I have some thoughts about how our mythologies and hero figures influence our perception of ourselves and our communities, and how the elevation of Jesus to a state of infallibility and flawless moral character leads to the "no true Christian" fallacy.

The presentation of Jesus as perfect is a major departure from Jewish mythology. Our heroes are flawed, and we don't hide it. Abraham nearly kills his son, Jacob steals his brother's inheritance, David impregnates another man's wife and then has him killed, Solomon worships idols

The flaws and sins of these people are presented openly, alongside their triumphs and righteousness. Their flaws and transgressions - even extremely serious transgressions - don't negate the good they did, their contributions to the Jewish people, or their relationship with God.

Our mythology incorporates and enshrines the idea that *good people* sometimes do *bad things*. Sometimes they do bad things repeatedly. Sometimes they do *really* bad things.

Christianity diverged from that with the belief that Jesus was perfect. That Jesus was born without sin, avoided temptation for his whole life, never chose the wrong thing or turned away from perfect ethical behavior. And that Jesus' perfection is necessary for redemption

That shift in mythology fundamentally changes the expectations of what it means to be good. It takes away the idea that you can *be* good, but still *do* bad things sometimes. And that, I think, is what leads to the tendency to claim that no "true Christian" would do bad things.

There's this idea that if someone does bad things that means they *are bad*. Actions become definitional of character. And since Jesus was perfect, everything Jesus said to do must be Good, and therefore anyone who does something Bad isn't following Jesus, hence, not Christian.

And since our culture is Christian, this expectation that if you do a bad thing once then you are a bad person bleeds over into other categories as well. If someone tells you that something you said is racist, they're calling you a racist.

Which is a huge problem, because the corollary is that if you *aren't* a racist, then by definition nothing you do is racist. If you *are* a Christian then nothing you do is harmful, QED. Challenges to behavior become challenges to identity.

No one likes having their identity challenged - but if we can't challenge behavior, we can never correct it. If we can't discuss harm has been done by real, honest-to-goodness Christians in the name of Christianity, then we can never arrive at a Christianity that isn't harmful.

In b4 #NotAllBlahs, there are lots of Christians who *are* willing to have those discussions and challenge those behaviors, and that's great.