The Unchristian of Christianity: How we must put Christ back into Christianity
As I was exercising today, a segment on the Today show caught my attention. Matt Lauer interviewed a man who was dressed in a racecar type suit with various religious and nonreligious bummer stickers all over it. This man felt compelled to go out and talk with a diverse spectrum of people about faith specifically about the Christian faith. He interviewed both Christians and those who do not consider themselves Christians. He found that the Christian message of loving one another was lost. Many felt that most Christians do not love others well.
I am also reading a book called Unchristian. David Kinnaman, the author, found that young people from 16 to 29 years old believed the following about present day Christianity: Christians are “antihomosexual, judgmental, and hypocritical. These big three are followed by the following negative perceptions, embraced by a majority of young adults: old-fashioned, too involved in politics, out of touch with reality, insensitive to others, boring, not accepting of other faiths, and confusing.” He further describes the crisis of Christianity in this way: “Only a small percentage of outsiders strongly believe that the labels ‘respect, love, hope and trust’ describe Christianity. A minority of outsiders perceives Christianity as genuine and real, as something that makes sense, and as relevant to their life.”
Honestly, the last two sentences hits me hard but I must confess I can appreciate and respect their critique. We have not loved well! What do you think about how young people view Christianity? Do the negative images that people have of Christians get your blood pumping? How do you respond to this statement: “Modern-day Christianity no longer seems Christian.” How can we listen and hear their critiques and still move towards them in the truth and love of the gospel? How can we put Christ back into Christianity?
Warmly,
Pastor Jeff
posted by City of Hope Church @ 3:55 PM
2 Comments
2 Comments:
It may be too late - at least for this generation, perhaps even the next. There is an awful lot of baggage associated with this label. My perception of religious Christians helped to keep me away from the church for over twenty years.
Oddly enough, upon my 'conversion' I picked this baggage up and even added a few more bags of my own. It's taken me a over 5 years to toss most of this off and take on the light yoke Jesus speaks of. I find that I can more readily speak to people about my faith in Christ if I don't make a point of identifying myself as a Christian.
There are 'Christians' and then there are followers of Christ, who were once called People of the Way. Following a way does not mean forming or joining a religion. The Christian religion (not the Christian faith) has done much over the years to place roadblocks on the Way.
As I read some of the quotes from Un-Christian there seems to be a huge focus on "love". The problem is biblical love is radically redefinied in our culture. Take for example. The other weekend a friend and I went sharing our faith. We can across a group and started to share the Gospel with them. A younger girl felt compelled to ask me a bunch of questions and finally we got down to the exclusivity of Christ, the Fall and how Christ and no other mediator provides a way of escape. Well her response "that is unloving". Or as we were talking about Islam and as we said sincerity doesn't pay the penalty for sinning against a holy God. The guy said "that is so judgmental".
Next we see anytime we call what widely acceptable sin in our culture we automatically become unloving. So though I believe there are groups that focus way too much on sin and not enough on Christ (it is like expecting a blind man to enjoy Monet) there tends to be a general displeasure with Christians because of the Gospel message.
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