Do You Know When Steve Jobs Left Church?

We may expect a rush of promotional material for Zen Buddhism in the next several months, beginning today. A USA Today opinion column sets the pace. This will, as it should, result in a reply from the Christian community; but I hope the reply will do more than argue the difference between Buddhism and Christianity.

An autobiography, to be released today, tells us that at age thirteen Steve Jobs walked out of church never to return. After attending a church service, he saw a picture on the cover of a national news magazine: a picture of starving children. He could not put what he saw on the cover with what he had just observed in the church.

I do not know what went through Jobs' mind, but I do have a reasonable guess. I will have to read the book to see if I am correct. I suspect he noticed two things which cause even a child to wonder if Christianity is as it ought to be.

First, he saw our penchant for artificial settings to "get the message out;" and, second, he saw our tendency to be so fixed on our alleged desire for the future that we miss the present.

With regard to the second, the future-orientation of Christian faith, when misapplied, creates a vulnerability to such philosophies as Buddhism. Watch this carefully. Buddhism has as an important feature of its world view the notion that desire is the source of suffering. Thus, if one may rid himself of desire he will better insulate himself against being hurt by the things that happen in life. This doctrine can result in stoicism or, as in the case of Steve Jobs, in the determination to enjoy the moment.

Biblically, our desire for the future ought to energize us purposefully for the moment and put meaning into suffering. However, since the Christian community has lost its bearings with regard to biblical hope, our culture is offered little besides a philosophy of living for now because it is all it has. In the case of Steve Jobs, this translated into finding pleasure in vibrant, personal creativity. Yet, I would seriously doubt that he freed himself of desire. Desire is hardwired into the human soul. Rather, he was able to focus on and enjoy the immediate thrill of creativity because it improved the lot of others.

This erosion of our understanding of what it means to authentically desire the future may give us an understanding of his first reason for walking out of church that day. Did he see our penchant for getting the message out about the future through programs which are divorced from the present? Did he see a disconnect between our worship performance and our involvement in the needs of those around us?

I do not mean, here, to disparage programs such as musicals and parties and the like. I do mean, however, to say they have little to do with what Jesus meant when he said, "Let your light (message) so shine before men that they may see your good works and applaud your heavenly Father." In other words, what would Steve Jobs have done if he could have connected the worship event he attended with the church's heartfelt desire to touch the lives of the vulnerable in their community? I do not mean doing so in order to "gain points" with God. I mean doing so with the biblical motivation of showing his love to others who owe us nothing, because one day we will meet him who has shown his love to us who owed him everything.

When will we (when will I) really get serious about our priorities and methodologies in light of the spirit of evangelism in the New Testament? When will we (when will I) replace our debates over how to "do worship" with the biblical focus of what worship does? When will we (when will I) translate our anticipation of our future into actions which bring the spirit of hope across the paths of those who are vulnerable in the present?