Why I Don't Want To Be A Chrisitan

Some of you who read my blog may take a look at the title of this post and begin thinking I've lost it. But if you think about what a Christian is perceived to be in our culture right now, there are many who would say that they don't want to be one. Here's my reasons why...

Christians are hypocrites - I readily admit that we are all hypocrites at some level or another. But isn't this one of the biggest complaints against Christians in our society? How many times have you heard somebody give the excuse that they won't go to church because the church is filled with hypocrites? They sit in their pews and say the right thing, dress the right way, and then proceed to go into the world and act just like everybody else.
Christians are always trying to convert others - Let's just call the world a Christian Sales Lot. Evangelism seems to have turned into the ultimate sales pitch using the Bible as a sales guide manual. Christians have determined that telling others about Christ follows a certain format that if used correctly could never be turned down. They count the number of lives "saved" and give value to their life by how many they've led to Christ. Christians have placed such a heavy emphasis on getting somebody to say the sinner's prayer/make a commitment/ask Jesus into their heart that they've centered all their outreach events on getting others to come forward and sign a commitment card.
Christians don't have fun - This is probably one of the most common perceptions about Christians that I've encountered throughout my life. A large part of it I believe spurs from the idea that Christians follow a strict set of laws. In other words, Christians have set up a legalistic lifestyle that doesn't allow for them to enjoy some of the things this world has to offer including secular music, television, and movies.
Christians talk funny - You ever notice that when you go to church there is a certain bank of words you need to understand? These words are typically ones that you would never use outside of a church building. They include words like evangelism, salvation, santification, justification, and hallelujah. They include phrases like, "invite Jesus into your heart," "eat the body and blood of Christ," and "living sacrifice."
Christians are cliquish - It's junior high all over again. Christians have formed two levels of cliques. There is the Christian clique, which you are in when you've accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. With this clique you are either in or out. If you're in, then you are treated as an individual who is overall good. If you're out, then you are always trying to be brought in through clever Christian sales pitches. Then there are the cliques within the larger Christian clique. These are known as denominations. Even though Christians claim to be inviting and accepting of all, they take up arms against other so called brothers and sisters in Christ.
Christians are so focused on the afterlife that they forget they are living now - Christians have placed such a huge emphasis on being saved and spending eternity with God they they forget they are living right now.
Christians use the Bible as ammunition - Christians have this habit of pulling out Scripture passages and using it to either strongly defend their own beliefs and actions or to prove something to another. The Bible is no longer seen as the way God has interacted with his children throughout history. It's used as a crutch and an answer book to all life's small and large problems.

Now I'm sure that I've probably overstated some of these reasons, or not given enough description of each one. If we were sitting down across the table from each other, I think I could better explain how I feel about these things. Writing them in a blog post is not allowing for a conversation to take place. I wish I could have this conversation with you.
Having said that, if this is truly how Christians are perceived, then I don't want to be one. I do whole-heartedly want to be a follower of Christ, which unfortunately we have confused with being a Christian. In my next post I'll try to put into words what it is that I do want to be as a follower of Christ.

Creation and Evolution Can Co-exist?

Neo is a scientist who believes firmly in evolution, and at the same time he is a committed Christian who firmly believes in God's direct involvement in creation. The question that comes out of this is; is it possible to hold these beliefs and still be considered a Christian? Could it be that what we know as the 6 day creation story could be an allegory or perhaps that God did create all in 6 days (think outside of our concept of days) but somewhere in there evolution took place? I'm still working this one out in my own head. I definitely don't want to say that this is not possible because I don't want to place God in a box. But yet I also hold Scripture very highly and in reading the creation story, it doesn't appear to have room for evolution. I don't want to get into all the technical Creation vs. Evolution arguments. I just want to think about this in a way that opens our minds a little more to the possibility that maybe this could happen.

Pastors Are Not Regular People

The main character in A New Kind of Christian is Dan, who is a pastor at a Community church. The book revolves around an ongoing conversation that he has with Neo, an high school science teacher. The book begins by showing how Dan has nobody but his wife to confide in when it comes to difficulties he is having about his faith/religion. According to Neo, pastors are not "regular people" and to a degree I think that I agree. I mean think about it. If you ask your pastor a question and they don't have a "good" answer or perhaps they seem to be struggling with that same question , what is your reaction? One might think that this pastor isn't credible and may not be fit to be in the position they are in. Another might say, "Well if Pastor is having trouble with this, then I guess I can make my own decision." Why is it that when we find a leader in this position asking their own questions or doubting something that has "always been done that way" we bring down the judgment hammer? And this hammer is a lot bigger and heavier than any that we slam down on somebody outside of church leadership.

