Saturday 26 November 2011

I'm Not Here For Judgement

Chatting to a friend this week who, after some recent tough times, looked at re-connecting to church. Apparently, the only problem is that (in his words) churches have 'church people'. [A seemingly obvious statement]

He doesn't like the fake-ness... "Hi, how are you?" "I'm doing fine, how about you?" "I'm also fine". It doesn't matter that one or both people aren't. The only acceptable answer is "fine". (Or "great" if you wanna go for bonus points).

Why is this the only acceptable answer? Because anything else brings you a wheelbarow full of trouble. In short, as my friend says, "I don't go there for judgement and narrow-mindedness". [Again, a seemingly obvious statement. Who would come for that? What kind of church would think people want that?]

So, the end result is that the church community is ineffective at helping one another (or others) with anything, because people have to pretend they have it all together, all the time. Authenticity 0, Helpfulness 0.

Or, if you prefer to keep score a different way, my friend's experience ticks 3 of the unChristian boxes - hypocritical, sheltered and judgemental.

[Related Link: Using the Christian "F" word]

Friday 18 November 2011

Steven Colbert - Pretend or Admit

In this classic quip from comedian Steven Colbert, he comedically makes a very serious point. (Kudos to the person who put the moving text to the original audio)



So which do we choose - pretend or admit? (Or can we choose obey?)

As Soren Keirkgaard (not a comedian, but a theologian with a rather dry wit) put it many years before:
The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined.

Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church's prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close.

[Related link: Followers or Fans?]

Saturday 12 November 2011

Jesus Is ___

When City Church did a sermon series on "Jesus Is ___" they decided to also connect with the communtiy by making the website Jesus Is. Visitors can finish the statement "Jesus Is ___" and the responses are displayed. Some responses were from Christians. Some not.


I thought it was interesting to see a mix of people who realise Jesus' difference from the habits of church people (as illustrated above) but also people who labelled Jesus in ways that contradict the gospel, but are probably based on the actions of churchgoers - that also contradict the gospel (eg "racist", "the reason for the war in iraq", "unreliable"). I find this kinda sad.


Link: Interview with the creator of the website

Saturday 5 November 2011

Doing God's Work - Online

One of the amazing things about online communities is the ability to get great stuff done. One great example of this is Stuff Christians Like. Apart from providing great laughs, some deep moments, and a sense of community; it also does great work - including raising $30,000 (in less than a day) for kids in Vietnam ... and then did it again.

Jon Acuff (creator of SCL) tells the story better...