is lived are two different things. Let’s take a closer look at the differences. This can help to better understand the term “Jesus cult” and many other religious varieties.

Rhapsody

Form and content always play together. There is a form that has almost no content anymore. The less content there is, the more form comes to the fore. One can try to compensate for a lack of content by gushing. Instead of lack of content, it can be insecurity or some other deficiency. Enthusiasm always meets some kind of need. That is a neutral statement. However, gushing has no place in a healthy faith.

I see a gushing in congregations happening in two directions: On the one hand, a charismatic fervor in which the Holy Spirit replaces God, and on the other hand, a Jesus cult in which Jesus takes the place of God. Both are projections and seek to derive legitimacy from the Bible. The variants are favored by the dogma of the Trinity and both are wrong in focus.

Religiosity is a soap bubble

The term “faith” is quite neutral. Both Hebrew and Greek, the original languages of the Bible, are about trust. Believing something is the same as trusting something. So to believe God is to trust God. This is the base. Faith is not complicated, does not require membership in any association, and does not require theology.

When does this simple neutral faith become a cult? This has to do with the religious interpretation, i.e. with the respective community culture. Religiosity is the way one expresses one’s faith. They are actions, rituals, prayers, going to church and the like. With this, a believer says: This is how I want to live my faith.

Religiosity is by definition outward-looking and has nothing to do with original trust. Someone can be very religious, but his heart remains untouched. Or just the other way around: Someone can sincerely believe, but he or she cannot do anything with your or my religiosity. To state this is completely value-free.

Such distinctions between faith and religiosity are very helpful so that we don’t think of our own little “bubble” as the best or ultimate truth. Religiosity is a soap bubble. Soap bubbles shimmer in a wide variety of colors. Likewise, there are really many ways that people see, experience, and live out their Christian faith. While these religious expressions are celebrated by many, they are never to be confused with an actual faith.

Which church I go to, whether I am Reformed, Catholic, Free Church or none of the above is not relevant. All these are expressions of a religiosity – and nothing more. Nowhere does the Bible speak in such terms. It is equally irrelevant whether I smoke, drink, am a vegan or not. Instead, Paul speaks about the fruit of the Spirit, for example, in the following words:

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control.”
Gal 5:22

The attitude of faith is not expressed in going to church, but in the fruit of the Spirit. Whether I say “Jesus” every other sentence has something to do with the culture in which I stand. That is something completely different. Those who revel in such a projection of Jesus are nurturing their own religious feelings. However, a fruit of the spirit turns to other people without rapture. Religiosity is focused on itself. Lived faith has other things to do.

The desire to be close to God

In free churches, one does not find the intellectual distance that characterizes many national churches. Instead, a tangible closeness to God is preached. Ideally, the person is encouraged to have a living faith. Free churches, however, tend to drift into a kind of Jesus cult.

How can you recognize a Jesus cult, as I describe it here? Quite simply, “Jesus” or “Lord” is said in the sermon, in common confession, in prayer, and perhaps in every other sentence. Jesus is elevated to the absolute focus, the content. Aren’t alarm bells ringing yet? No? Perhaps then you yourself, dear reader, are deep in these thoughts. If I put it in extreme terms, Jesus took the place of God.

In prayers, for example, the name of Jesus can be repeated mantra-like, almost like an incantation. I am exaggerating here on purpose so that the contours can be seen more clearly. In fact, it is not at all about creeds as they are known in the Bible, or about forms of prayer that we find back somewhere in the Bible. The Bible does not know a Jesus cult. Rather, it is about actions, customs, expressions, attitudes of faith that are completely foreign to the Bible and even contradict it. However, since my faith is largely based on the information in the Bible, a critical comparison for self-reflection is appropriate.

The desire for an intensely experienced closeness to God is understandable, but not sober. It’s not all closeness to God in life, unfortunately. That a Jesus cult arises from the desire to be close to God, I understand. But just imagine what happens when all you do all day is whisper the name of your life partner to yourself. Is one then still perceived as a healthy thinking person? Or is it more of an obsessive behavior?

How faith becomes a cult

We are all up to our necks in cults. This is a neutral statement. Churches and communities are sustained by these things: a common focus, enough followers (the fan club), and then the coined expression, the cult.

In the expression of the cult is reflected in the common knowledge. It can be tradition, a supposedly new insight, a shared experience. Cultic actions favor a uniformity. They also simplify the process of adding new “fans”. Everyone can go with the flow because everyone knows where it’s going. This can be a beneficial experience.

One gets carried away with a certain image so that the longed-for closeness to God is conjured up.

If, for example, the word “Jesus” is mentioned in every second sentence, it is not because the disciples of Jesus did it that way (they didn’t), but because it is lived that way precisely there in this one community. What makes people focus so hard on something? How does something develop from a sober faith into a rapturous cult?

Here is my impression: One gets carried away with a certain image so that the longed-for closeness to God is conjured up. The unbearable reality of the world is thus struck a bargain. You step out of the world, so to speak, into a secondary world in which everything is different.

Jesus cult is an attempt to make God’s nearness tangible here. Unfortunately, this is only at the expense of a living faith. Anyone who is self-critical on the road will always feel a tension here.

The revival of faith

The animation of faith does not feed on fixed ideas, but on an argument. It is the realization of standing somewhere today, but perhaps coming to a better realization tomorrow. The relationship is central, not an obsessive perception.

What does your faith feed on? What words do you use to pray. What inner beliefs do you carry in your everyday life? These are the things that are important. For all the images we make for ourselves of God, however good for some times, will have no bearing power in other times. My understanding remains fragmentary. My trust is in God, through Jesus Christ.

Here it goes on: Own images can be renewed, corrected, revived from the Bible.