Many pastors aren't allowed to ask tough questions or show that they struggle with a spiritual, religious, or Christian issue. They're supposed to have it all figured out as if God had a special one-on-one dinner meeting with them and explained how everything works so they can pass on this information to their congregation. There's a different standard we hold church leaders to, not that this is entirely bad. The shepherd should lead the flock in an above reproach manner. But shouldn't we allow the shepherd to work out their own struggles and encourage him or her to not do it just the way we've always done it (or believe what we believe because that's the way we learned it in Sunday School)? Allow the shepherd to strengthen his staff and then use it to guide the flock that the Master has entrusted him.

Do you think its dangerous to not allow our church leaders to work these things out and be honest and vulnerable about their own flesh and bone?

Definitions

Ok, McLaren uses 2 terms thoughout the book that need clarification so we can all be on the same page as we begin this discourse.

Modern(ity) - used to identify the world in which we have lived in over the past 500 years. McLaren gives 10 phrases to help clarify what modernity was/is all about.

1. an era of conquest and control ("modern people have dedicated themselves to controlling people, results, risks, economies, experiments, profit margins, variables, nature, even weather.")
2. age of the machine ("the universe itself came to be seen as a vast machine, controlled by an engineer-God, and ultimately, modern folk themselves became small cogs in the machine, machines themselves."
3. age of analysis ("by taking wholes or effects apart into smaller and smaller parts or causes, each of which become understandable, analysis renders the universe both knowable and controllable")
4. age of secular science (basically everything can be explained through science)
5. age aspiring to absolute objectivity ("assumed was the highest faith in human reason to replace all mysteries with comprehension, superstition with fact, ignorance with information, and subjective religious faith with objective truth")
6. critical age ("if you believe that you absolutely, objectively know the absolute, objective truth, and you know this with absolute certainty, then of course you must debunk anyone who sees differently from you.")
7. age of the modern nation-state and organization ("modernity has been the story of organization and reorganization")
8. age of individualism ("the modern era moved inexorably from a focus on 'we' to a focus on 'me'")
9. age of Protestantism and institutional religion ("Where religion most thrived in the modern world, it was in its most institutional forms and its most Protestant forms")
10. age of consumerism ("people often quoted the maxim 'Money can't buy happiness' but seldom acted as if they believed it")

Postmodern(ity) - the age we are moving into. "Post" does not equal "anti." Postmodern is simply growing out of modernity having learned from that era. Kind of like saying you are postpubescent having gone through puberty making you no longer a child, but rather, an adolescent. (we may not really be able to know what the postmodern era looks like because we are just now entering into it. it would all be speculation)

A Preface

Before I begin commenting on Brian McLaren's book A New Kind of Christian, I want to preface it by saying this......
This new postmodern way of thinking is very new to me. It has thrown a major twist into the way I think about Christianity. Please understand that the posts to come will simply be my way of sorting through some of the information I have been taking in over the past 6-9 months regarding postmodernity and the emerging movement. I welcome your thoughts, but let's keep this to a friendly and honest discussion rather than a heated debate. I'm sure that some of the thoughts and questions I present will bring out strong emotions based on the beliefs that are embedded within you either because you have wrestled with it yourself, grown up believing it because it was taught to you that way in Sunday School, or just because you know it's the truth. I encourage you to ponder this information and give it a chance. Then let's discuss it and discover what we can learn from McLaren as well as each other.

How I'm going to go about this...
In the back of the book is a reader's guide put together by Tim Keel, the pastor at Jacob's Well in Kansas City. (if you ever get the chance to go there, do it. it's a great community) I'm going to take some of the questions Tim asks in the reader's guide to help bring out the thoughts and questions I have about this book. Although I'm going to first try and define some terms McLaren uses throughout his book. So here goes...

A New Kind of Christian

For Christmas my dad got me a book by Brian McLaren entitled A New Kind of Christian. Now when it comes to reading, I would say that I am an amateaur. Up until about two years ago, picking up a book was more like chinese water torture simply because the reading I was doing was always assigned by a professor. Once I finally got over the idea that reading was boring and a chore, I found that there were certain books I enjoyed reading. Thus far, I have discovered that I like books whose subject matter include relationships, being a guy, and "Christian" living. And even though I do enjoy these subjects, I have not found a book that really pulled me in and kept me yearning for me. (well maybe The 5 Love Languages). I digress...

So I got this book A New Kind of Christian and I can't put it down. The premise of the book is that the reader is evesdropping in on a conversation between a pastor and an high school science teacher as they discuss the Christian worldview from a modern/postmodern perspective. McLaren uses this style of writing to give us a look into the questions that he has encountered himself. I have come upon some very interesting thoughts throughout the book and wanted to share them with you. So over the next few weeks, I'm going to try and collect some of these thoughts as well as my own to post on my blog. Check back to find out where my brain has vacationed.