The Christian Subculture

So this blog is completely unplanned and I have decided to let my thoughts and my fingers on these keys wander where they please. Until tonight I didn’t have any real coherent thoughts to put onto paper. Not any that I am willing to make available to the general public at least. I was okay with lack of ideas to be honest, because I have legitimate amounts of work to do in the next ten days. This includes three papers (all for English classes) and a genetics exam of death. So of course Jesus likes to speak to me and make me all excited when I have a lot of work to do. I am sure he probably thinks that it’s funny, reminding me that school is great but getting so worked up about Him that I have to share it with the world is even better.

Today, at good old Grove City College I got really excited about Jesus. I heard a speaker that had me so lost in the message I couldn’t help but sit on the very edge of my seat. I was hanging on his every word because this guy was speaking truth. He was speaking the very truth into this Christian community that I have wanted to scream at them for the past three weeks.

Some people were paying attention and others quite obviously were not, but I can only hope that this message, this view of Christianity got through to a few people.

I kind of felt bad for those listening who come from a very conservative Christian background as he practically slammed this “Christian culture” that we have created. Anyways here we go, the message of John Fischer reiterated and interpreted in the words of Alex Omicioli.

Let’s be completely honest with ourselves here and admit that the word “Christian” today does not sit well with many people. You hear that world and you think of a distinct group of people that tear down, despise the immoral, and hate. Hate? How, when we profess to serve the God of love, did the word hate ever become associated with Christians? Let’s not cast a silver lining over anything here, people do indeed view Christians as people that have a hatred towards others. Little red flags should be going up in your head right about now.

How is it that such a word ever become associated with our God?

1. We have been more focused on the sin than on the sinner.

Everyone says love the sin and hate the sinner, but how many sinners have you loved today? The example that John used was that of homosexuality. Bring up homosexuality in Christian circles and it is only a matter of time before someone pipes in with the ever popular, “love the sin but hate the sinner,” mantra. But his challenge was this, how many homosexuals have you actually loved lately? Not that you said you loved or that you tried to fix, but actually loved. It suddenly got a bit stuffy in that old chapel as people shifted uncomfortably in their seats at the mention of this forbidden topic. I couldn’t help but crack a smile.

So here is the root of the issue: Ultimately you aren’t going to be able to love any sinners until you love yourself. You (and I mean, I) alone are the worst sinner that every lived. Until you recognize that, your ability to actually love and accept others who are really just like you is going to be rather limited. As Jesus would say, get that telephone pole out of your own eye before trying to remove the tiny piece of lint out of your neighbors.

2. We have been selfishly more concerned about our own safety and protection, living in fear of the world.

Christians today have created this Christian subculture. In this culture that we have created, we never even have to leave the realm of Christendom. We have Christian everything! People home school their children, send them to private Christian schools, hire Christian plumbers, drink coffee from the Christian coffee shop, listen to Christian music, read Christian books, and watch Christian movies. Am I getting the point across?

What are we so afraid of that we have felt the need to protect ourselves from the world with this Christian subculture? This need for safety has come from fear, but fear has no place in the Christian faith.

What we need is not all of these “Christian” alternatives but Christians who are willing to go out and live in the world. The light and salt of Jesus is never going to spread if we are keeping it within the Christian community. Christians are not the people who need the salt and light, it is the world that needs it! So let’s get out there and give it to them.

3. We have bought into the politics of this nation, believing that only true Christians are living in the red states (if you know what I mean).

The point that John really drove home here was that both political parties have flaws. There are things within each that the Christian can agree and disagree upon; nothing is ever going to be black and white because there are no real truths in either party, only shades of grey. If this is the case for both parties, why are we getting so worked up over politics, something that has absolutely nothing to do with Jesus?

4. We have become the self-appointed line of defense that God doesn’t need and certainly never asked for.

It has become our primary concern to make sure that prayer stays in schools, that the word ‘God’ stays in the pledge of allegiance, and that Intelligent Design is taught to our children. How is waging these wars loving? These battles are just that, a war that Christians are determined to win. If God wants these things to remain in the public realm then He is going to keep them there, and He most certainly did not ask us to fight these battles for Him.

These are just a few examples that John gave that really hit home for me. This is why the people today see Christians as people separate from the world, a subculture that has the word hate associated with their name. They see us as a group that stirs up trouble, who professes to love their neighbors, but only ever gives off negative energy. They hear the word Christian and shrink away in fear. Wouldn’t it be something if instead of a fear of Christians people thought instead, “Hey those Christians may have some screwy beliefs, but they don’t judge, they are filled with love, compassion, and concern for others.” When John said those words I was shocked into a stunned silence. If people who had never experienced Jesus before began saying things like that about Christians, the world would be a completely different place. In the meantime, it is a world that I can dream about. It is something that I myself can work on and attempt to live out.

This message just stirred me up all over again. I can’t wait to get out into the world and show them the Jesus I know. In the meantime I guess I can practice on a few Grovers who need this Jesus just as much.