A Line in the Sand

Recently I had posed the question, what is the crux of Christianity?

I am quite certain many if not most Christians' answer will be the crucifixion or resurrection; that is the crux, the centrepoint, the fulcrum of Christianity.

I disagree.
I don't like that answer.
I don't like that answer because that answer in itself doesn't mean anything.
It's a squirrel-answer. It's a mindless answer members of Churchianity have been conditioned to recite. It's a mantra.

What does the crucifixion and resurrection mean? WHY are they important? Is it important that they literally happened? Is it important what they signify? Are their meanings intrinsically linked with their historicity? Do they hold metaphoric meanings? Do they represent spiritual evolution, healing, growth, or transcendence?

These are questions that have divided the church throughout history and continue to divide the church and Christians today.

I believe the Crucifixion and the Resurrection signify two things. The end or death of Religion (or more accurately, Religiosity) and the unique concept of Grace – Unconditional Grace (because conditional Grace is no grace at all).

I have long since moved past the argument of whether these two events literally happened or not. I'm more concerned with what they mean; what Yeshua gave us through his crucifixion and resurrection.

...the end of Religiosity. Freedom from trying to jump through hoops, to try to get right with God. But not just the Judea-Christian God, but also our attempts to get right with any God, or other forms of gods or “gods”. Whatever concepts we're shackled and enslaved by.

The end of religion. The end of the task-master. To be freed of our shackles, our bonds. To be unfettered.

How? Grace. Unconditional Grace.
Unconditional?! But there's gotta be some boundaries, doesn't there? I mean, it's a slippery slope to anarchy and chaos otherwise, isn't it?


At some point we have to draw a line in the sand, don't we? I think, ultimately, that is the main question the church has always asked. Where do we draw that line in the sand? Where does Grace end? At what point does Grace lose its power? Where does that line in the sand lie?

When do we say, “here and no further?” Isn't that the sad summation of church history?

A line in the sand?

I think Christians are asking the wrong question. The question shouldn't be where do we draw that line in the sand. The question should be WHY are we drawing a line in the sand? After all, a line in the sand is a boundary, a border; a point of defining “them” from “us”.

Maybe a much better question should be, what are we trying to protect? What conditions are we trying to maintain? I think this has been the genesis of Churchianity.

What saddens me about Churchianity is that it is a path that leads its flock back into captivity; back into shackles; back into fetters; back into religiosity.

Churchianity undoes what Yeshua gave the world through the crucifixion and resurrection.
A line in the sand.

What is the crux of Christianity?
Sadly, a line in the sand. That is where my hopes lie and where my hopes are shattered; in a simple line in the sand.

Although I haven't yet abandoned Christianity, I have moved past it.