Micah 6:8

14th Century Japanese Christianity

I found an interesting article on the Christianity Today blog. The author goes through a short history lesson of 14th century Japanese Christianity. The church started when missionaries brought the faith to Japan but when they were expelled because of persecution the church went downhill.

Over time the Crypto-Christians confused their Christian beliefs and their Japanese disguises. The result was the emergence of a hybrid religion no longer resembling the orthodox faith of the missionaries. When Europeans regained entrance to Japan in the 19th Century they were astonished to see communities of hidden Christians returning from the hills around Nagasaki.

This amazement waned, however, when they discovered the faith of these forgotten Christians was hardly Christianity. As one historian notes, "Although the faith followed by the underground Christians had the outward appearances of Christianity, the vital content and spirit of the religion evolved into something entirely different...It would be more accurate to call it a folk religion altogether Japanese in spirit and content."

After going through the history lesson author goes on to challenge the church of today.

Have we, like our processors, become Crypto-Christians? Seeking survival and fearing irrelevance, have we clothed our faith with the forms of our American culture to the point that our Christianity has morphed into something entirely different¿a folk religion altogether consumerist in spirit and content? Like the Kakure of Japan, are we holding so tightly to our faith we cannot sense that it is already slipping between our fingers?

By replicating the practices of the nations has the church, like ancient Israel, yielded its imagination to the idols of our day? By heavily adopting cultural forms, like the Kakure, have we forgotten the central teachings and practices of the apostles? Was Walter Brueggemann correct when he wrote, "The contemporary American church is so largely enculturated to the American ethos of consumerism that is has little power to believe or to act."?

I think that he is bang on on this point. One particularly insightful commenter says "In fact it is impossible for a Christian believer's faith to to remain intact when they hide it in a closet. What usually happens is that when the more congenial moment arrives there is no longer any faith left to proclaim. It is impossible to imagine a believer's faith which is not defiant and fearless in the face of the cultural forces that are mobilized to suffocate it." Another says, "Christianity became a lifestyle enhancement or a faith upgrade feature for the Kakure. They chose to save their lives, and frost them with a little Christianity."

We trying to preserve our churches by making sure that there are new converts in the pews. What we are preserving though is only a faint resemblance to all the church is intended to be. Also, I think that often we disguise our own selfish desires for a comfortable life with being seeker sensitive. The cold hard truth is seeker sensitive. It's what they need to hear if they are going to be saved. If the world isn't interested in our message then that isn't our problem. We don't need to cave to their pressures and make the message of truth more palatable. We just need to be faithful in what the Lord has commanded of us, to preach the gospel, feed the widows and orphans, give away our money, carry his cross and forfeit our lives for his mission.

Posted by rose at January 12, 2007 01:38 PM