versus a Gandhian critique

"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." ~ Mahatma Gandhi

The premise of my last post - that Christianity is not inherently violent, it is just (mis)used for violence - opens itself to another critique: Christians failure to be like Christ.  A Christian is called to be one with Christ; what does that mean? I know that I have not - daresay cannot - live my life as perfectly as Christ no matter how much discipline I apply.  Oneness does not mean that Christians become Christ; it means that they become the bride of Christ.  


You see, Gandhi may in fact pithily and accurately highlight the church's - and my own - departure from Christ's teaching and a negligence of his service/mission.  However, if a person actually believed the first part of this statement (I like your Christ) - and not just the latter - they would want to be his bride and follow his instructions to love your neighbor and love the unlovable - even the unlovable church.  Instead, we find that there is an implied transition, an implied "but," which a wise friend once told psychologically erases anything that just came before it (e.g. "Baby, I love you but ...").  


I don't know what Gandhi meant, but those who quote him often use this position to justify not joining the church.  In this sense, a Gandhian critique is simply another iteration of illuminism - just "God and me" - with truth revealed to me privately by God and not corporately in the church, where it "would just be tainted by those jerks."  This is not an accurate assumption; rather "Christ whispers sweet words in the ear of his bride.  No matter what you think of her, He loves her.  It is hard to imagine him taking delight in your slander and rejection of her."  (Sam Storms, 4.dec.10)


I cannot simply live up to the example set for me by my Savior; that is why I need a Savior.  Our imperfection does not disqualify us from the church, but qualifies us to become his bride.  "Marriage is an unconditional commitment to an imperfect person" (Ray Ortlund, 30.april.11), and it's primary example is Christ's unconditional commitment to us.  Where I fail in perfect action, it is only greater testament to His perfect substitution:  

"The disproportion between us and the universe is a parable about the disproportion between us and God ... the point is not that it nullify us, but glorify Him."  ~ John Piper, Don't Waster Your Life (p. 34)