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10 Counterfeit Christ Figures We Should Stop Worshiping

Jesus is still very popular these days, even at a time when Christianity seems to be facing more social marginalization. From political and social movements to kitschy products to bumper stickers, we’ve appropriated Jesus as a mascot for our favorite causes. But we have to wonder, is this the real Jesus of the Bible or a Jesus of our own making?

In Romans, the Apostle Paul teaches of Christ’s mission to call out a people and form them into His likeness, but it seems we are more interested in forming Jesus into our image. Even conservative, Bible-believing evangelicals are fond of making statements like, “The Jesus I know would…” as if Jesus — who claimed to be the Triune God, one with the Father — can be easily molded into whatever we wish him to be.

Soon the Jesus we claim to worship looks strangely like the man in the mirror.

What are some ways we are tempted to mold Jesus, like clay, into whatever we want him to be? Here are 10 partial Jesus’s popular in Christian culture:

1. Guru Jesus

This is the Jesus of the enlightenment, the Jesus who existed in human history, but is not nearly as radical as that Jesus of the gospels. Guru Jesus is the wise, winsome, slightly supernatural figure who fits nicely alongside other religious titans like Buddha, Muhammad, Vishnu and others. This is a safe Jesus, who will only ever tell us good, affirming, uplifting things, but doesn’t bother us with dangerous talk of the Kingdom of God.

But here’s the problem with Guru Jesus: Not only does he defy the historical record and the claims of Jesus Himself, he’s also much less compelling than the Christ of Scripture. Guru Jesus doesn’t meet the deepest longings of the human experience, doesn’t answer the problem of evil and offers no hope for future cosmic renewal.

2. Red-Letter Jesus

This Jesus is in vogue among many well-meaning, progressive evangelicals. He’s a Jesus I’m tempted, at times, to embrace. He’s present in the kind of Christianity that only takes seriously those quotes of Jesus in the gospels that are marked out by Bible publishers in red ink.

What is convenient about this Jesus is that he replaces the so-called angry God of the Old Testament with a mostly peaceful, healing, non-controversial Jesus of justice. What’s more, he’s way more likable than that irascible Apostle Paul who just doesn’t understand 21st-century social norms.

There is only one problem with Red-Letter Jesus: Jesus, in his very red-letter statements, declared solidarity with the Old Testament Scriptures. He spoke of an “unbreakable Bible” and coming not to abolish “one iota or jot of the law.” If we accept Jesus as a full member of the Trinity and if we accept the idea of inspiration of Scripture, we’d have to say that all the letters in the Bible are red, not just the statements from Jesus we like to put on coffee mugs.

Plus, have you read those red letters? Jesus said some pretty controversial things in there about marriage, about hell and about his coming kingdom.

3. Braveheart Jesus

This Jesus has come to help men recover their masculinity — the Jesus of “Braveheart,” John Wayne westerns and big-game hunting. This Jesus is a response to a very real crisis in the culture: a crisis of manhood. But a Christ-shaped masculinity isn’t defined by hyper-masculine tough talk, cuss words and MMA. The Jesus of Scripture was both tough and tender, a man who rebuked and nurtured. And he didn’t come to conform men into a modern, hyper-masculine construct, but into men who fulfill their unique kingdom purposes as servant-leaders in the home, the church and the community.

The problem of fatherlessness and masculinity won’t be solved with more bacon, but through the gospel transformation of men who lay down the fallen impulses of the First Adam to follow the Second.

4. American Jesus

This the Jesus of patriotic national renewal, a Jesus who ushers in a revival whose results turn the map from blue to red. This is a Jesus who, if followed, will return us to the perceived glory days of yesterday.

The problem with this Jesus is not just that he’s been appropriated as a mascot for the GOP, but looks strangely different from the real Jesus of Scripture. The Christ of the gospels didn’t point his people to the 1950s, but forward to Zion. Jesus isn’t simply interested in returning America to a false era of bygone values, but He lived, died and rose again to renew the entire cosmos from the curse of sin. Christians aren’t looking for a return to Mayberry, but for that city whose builder and maker is God.

The American Jesus always disappoints because he seeks ultimate satisfaction in short-term victories instead of a long-term view of the Kingdom of God. The Jesus of Scripture offers a final consummation of Heaven on Earth and enlists his people as future kings and queens of the universe.

5. Left-Wing Jesus

This Jesus serves as a mascot for progressive social causes. This is a Jesus who is definitively anti-capitalist and has little interest in personal salvation by faith. Like the Right who appropriate Christ for political aims, the Jesus of the Left hints at truth.

It is true that the good news of the Kingdom means “good news for the poor” and yet Jesus’ coming wasn’t the first advent of Karl Marx, but the advent of God’s end-times salvation, the inauguration of a new covenant between God and His people, mediated through the life, death and resurrection of Christ. What’s more, the utopian dreams of socialism, which have only ever ended in misery for its subjects, is a paltry agenda compared to the worldwide cosmic renewal promised by Jesus at the end of days.

6. Dr. Phil Jesus

This Jesus is a tough-talking dispenser of advice. Evangelicals love this Jesus because he’s the solution for all of their problems. This Jesus comes close to the real Christ of Scripture, who is the answer to our deepest needs, and yet He exchanges a pursuit of Christ for a pursuit of principles. Jesus becomes less of an object of worship than a means to an end — a 12-step recovery program.

 

Daniel Darling
Daniel Darling
Daniel Darling is the Vice President for Communications for the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention (ERLC). For five years, Dan served as Senior Pastor of Gages Lake Bible Church in the northwest suburbs of Chicago and is the author of several books, including Teen People of the Bible, Crash Course, iFaith, Real, and his latest, Activist Faith. He and his wife Angela have four children and reside in the Nashville area. See more from Daniel on his website.

WATCH: Sisters Sing Bone-Chilling Easter Rendition of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’

The young sisters from Fort Frances, Ontario sing an Easter rendition of Leonard Cohen's famous "Hallelujah," that is so beautiful, it'll bring tears to your eyes.

What Is Maundy Thursday?—How to Celebrate During Holy Week

As we celebrate Holy Week, the week leading up to Easter, you may start to wonder, what is Maundy Thursday? Three days before Easter, we come to Maundy Thursday. "Maundy" comes from the Latin word "mandatum," meaning command, order, or commission.

Abby & Brittany: Conjoined Twin Abby Hensel is Married!

They’re the most famous conjoined twins in the world, and now Abby Hensel, of the duo Abby and Brittany, is now married!