Jesus is for Losers

One of my favorite musicians, Steve Taylor, had a song titled Jesus is for Losers. It echoes one of the most common assertions about Christianity -- "Christianity is just a crutch." Of course, Taylor holds that he is a loser and, therefore, is delighted that Jesus is for losers, but the complaint for most people is that Christians are just weak and need something to prop them up.

If we wanted to examine the veracity of the statement, "Christianity is a crutch", we'd have to figure out what is actually going on. What is a crutch? Well, a crutch is a support device for use by those who are having a hard time walking. We've expanded it, of course, to anything that "props you up", that empowers you when you lack strength. But the basic concept is that there is a problem -- a weakness or disability -- and something is required to hold you up, to allow you to function. Is Christianity something like that?

The question comes down to the question of a problem. Is there a problem? Or are humans capable, in and of themselves, to do whatever is required to do whatever they want? On the face of it, the answer has to be, "No, humans are not capable." We know this for a fact. When "whatever they want" is something outside of human capability, there has to be a "crutch". To cross the Atlantic, you would need the minimum "crutch" of a boat. To reach the moon, you'd need the "crutch" of a spaceship. To fly, you'd need the minimum "crutch" of some sort of flying machine. All humans lack the capability to some degree to do everything they might want unassisted.

This, of course, is not the issue, is it? No, the real question from Christianity is do humans have the capability of being right with God on their own? The skeptic would cry, "Foul! No such thing as God." The Pelagian would answer, "Yes! Humans have the ability in themselves to be right with God." Christianity claims it is not so; there is a God, we are sinners condemned, and we don't have what it takes to be right with God on our own. The bold and final proclamation of Scripture is "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Rom 3:23) End of story. We lose. We lack in possibility of being right with God on our own. We don't need help; we need resurrection (Rom 6:4).

I would disagree, then, that Christianity is a crutch. Perhaps a wheelchair, because we don't have anything of the motive capability that a crutch implies. You know, "At least I have one good leg to lean on." Not in this case. Some have compared Christianity with a hospital. Closer, perhaps. Sick people getting better. But it still misses the recognition of the radical problem of being dead (Eph 2:1).

Is Christianity a crutch? I don't think so. In fact, I don't think we have the parallel for what Christianity is given our "dead in sin" condition. We're not "partially disabled" so we need a crutch. We're not "fully disabled" so we need a wheelchair. We're not "really sick" so we need a hospital. We're dead. Nothing in our human experience fixes that.

When we realize the magnitude of the problem, we would start to laugh at the "Christianity as a crutch" claim. "Crutch? Oh, no. We're much worse off than that." The work of Christ on the cross and especially His resurrection would loom much larger when we grasp that He is making dead people alive again. Jesus is for losers, but so much more. Jesus is for corpses. At that point we can only go to, "Hallelujah! What a Savior!