Rules of Engagement #3 - It Doesn't Matter

For the three of you reading this who might not yet have figured this out about me, I'm a comic book nerd. That's just a thing that straight up is about me. I love me some comics. I read some Captain America a few days ago that made me weep. My senior English paper at Harding was over the first 103 issues of the Fantastic Four - the Stan Lee and Jack Kirby run. Frank Miller and David Mazzuchelli's "Born Again" arc from Daredevil vol. 1 #227-233 is seriously on par with Hamlet in my book.

Now, while I may not understand it, there are a lot of people - like, a disturbingly large number of people - out there in the comic book reading world who think that Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen is the greatest comic ever written.

Personally, I don't even think Watchmen qualifies for "not bad."

But when I was standing in line at HeroesCon a few years back, waiting to meet Gene "The Dean" Colan, it really didn't matter what my opinion was on Watchmen and it didn't matter what the opinion of the guy behind me was on "Born Again" - we had something bigger to focus on. We were both excited about what we had in common: a tremendous respect for a legendary artist of the classic Marvel Bullpen. When we both realized we were in the presence of a man who, even at 80-something years old, can still draw an Eisner award-winning Captain America story, we stopped caring about the little stuff that divided us, like preferences for certain titles, certain artists, certain authors... and we really came together on the big thing we shared. We were both just nuts about comics. American comics, European comics, Japanese comics, comics from the 30's, comics from last week, superhero comics, cowboy comics, regular-ordinary-guy comics... We liked comics.

Unfortunately, it's not like that very often. If you've never been around a whole bunch of us comic book guys in one place at one time, it can be hectic. There's this deep well of vicious bile stored up for anyone who disagrees with the majority of comic book readers. You don't like The Dark Knight Returns? Get behind me, Satan!

Can't we just not agree on stuff?

If you're reading comics, I'm thrilled. Absolutely thrilled. I don't care what it is, it's awesome that you're reading it. That's how much I love comics. It makes no difference to me if your favorite character is Batman or Jeffy from The Family Circus. It's comics. I love the art form itself enough that I can be OK with you not loving the exact same things the exact same way I do.

I think it's important to be a lot like that with my Christianity.

There are things that we obsess over and fight over and divide over that really... well, they're just not worth getting upset about in the first place.

Especially not when we're all supposed to be focused on something bigger than any and all of us anyway.

My goal is not for you to fall in love with "Born Again" the way that I am. I would love it if that happened, because yeah, it's an awesome book, but it's not so awesome that I think that everybody on the planet will dig it exactly the same way I do. You gotta know some stuff about Daredevil to really get that book. It helps to have read the original Frank Miller run, as well as a lot of things that came before it. It's not for everybody.

But my goal definitely is for you to fall in love with comics. There's something out there for you, I promise. It does not matter who you are, I promise you that there is a comic book out there with your name on it. I believe that with all of my heart. Young or less young, male or female, "Jesus Is Just Alright" by DC Talk kind of Christian or "Jesus Is Just Alright" by The Doobie Brothers kind of Christian, it doesn't matter*, I know there's one out there for you.

So let's corral this back down to reality for a minute.

My goal in reaching the lost is not that they become a Christian the exact same way that I am a Christian. I'm a somewhat-conservative libertarian Southern boy raised in the church of Christ from 1983-onward, absorbing years of niche pop culture with a steady soundtrack of Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and Jimi Hendrix. There aren't going to be a whole lot of people who fit that mold. So there's no need for me to try to shove them into that mold.

But my goal in reaching the lost definitely is to show them Christ. I want them to see Jesus. I want them to know God. I want them to understand the same things that I understand that have led me to change my life for the far, far, far better. I want them to know that there is a way to escape their past. I want them to know that there is an answer for a better life that really just makes too much sense to be ignored. I want them to know that Christianity works. It is the power of God in the world today, transforming men and women, young and old, rich and poor, across all divides of race and power and prestige and nationality, seeking to bridge the gap between the creation and its Creator.

I want people to see The Big Thing. I want them to know Absolute Truth. I want them to know God.

And God is big enough that I can be OK with them disagreeing with me on a few things.

There are good Christian folks out there who believe that the Leviathan and Behemoth mentioned in Job are dinosaurs. That's cool. I don't believe that, but I don't think it matters, because no matter what Leviathan and Behemoth were, the point is that God is bigger.

There are good Christian folks out there who believe that Ezekiel the prophet may have been an epileptic. That's cool. I don't know whether he was or not, but even if he was, the point is that God still used Ezekiel to accomplish His Will. God's bigger than epilepsy.

There are good Christian folks out there who believe that it's a sin to ever drink any alcohol in any form. That's cool. I completely disagree. God's bigger than alcohol.

Here's the thing... When you are completely zeroed in on nothing but following Christ, you start to notice just how much you've got in common with the Christians around you. You see that we are all going after One Purpose. We are all going after One Truth. We are all going to One Place.

But when you lose that focus on Christ and start to look around at other people, it's easy to notice how different everybody is. And sometimes in those differences, it's easy to think that if somebody's not looking up to Jesus from the same vantage point as me, then he can't possibly be seeing the same Jesus I'm seeing. He can't be worshiping God right. But in reality, he's seeing the exact same Jesus Christ, the exact same Son of God... he's just standing on a different hill, so his point of view isn't the same as mine.

But since it's still the same Jesus...

Isn't that OK?

If we don't go to the same kind of church but we still love the same Jesus, isn't that OK?

If we don't listen to the same music but we still show unending love to those around us because we still love the same Jesus, isn't that OK?

If we don't read the same version of the Bible, but we both still apply what the Bible teaches into our lives and let God transform us into the people we were meant to be because we still came to love and worship the same Jesus, isn't that OK?

These questions are rhetorical, but I really do need to make sure that you all understand that the answer is "yes."

When C.S. Lewis was writing the radio lectures that would eventually become Mere Christianity, he sought out the help of four clergymen: one each Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian and Methodist. He wanted to make sure that he was speaking to the great truth that united them all - a love for God through Jesus Christ. And you know what happened? He did just that! He talked about Christianity, not Catholicism or Anglicanism or Presbyterianism or Methodism. He talked about what unites us - because there's a whole lot more that unites us than separates us. He talked about what we have in common, because what we have in common should be what identifies us, not what separates us from each other.

And if we can't do that amongst ourselves, then we're never going to be able to really bring people in to Christ the way we were meant to.

When you're talking to someone who doesn't even believe in God, it really doesn't matter what you believe about how and when the Lord's Supper is observed. That's not the important part. That's not what we've got to show people. We've got to show people God.

Jesus, God's One and Only Son, died to forgive the sins of humanity.

After that, it's pretty much all details.

The important part - the part that matters - is how people react to Jesus. That's what matters.

So next week we'll talk about just exactly what falls into that "doesn't matter" category. Some of you might be surprised. I know I was.

* - I'm personally a "Jesus Is Just Alright" by Robert Randolph and the Family Band featuring Eric Clapton kind of Christian, but hey, it still doesn't matter!