response to "unchristian" #1 - "hypocritical"

Unfortunately, the hypocritical image associated with Christianity in America is true to our form. If we were to sue for slander, our case would be thrown out. How did we get into the predicament, and how do we find our way out?

Our first response must be repentance before God and before our fellow citizens. Each one of us have areas of our lives where the grace of God has not yet found a home, and we need to seek a repentant heart and the transformational work of the Holy Spirit. As we practice repentance before God, we practice humility before the world. When friends, coworkers, family members, neighbors and enemies bash the Church for its hypocritical ways what is your response? Getting defensive to the point of anger is the most natural path. Thankfully, the Spirit given to us is supernatural and willing to empower us to a new response, a response of humble, authentic honesty.

This first response is essential to the salvation of our own souls, but amounts to little more than damage control when it comes to the Church’s image in our culture. If we are going to make any headway in altering that image, we have more work to do.

What does it mean to be a Christian? This is a question that needs another look. How does one become a Christian? We need to read the whole Book.

Is the life of following Christ a one-size fits all, one time experience? The Scriptures continually remind God’s people to persevere, to endure, to hold on until the end. These are not admonitions that fit with the idea of ‘getting saved’ that is often preached in our churches. Are we selling a religious experience, or are we making disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey all that [Jesus has] commanded? The Great Commission calls us to the latter, and that’s a life long commitment on behalf of those telling the Good News, and those responding.

As we look to escape the habit and the image of hypocrisy, we need to be sure that we’re telling ourselves, and our hearers, the whole story. Christianity is not a set of beliefs, but a life of relationship and obedience with God; it is daily submission to the rule of Jesus Christ and the law of love ‘til Kingdom come. If we sell it as anything less, what commitment do we expect of anyone to do the hard work of being transformed? What commitment do we expect of ourselves?

As we remember what it means to be a follower of Jesus, a disciple, we move on to the next step, which is spiritual formation. Too much of our church life, too much of our Christianity is based upon behavior modification, and when that doesn’t work we resort to image regulation, aka, hypocrisy. Paul, in Romans, calls Christians to the life of the living sacrifice. He says “Do not be conformed, any longer, to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds.”God does the transforming work, but we do the presenting of our bodies as living sacrifices, and have a good part to play in the mind renewal process. How does one offer up the body as a living sacrifice to God? How do we renew our minds in contrast to the pattern of the world around us?

Let me answer this with a set of questions for us to consider:

What is the content of our thoughts, and where does that content come from? 


What is the central focus of our ambitions, and who reaps the benefit of our endeavors?


How do we spend our time? How do we entertain ourselves? How do we entertain others?


Are we waiting for a miracle cure to our sinful habits, or are we actively presenting ourselves to God?


How do we present ourselves to God and His truth?

These questions prick my conscience. I hope, with the help of the Holy Spirit, that they do the same for you.

Can Christian Kids go to 'Secular' Universities?

As campus ministers, Jen and I work hard to help young Christians make the transition from high school and living at home to life in the university world, and ultimately into the infamous 'real world'. Many of you have probably heard the sordid statistics regarding the diminution of active faith among college age Americans. You may have heard wild numbers thrown around, like 80 or 90% of young Christians who attend secular colleges or universities leave the faith of their youth. Thankfully, these numbers are a bit exaggerated, but the fact remains that far too many young people are jettisoning Jesus on the way to their college diploma. This grieves me in many ways.

I have lots of ideas about how and why this occurs, as well as some statistics to show that the culprit is not the secular university, as 18-22 year olds who never attend university are the most likely group to walk away from faith of any kind*. I also, have lots of ideas regarding how we, as the Church, can move forward in this area (some of these will be discussed in my next installment of the unchristian response).

However, I don't want to bore you with all of that. But, I do want to draw your attention to an open letter from my fellow campus minister, Glen Davis, to the Superintendent of the Assemblies of God, Dr. George O. Wood. This letter attempts to paint a clearer picture of the relationship between faith and the secular campus, and to encourage the Assemblies of God to be bold in sending young people to the secular campuses - these young people can not only survive with their faith intact, but thrive as witnesses to the Good News about Jesus!

If this is a topic that piques your interest, I highly recommend reading the whole letter.

As a Bible College graduate, I understand the value of a Christian college experience.
As a campus minister, and state college attender, I understand the value of living in the university world while not being of it.
From my perspective and experiences, I want to encourage everyone to honestly consider the specific direction of the Holy Spirit when considering where to study, or where to encourage a young person to study. Bible college is not for everyone. Secular college is not for everyone. College is not for everyone. The direction and purpose of Almighty God is for everyone.

Link to the letter.

