Mr. Trudeau, I know several theologians. You, sir, are no theologian.
Gary Trudeau is no friend of Christianity. And in this particular piece he has not accurately captured the orthodox Christian view of the nature of sin. He's parroting the classic "The only reason Christians are good is fear of Hell" line. We're not "recovering sinners".
It is the fact that Trudeau is no Christian apologetic that makes it so striking that he has captured a truth here that so many others in the Church seem to be missing. People are looking for a church. Good. But they aren't looking for "the traditional Gospel." No, indeed. And many, many churches have all this part down. "No," these "seekers" say, "we're not interested in guilt or sin or redemption. Too much negativity. Give us a positive message."
Trudeau caught that problem. He saw the dichotomy. The Gospel is all about redemption from sin. Without it, you don't get "church". That's the first step in Christianity. Encouraging folks to feel good about themselves is not the Gospel and ignores the real problem. "Yes, we know you have a cancer that will kill you, but, hey, there's no real reason to treat it. You don't want to talk about it. You don't want to hear about it. And we can really help in masking all that and make you feel good about yourself." That, fellow Christians, is neither love nor "Gospel".
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