Somewhere along the way, the American concept of Christianity, of what it means to be like Christ, has gone horribly off biblical course. The “cussing pastor” represents one extreme:

What bothers [Mark] Driscoll … is the portrayal of Jesus as a wimp, or worse. Paintings depict a gentle man embracing children and cuddling lambs. Hymns celebrate his patience and tenderness. The mainstream church, Driscoll has written, has transformed Jesus into “a Richard Simmons, hippie, queer Christ,” a “neutered and limp-wristed popular Sky Fairy of pop culture that … would never talk about sin or send anyone to hell.”

“Recovering Evangelical” Chris LaTondresse represents another:

[RecoveringEvangelical.com is] a place for fatigued and enlightened young evangelical Christians to gather for discussion. The three sections of the site — Shattered Faith, Broken World and Misplaced Jesus — offer a forum for the modern Christian ready to take seriously God’s call to important world issues like poverty, genocide, AIDS and human trafficking. …

Recovering Evangelical aims at the “restorative, hopeful side … getting back to the heart of what it means to be an evangelical.” Bible verses proclaiming God’s best hopes and dreams for the world, spiritually, politically, culturally and economically roll off LaTondresse’s tongue with passion.

And of course there’s the Jeremiah Wright/Michael Pfleger fringe made famous during last year’s presidential campaign because of Barack Obama’s association with the two.

All incorporate elements of the Bible into their teaching. But no clear-headed reading of the entire Bible, and especially the New Testament, would result in any of them being confused as followers of Christ.

Driscoll, Wright and Pfleger are entertainers above all else. And the gospels of Driscoll and LaTondresse are more about being different from the religious generation that came before than about being like Christ. All of them are guilty of “thinking outside the Bible.”