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 without 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.

May Reading

Jen and I pack up for a week of vacation in Southern California this weekend, and I'm excited. Before, we leave, however, I'm wading through some heady reading. I hope to finish Ex Gays? before Saturday, and to bring some slightly less academic reading for vacation.

However, the book is a good read, and I'd like to recommend it. This is the second book by Stanton Jones and Mark Yarhouse that I've read. Back in 2001, I read their book entitled Homosexuality: The Use of Scientific Research in the Church's Moral Debate. That was an excellent and objective review of the literature and research regarding the causation/origins of homosexual orientation, and how it relates to the traditional Christian moral stance on homosexual behavior.

This new book is the presentation of their longitudinal study on the controversial topic of whether or not sexual orientation is something that can be changed. I have not yet gotten to the results of their study, but I did read the last page (cheater). But, that's not why I'm recommending this book. The first two chapters are worth the price of the book, as the authors present compelling arguments for the necessity and benefit of dialogue and interplay between religion and science, and expose the most egregious examples of unscientific bias in previous studies, psychological and psychiatric literature, and from the APA regarding this subject.

My Response to 'The Secret'

I have not read the bestseller: The Secret, nor have I viewed the subsequent movie. I've been fairly well acquainted with such ideas for some time, however, and because of that felt little compunction to read or see this new spin on such an old idea. I've dealt with this within Christian circles: "Name it, claim it. Believe it, receive it."

One of my Tulane student friends has gotten into The Secret, and we've chatted about it a couple of times. Below is a message he sent me listing out his notes from the movie version, and then my responses in red.

I'm trying to do more writing this summer, as I think it's a gift from God that I do too little with. So, in that vein, I thought I'd write a serious response, and then share it around.

Grace and Peace,

*md

Jie: here is some points from the movie "the secret"

  The LAW OF ATTRACTION: YOUR WISH IS MY COMMAND---Universe

3 Processes to Be Creative:

1, Ask (Whatever you want)
2, Believe (Firmly)
3, Receive (Gratefully)


1, Grateful. ----At least you are alive, and you still have the rock in your pocket.

Gratitude is absolutely essential to happiness and joy and fulfillment in life. It is the start of humility, which is the start of true wisdom. The Bible teaches this plainly. 

2,When you visualize , then you materialize.

Visualization is powerful, but it is not magic. I visualize success that never comes on a regular basis. Maybe I am not very good at visualization, but I have experienced its power. It is only a help, though, not a fool-proof plan. 

3. Always positve words filled in your mind!

 

While positivity is better than negativity, sometimes it is more important to deal with reality. I believe that honesty is far more important than happiness or success. Without honesty, we will fail to address real problems, pain, and evil in our world. Without honesty, all of our happiness and success is illusion. 

4. Surrounded by successful people, get into them, become part of them and lead the other people also join them!

This is interesting: it is true that successful people can rub off on you, and help make you more successful. It is wise to associate with those who are positive and full of life. Yet, Jesus teaches the absurd notion of befriending your enemies, and the lowest people on the social ladder, the people who are poor, broken, despised, and ugly. Why would he teach something so contrary to practical wisdom for success? 

5. Act NOW! the Universe likes intuition, likes the speed!

Who is the universe? How does the universe like anything?

Unless there is a Person back of the universe, the universe is dead matter with no life, no preferences. 

6. Firstly, fall in love with yourself.

 

Jesus and the Prophets preach that we must love our neighbor as we love ourselves. If we do not love ourselves, we cannot love anyone. This is true, but easily misapplied toward self-centered living. 

7. Appreciate!

Everything! Always! 

8. Energy flows where attention goes.

Obviously, our energies flow to where we fix our attention. What other energy is there?

9. Don't apologize easily, do it when it's necssary. i.e. you will feel good after you saying "sorry".

I believe this one is 100% wrong. We all do wrong and hurt others on a regular basis, and we do well to acknowledge our errors and ask forgiveness. If we do not apologize easily, we have become full of pride and arrogance. I do not know what 'the universe' thinks about pride and arrogance, but God hates it, and destroys it.

Also, saying 'sorry' is an action directed toward another person, a person that one has injured in some way - knowingly or accidentally. Saying 'sorry' may be very painful, and may leave one feeling empty and broken afterwards. The injured party may decided to reject the apology, and this does not feel good. 

10. Believe in that the power within you is GREATER than the power within the world.

This sounds like a quotation from the Bible, which teaches that "He [Jesus] who is in you is great than he [the devil, the power of the world] who is in the world." 

11. No Ceilings for us.

The one ceiling we all share is called death. 

12. If it is not fun, then don't do that.

I agree with this to some extent. However, there are a great many things that are necessary for life and are not fun. Also, acting in compassion, honesty, etc... is often very difficult. It is much more fun to play video games than to do right deeds, or even to develop oneself. 

13. When you say you CAN or CAN'T , either way you are right.

This is always true for 'can't', though sometimes circumstances bigger than ourselves interfere with our 'can'. But, I do agree with this one, mostly. 

14. FEEL GOOD.

Feel bad: more than 30,000 have been crushed to death in China, maybe 100,000 or more have been killed or will die in Myanmar/Burma from the Cyclone.