*Losing My Religion: The Social Sources of Religious Decline in Early Adulthood by Uecker, Ragnerus, and Vaaler

thoughts on "unchristian" - 2

Hypocritical...

that's how the majority of young people perceive the average Christian on the street. If you're like me, you might get occasionally irritated by the "Christians are hypocrites" jab when folks are talking about why they are not Christians, why they stopped being Christians. Sometimes, I want to say, "If the shoe fits, where it." I mean, how many folks of other faiths, or no faith, actually live out the principles and values they claim to espouse without a good bit of hypocrisy?

On the other hand, responses like this don't help us give a reason for our hope, or to speak wisely with outsiders, as Peter exhorts us to. We do well to investigate the root of this common complaint.

unchristian exposes some of the hypocrisy latent in the wider culture, but Kinnaman reminds us that followers of Jesus are held to a higher standard - not just by God, but by the wider culture. And, "Young outsiders believe that...followers of Christ are playing the very same mind games they are. They perceive us as employing the same tactics as everyone else to preserve an appearance of strength (pp 44-5)."

This is shown true in the research. Kinnaman works with the Barna research group whose intensive investigations have shown that, in America, those who hold beliefs in line with Evangelical or 'born-again' Christianity (ie, a personal commitment to Jesus as Savior) are just as likely (in the past 30 days) to gamble, look at porn online, steal, consult a medium or psychic, physically fight or abuse, get drunk, used narcotics, lie, slander another person, or practice vengeance as 'non-born-agains'. In our culture, those who believe what Christians are supposed to believe live virtually the same lives as their unbelieving neighbors (47)!

There are some minor differences, especially when it comes to public sins, like using profanity in public. And, Christians are a bit more likely to help the poor and homeless. But, all in all, we're not doing so hot in the whole "do not be conformed to the pattern of this world" command Paul articulated to us.

Now, I'm big on grace, and believe that it's silly to pretend we're not sinning if we are. "Christians are not perfect, just forgiven," is a truism we see on bumper stickers. However, these statistics are mind-blowing to me. We fail, we blow-it, we are forgiven. But, we ought to be progressing in godliness, throwing off the sin that so easily entagles us. How is it that our average month consists of all the same garbage as the world?

I hope these statistics will spur us toward some soul searching, and some thinking about what it means to be a follower of Jesus. And, I plan to delve into these questions in my next post. Let me conclude today with the cruel twist Kinnaman exposes on pages 48 and 49:

It's not just our lifestyles that have gotten us in trouble; it's the very way in which we convey the priorities of being a Christian. The most common message people hear from us is that Christianity is a religion of rules and regulations. They think of us as hypocritcal because they are measuring us by our own standards.

The most compelling research we did on this is a recent study in which we asked Christian adults to identify the priorities Christians pursue in terms of their personal faith. We did not prompt any answers; respondents were able to mention anything that came to mind.

What do you imagine was the most common response?

It was lifestyle--being good, doing the right thing, not sinning.

No wonder the world considers us hypocrites: we have convinced them and ourselves that Jesus died on the Cross so that we would sin less, and we don't! I've heard a quote that might be from CS Lewis that goes something like this: Jesus did not come to make bad men good, but to make dead men alive!

thoughts on "unchristian"

In reading Unchristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity...and Why it Matters, I have encountered some stunning numbers to corroborate some things I have considered to be true for a while through experience, observation, and intuition. I would like to take some space on my blog to work through some of these statistics and ideas in hopes of helping all of us reconsider some of what it means to be a follower of Jesus, and a witness to his atoning death and resurrection.
The authors and pollsters, David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons, present their basic findings on pp 27 & 28. Here they tell us that the young people outside the Christian faith (ages 16-29) have an unfavorable image of Christianity. That image is based on several perceptions. The top three negative perceptions listed are that Christians are antihomosexual (91% say “a lot” or “some”), judgmental (87%), and hypocritical (85%). These numbers tell us what nonChristians think of when they think about Christianity.
There are some favorable images in the minds of these young people. Unfortunately, the top favorable image they have of Christianity is that it “teaches same basic idea as other religions” (82% “a lot” or “some”). In general, outsiders consider Christianity to have good values and principles (76%), and friendly people (71%). However, only 55% think that Christianity “consistently shows love for other people”, and 54% believe Christianity “offers hope for the future”. These ‘favorable’ images are more dismal as we look at the percentage of young outsiders that consider Christians trustworthy (9 % say “alot”), or Christianity to be genuine and real (11%), “something that makes sense” (9%), or “relevant to your life” (10%).
These numbers are pretty depressing by themselves. The authors do a great job of pursuing what these numbers mean for the Christian community in America, and I plan to trace out some of that, along with my own thoughts throughout the next few weeks. For today, I’ll just let these numbers sit with you. I hope they will inspire you to prayer.
This is our mission field.

USA Today on New Orleans incoming Freshmen

Now is the time to reach New Orleans Universities!

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