Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Unchrisitan

So I have found a book, "Unchristian" that talks about a lot of what I have been wanting to find out. Trying to figure out what non-Christians think about us Christians. What I have thought is pretty true...we don't have the best reputation. Not all of it is the fault of Christians, some of it is the media and how they portray us. But I do think it's important to know what people think about us and how we can and should change our attitudes.

The book mainly talks about the age group of 16-29. There are twenty-four million in that group and out of that less than half a million have a positive outlook on evangelical Christians. Isn't that crazy?

The book says
"The primary reason outsiders feel hostile towards Christians, and especially conservative Christians, is not because of any specific theological perspective. What they react negatively to is our "swagger", how we go about things and the sense of self-importance we project. Outsiders say that Christians possess bark - and bite. Christians may not normally operate in attack mode, but it happens frequently enough that others have learned to watch their step around us. Outsiders feel they can't let Christians walk over them."

One person put it this way,
"Most people I meet assume that Christian means very conservative, entrenched in their thinking, antigay, antichoice, angry, violent, illogical, empire builders; they want to convert everyone, and they generally cannot live peacefully with anyone who doesn't believe what they believe."

So  I agree with a lot of this. A lot of us Christians do seem to have a "swagger". We find ourselves holier than everyone else and usually let people know it. We are pretty big headed and we are the only ones who don't seem to see it. I am not saying that every Christian is like this, but a lot are. I have run into a few who even make me feel like I am a terrible person. What is that saying when we even start making other Christians think badly of us? I don't want to start a big argument...I just think it's time that we start thinking about the image we put out there. Also there are some of these things that the media is really good at portraying for us. The fact that we have a certain moral standard seems to be a bad thing. I can love a person and be their friend without having to accept their lifestyle. It's a moral issue. I don't have to agree with everyone on their choice, but that doesn't make me intolerant. It just means I have a different moral standard than others. Anyway...that is not what my blog is about...

I hope that we can take some time to look in ourselves and think about our "swagger". Are we giving off the image of God? Or are we giving off a holier than though look? Just something to think about.

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