Our world is full of pain and misery, and it is foolish to set the goal of feeling good in such a world. Some misery is beyond our control; some misery can be alleviated by our compassion; some misery can be ended or prevented by our action and faith; some misery can be comforted if we will enter into it with the miserable. 

a great resource

One of our students has been reading the book Metamorpha by Kyle Strobel. The subtitle is Jesus as a Way of Life. I was curious in the book, as I had just recently finished another book by one of my favorite authors, Eugene Peterson, called The Jesus Way. And, I am very interested in what is often called spiritual theology, spiritual formation, and looking at the Christian life as a journey rather than a destination.

Well, the book is pretty good. If you really want to just read a book in this line, I recommend Eugene Peterson, and the spiritual theology series he is working on: Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places, Eat this Book, and The Jesus Way, with two more on the way.

However, Metamorpha has become an online hub of resources for spiritual formation: www.metamorpha.com and there is an excellent guide for discussion to be used in 1:1 mentoring or in small group settings at the book's website www.jesusasawayoflife.com and it is tied in with the resources at the other site.



If you are interested in growing in Christ, and/or helping others do the same, and are ready to do more than simply teach information, take a look at this book and the websites. It's a great, so far, entry-level spiritual theology/spiritual formation book.

Devotional Classics

**more Haiti tomorrow of Friday**

This morning I read the first reading in Devotional Classics compiled and edited by Richard Foster and J.B. Smith; I think I'm going to love this book for many years to come.

The first reading is put together from excerpts of C.S. Lewis's classic Mere Christianity. The focus of this section is "Giving All to Christ."

This quote has grabbed a hold of me:

The terrible thing, the almost impossible thing, is to hand over your whole self--all your wishes and precautions--to Christ. But it is far easier than what we are trying to do instead. For what we are trying to do is to remain what we call "ourselves", to keep personal happiness as our great aim in life, and yet at the same time be "good". We are all trying to let our mind and heart go their own way--centered on money or pleasure or ambition--and hoping, in spite of this, to behave honestly and chastely and humbly. And this is exactly what Christ warned us you could not do.

And this reflection question has been banging around my head all day:

In Luke 14:25-33, Jesus encourages those who would follow him to "count the cost" of being one of his disciples. What has being a Christian cost you?

I hope they provide some spiritual challenge for you, as well.
Let us press on to know the Lord!

consumption

finishing the previous post...

Ulrich Beck is a German Sociologist. In his book, World Risk Society, he wrote this astounding fact:

On the back of crucial free-trade pacts like the WTO and NAFTA, for example, consumption is now virtually out of control in the richest countries. It has multiplied six times in less than twenty-five years, according to the UN. The richest 20 percent of the people are consuming roughly six times more food, energy, water, transportation, oil and minerals than their parents were.

All, but the homeless, in America are included in that 20 percent.
Is this a moral issue?

Eugene Peterson

Get to know Eugene Peterson. He's been gaining fame lately due to Bono's praises, and it's time you meet him, if you haven't.

I've been a fan of his since my dad and I first discover the New Testament installment of his Bible paraphrase called The Message sometime in the early 90's. That paraphrase is now complete, and available in the whole Bible. I got a copy last year, and am nearly finished with the Old Testament. For some, The Message may take some getting used to, but I think it would be good for almost anyone (unless you're a scholar of the biblical languages) to have a copy to supplement his or her Bible reading/study.
(If you buy a copy, I encourage you to get one of the older versions without verse numbers. The chapters are still marked, but you don't have as many numbers encumbering your reading. This Bible is for reading, not for parceling out into small pieces.)

Recently, I've read the first two installments in a planned five book anthology on spiritual theology from Dr. Peterson: Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places, and Eat This Book.



Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places gets its name from a Gerard Manley Hopkins poem. The significance is that Christ is active in all of reality: creation, history, and community. Peterson makes a brilliant case for the Christian life lived in the hum-drum and the nitty-gritty, where Jesus made himself known. Peterson warns his readers against gnosticism, moralism, and sectarianism, encouraging them to live fear-of-the-Lord through Sabbath and wonder, Eucharist and hospitality, Baptism and love.

I love this book on many levels, and in some ways Peterson speaks for me through it. It's not an easy read, but it is conversational in tone, and understandable at the non-scholarly level.

This quote shares some of the power of the book:
But what tops the agenda for me is the Christian life as lived, lived with this sense of congruence between who Christ is and who I am; lived at this busy, heavily trafficked North American intersection with the kingdom of God; Christ playing in my limbs and eyes.

Eat This Book is about the Bible: how to read it, basically. However, it's much deeper than that. Peterson challenges his readers to forsake all efforts at using the Scriptures for our own purposes, and instead to enter into the Scriptures, let the Scriptures enter into us, and let God be sovereign in His revealed word.

I won't go any further in this post, as it's already quite long. Here's a quote from Eat This Book:
I wanted to gather a company of people together who read personally, not impersonally, who learned to read the Bible in order to live their true selves, not just get information that they could use to raise their standard of living. I wanted to counter the consumer attitude that uses the Bible as a way to gather religious data by which we can be our own gods, and then replace it with an attitude primed to listen to to and obey God, to take us out of our preoccupations with ourselves into the spacious freedom in which God is working the world's salvation.

These books are well worth reading. They may even get inside you and change you, change your approach to God, to life, and to the Bible, change them it in a way that will lead you into deeper more active love, and richer more Christ-like character...