"Face Off"

"Face Off"
1 Corinthians 1:18-25


Media Mogul, Ted Turner, creator of CNN and several other Turner networks, is credited with saying, “Christianity is a religion for losers.  I don’t need anyone dying for me.  I can die for myself.  I’ve done some drinking.  I’ve had some women.  If that sends me to hell, then so be it.”

I remembered that quote this week, as I was pondering these words from Paul to the rambunctious church at Corinth about how seemingly intelligent people just don’t understand the cross.  Paul had people like Ted Turner in mind when he told the Corinthian Christians that there are going to be some people who look at the cross of Christ and see only foolishness.  Those same people would look at Christians who believe in the Christ of the Cross and see only foolish people.

At Corinth, there were at least two groups who didn’t get it:  people with Jewish beliefs, and people who were steeped in Greek philosophy and culture.  Both of those two groups of people had either religious or logically rational outlooks that kept them from seeing what God was doing in the Cross of Christ.

It was so frustrating for Paul, because the cross of Christ is so central to our faith and beliefs.  In a contrary way, the cross of Christ isn’t even close to being important to people like the Ted Turner’s of our day and time.

So I wondered how Paul would have answered Ted Turner’s comment.  How would the conversation have gone if they were both in the same room with each other?  This is how I would envision that conversation going if they were both on a television program like “Meet the Press.”  I’d call the program, “Face Off.”


“Good evening, folks.  My name is Ann Tagonist.  Welcome to the program, “Face Off,” where we sit two people, with very different points of view across from each other, and let them go at it.  Tonight, in the chair to my right, is the Apostle Paul.  He is one of the greatest evangelists of the early Christian Church.  Paul is credited with literally putting Christian beliefs on the map after the death and Resurrection of Jesus.

“And, in the chair on my left is Ted Turner, media mogul, who started the Turner Broadcast System, which now includes the stations CNN, TBS, and Turner Classic Movies.  I’ll start with you, Mr. Turner.  You once made some fairly brash comments about Christians and their beliefs.  Would you care to start our “Face Off” with any elaboration on your ‘Christianity is for losers...’ comment?”

“Sure, Ann.  As I said, anyone who believes in this Christianity garbage ought to have their head examined.  All’s I see is a bunch of weakling people who can’t stand up to life on their own.  So they need this lame idea of a crucified Jesus to hold them up.  Instead of relying on the strength of their own human spirit, they end up being a bunch of whinny children who sneeze all over themselves and then plead with their God to wipe their noses for them.”

“What about it, Paul?” Ann asked, turning to the Apostle.  “Is that all the Cross means to most people:  a crutch to hold them up?”

“I just wonder,” Paul began, “if Mr. Turner has ever broken his leg.”

“No, but I blew out my ACL playing baseball once.  What about it?” Turner asked.

“Did you use crutches to get around, or did you simply use the strength of your human spirit?  I also wonder,” Paul continued before Turner could say anything, “if there was ever a time in your childhood that you did something absolutely wrong, costly wrong, that you couldn’t repay?”

“I threw a rock through a picture window once.  It was my own house, though.”

“And who paid for it?” Paul asked.

“I did.  My father made me pay for every cent of it to teach me individual responsibility.  He took money out of my allowance for a whole year until it was paid for.”

“Hmmm,” Paul said, rubbing his chin.  “And where did you get your allowance money?”

“From my father and mother.”

“So you really weren’t paying for it.  They were,” Paul commented.

“No, they gave me my allowance, yes, but then I had to give them back some money.  Once they laid it in my hands, it was mine to do with what I wanted.  I could have refused to pay for the window, but I didn’t, because I was learning personal integrity and responsibility.”

“Good for you,” Paul replied.  “But who paid for the window in the first place?  The glass company certainly didn’t wait for you to pay your dollar a week did they?”

“No; my father had to pay the bill all at once and then I paid him back,” Turner said, squirming a little.

“So someone had to come up with the full payment upfront for your little misdeed, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Because you couldn’t; because you had no means to, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Couldn’t you think of the Cross of Christ in the same way?  You needed someone to bail you out because the consequences for the trouble you were in was way beyond your ability to fix.  That’s basically what God did through Jesus on the Cross.”

“Hey,” Turner interrupted.  “I don’t know what you mean exactly by ‘the trouble I was in.’  But if you’re referring to anything like sin, or original sin, I don’t buy it.  Nobody before me put me in any condition of sin.  We all make our own choices.  It’s all up to us.  The buck stops here.  If I mess up, then it’s me who messes up.  Nobody’s make me mess up.  That whole original sin thing is an idea you Christians cooked up.  You couldn’t take responsibility for your own bad choices.  You had to blame it on some people way back at the start.  What a crock of hooey.  Adam and Eve didn’t make my problems, if I have any.  I make my own problems, and I get myself out of my own problems.  I don’t blame anybody but me.  Blaming is what children and losers do.  It’s up to me to take care of my own business.”

“That’s all well and good, Mr. Turner,” Paul replied.  “That is, if you are only talking about this life.  If this life is all there is, then what you say could be true.  And it’s easy for you to say it, because you have the means and the wealth to get yourself out of ‘messes’ as you call them.  What about all the people who don’t have your wealth and power to influence their situations?”

“Yeah,” Turner interrupted, “and I’ve built that wealth and position all by myself.  I did it my way.  I didn’t need any God blessing me with something I can do for myself.”

