An Engagement with Peter Rollins

I'm currently working my way through Peter Rollins' The Orthodox Heretic, and it's given me pause to think about my own privilege and my own relationship with the subversive message that is Christianity.  Which is to say that I'll probably be wrestling with a lot of these parables on here.

So you should go out and buy the book.

No seriously...I'll wait.  It's that good.

Looks like this

Got it?
Ok.  Good.

The first parable is a play on that well known bumper sticker, "If Christianity was a crime, would there be enough evidence to convict you?"

This one

And, true to form, Rollins twists this bumper sticker on its head.

The judge (and the court) look through footage of the one convicted (that's us, by the way) and see what we would consider evidence: reading scripture, speaking in church, praying before meals, etc...

And then...after all of this "evidence" the judge pronounces us "not guilty."

And of course, we as the one on trial demand to know what's going on.  We're left saying, "wait, what?"

The response from the judge is that we haven't done enough to really fight the system, that we aren't actually bothering anybody.  Just making ourselves feel good.

And at the end of the parable, I'm left going...wait, what?

Is that all I'm doing?

Am I just working within a system to keep the status quo alive?
Am I just making myself feel good?
Or...
Am I thorn in the side of an unjust system?

What am I doing?

I think I like to tell myself that I'm the latter, but I have a sneaking suspicion it's actually one of the first two.

And then I wonder...
How do I become the thorn in the side of an unjust system?

Is it by preaching sermons that challenge the status quo?
Is it by preaching sermons that affirm the place of doubt in religion?
Refusing to give in to violence?
Advocating for others to be treated equally regardless of race, creed, or sexual orientation?
Living as if death isn't the defining force in the world?
Fighting to take care of the earth, and all that is in it?
Having a conversation with an ex-drug addict at the YMCA?
Losing my own ego, so that I can be fully present with someone else?
Ignoring the "rules" of retribution and recompense?
Offering forgiveness, not just seven times, but seventy times seven?

If yes, then those are all incredibly easy things to say.
But when I try to live them out, I find myself going, "wait, what?"