“Again, that is all fine,” Paul replied,” if your vision allows you to see only the reality of this world around you.  But what if you’re missing a different reality.  A spiritual reality.  An eternal reality in which you have a soul that lives on.  Your decisions are not just for this life.  They also affect the status of your eternal soul.  That’s the difference the Cross makes in a person’s life.  All your accomplishments and wealth, your little television empire, will mean nothing when you stand before Almighty God at the moment of your death.  The only thing that will matter at that point is your answer to God’s question:  ‘Have you come to the Cross?  And have you believed in what God was doing there?’  That’s the only wealth--the wealth of the Cross--that will get you into the heavenly kingdom.”

“Oooo boy,” Turner said, exhaling and rolling his eyes.  “I wondered when the heaven and hell thing was going to be brought up.  Again, heaven and hell is just a concept you Christians created to keep people in their place.”  Turner’s tone turned mocking.  “If you don’t have much in this life, you’re just supposed to be happy with that ‘cause you’ll still have heaven; is that it?  That’s a nice economic system of servitude.  I don’t buy it.  This life is the only life I have.  It’s the only life I know.  You only do this merry-go-round ride once, as they say.  And I’m not letting some quacky concept of heaven and hell hold me back or hold me down.  Like I said, I’ve had some women.  And I’ve done some drinking.  I’ve enjoyed what life has to offer.  If that  condemns me to hell, then so be it.  But at least I lived!”

“Well then,” said Paul, “if that’s what you choose, then so be it.”

“You’re darn right,” Turner retorted.  “Now you’re getting it.  That’s exactly what I’ve been saying all along.  I’m glad you’re seeing my side.”

“Oh, I see your side all right,” replied Paul.  “I see it better than you know.  I just don’t agree with it at all.  You’re the one who’s not getting it.  But you will.  Someday, you will get it.”  After a slight pause, Paul continued.  “Let me ask you a question, Mr. Turner.”

“Shoot,” Turner said.

“How do you measure love?” Paul asked.  “How do you measure how much you love someone, or someone loves you?”

“Hmmm.  That’s an interesting question.  I’m not sure what it has to do with what we’re talking about.  But I guess in answer I’d say I’d measure love by how far I’d be willing to go with someone if they were doing something I didn’t like.  Then I’d find out how much I loved that person.”

“Very good,” Paul said.  “I agree.  We never know how much someone loves us until we know how much that person is willing to endure or suffer with and for us.  It’s the suffering element that measures love.”

“Yeah; I suppose,” Turner replied.

“What I want to tell you, then, Mr. Turner, is that the Cross was a way that God was showing you to what lengths God’s love will go for you.  What we believe is that God’s love made him willing to become a human being.  The Creator became the created.  God did that not only to live life like we do, but also to experience the most horrible death that a human being could suffer.  That’s how God demonstrated the lengths of his love.  God gave up the ultimate power of being God out of love for this world and its people.  Think of your vast wealth, power, and prestige Mr. Turner.  Is there anyone you have loved so much that you’d sacrifice everything you are and have in order to show them how much you love them?”

“I think that’s going too far,” Turner retorted.  “Sometimes you have to put a limit on your love.  You have to demonstrate tough love and let people go their own way.  You have to let them make their own mistakes without sacrificing too much of yourself.  You can’t give up yourself for someone else.  That would be like ending your own life.  Then both of you would go down the sewer.  Who gains anything by that?”

“But that’s the wonder of the Cross, Mr. Turner.  God gave up everything out of love for you and me and even Ann Tagonist here.  The Cross is the demonstration of the  depth God would go so that we would understand how much we are loved.  That was God’s plan.  To get our attention.  To hook us back into the spiritual realities that are alive in our world.  To see, to really see, the workings of God and God’s love for this world and the world’s people.”

“Well, if you ask me,” Turner blustered, “it was a stupid plan.  If God really is God and has this infinite intelligence, it wasn’t a very intelligent plan to become a human being and die on a cross.  I mean, even I could come up with a better plan than that.  Why didn’t God just shout down over all the earth, in everybody’s language at once, ‘Hey, everybody!  This is God!  I love you all!  That’s it.  Bye, bye for now.’  Why would God come up with such an idiotic idea of becoming a Jewish man and dying on a cross?  It just doesn’t make sense.”

“I can see, to you, it doesn’t make sense, Mr. Turner.  But you know what?  God isn’t asking us if it makes sense.  God doesn’t allow us to be God, or second-guess God.  We don’t get to out God, God.  All God wants us to do is accept what He did.  Or reject it.  Do you accept what God has done in Christ on the Cross, or not?  That’s the question.  But don’t tell God that God didn’t do it right.  Or that how God chose to act wasn’t somehow acceptable to your sensibilities.  That’s not an option.  The only option we have is to accept the length and depth of God’s love demonstrated in the Cross; or rejecting that.”

“Yeah, yeah; whatever,” Turner snorted.  “Whatever floats your boat.  It just doesn’t work for me.  The great thing about our country is that you get to have your beliefs and I can have mine.  So if that’s what you want to believe, it’s OK with me.  That’s certainly within your rights.  That’s the American way.”

“Well, with that patriotic statement,” Ann Tagonist said, “we’ve run out of time for today’s “Face Off.”  I hope you enjoyed today’s edition between the Apostle Paul and Ted Turner.  Join us next week when Hugh Hefner will sit across from John the Baptist in another segment of “Face Off.”