“And they were all being really Christian…”
That’s something one of my non-Christian friends from university said today, whilst he was telling me about this “strange” thing that was going on at the local. It disturbs me. My friend went on to say that one of his friends went down to the pub for a drink, and was confronted by a load of Christians, “being all preachy and trying to convert everyone.”
What really saddens me about this is that it’s so indicative of how much “Westernised” Christianity has lost the plot in so many ways. The guy wanted to leave when he saw what was going on… why? Because us Christians are great at conveying the whole “holier than thou” thing and so unbelievably rubbish at just living life as we’re meant to and letting our life’s actions be testament to the faith we have.
“Prove to me you have faith when you are doing nothing. I will prove to you I have faith by doing things.”
– James (2:18 - NLV)
Why did James write this? Because it’s important.
Manning put it best:
“The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, and walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”
– Brennan Manning
I don’t know where we, as Christians, got the impression we could just preach at people and expect them to change… Maybe if we actually did a good job of reflecting this hope we say we have, then our words would actually mean something to those observing us.
It frustrates me so much that I also can’t just close my mouth at times and just get my act together as the first point. Okay, so I don’t go out and get drunk off my face, or whatnot… but am I really all that different? Do I really reflect the character of the God I claim is so amazing, holy, gracious and loving? Man… it’s tough.
I’d like to hear people’s thoughts on this…
My thoughts on this are:
You are missing closing quotation marks after the second quote.
February 7th, 2007 at 23:53Thanks, fixed
So SO SOOOOOO true. Us Christians, or atleast some, think they we’re gonna convert the world by throwing our beliefs in their face continuously. What ever happened to living a God-centred life and through that inspiring others so that one day we have have the opportunity to witness to the person.
February 8th, 2007 at 06:05Very true James, one thing to add to this that really annoys me is the way that the “Church” (quite often CofE or Catholic) ram their teachings down the nations throat … now hear me out here … I am a Christian and believe in the teachings of the Bible, however I do not believe in criticising non Christians for not following them, why should they if they don’t believe in Jesus, the Bible etc?
I think one of the best witnesses is to live a Christian life in a non-Christian setting … in this situation we need to rely on God for our strength rather than other Christians around us. I think sometimes there is a danger that we can become week Christians by hanging around in a 100% Christian atmosphere, we almost rely on other peoples Christianity and Direction, this is a dangerous situation as we can easily get lead astray by people we think we can trust as fellow Christians. The answer is a balance of living in the world but keeping a Christian support base and to rely directly on God and his Teachings rather than a sunday spoon feeding.
Hmmm … after posting this I feel inspired to revive my blog … Cheers James
February 22nd, 2007 at 22:34I think you might be a little confused about why there are so many atheists. A primary reason for being either agnostic or atheist is because you don’t view the world as a mystical universe that needs to be lived in, in fear. Religion, especially Christian Religion, is based out of an exploitation of fear. Fear of a mystical beings and a mystical hell control the minds of the masses.
When you really consider for a moment that perhaps you could be wrong about your faith, and truly look at the world with open eyes, you might open yourself to a new vision of the world. Additionally, Christians do not own the copyright on ethical behavior or living, it is a choice that people make. Having the courage to be a free thinker that escapes the bondage of your programmed childhood of religion could be the most important thing you do with your life.
Escape the shackles of mind control, and the “accident of birth”, question everything you know to be true. Freedom of any kind is very expensive, and freedom from mind control is a heavy burden, but to me is worth the cost. It is not easy to know that you alone are responsible for your fate and your destiny, but ultimately free thinking is worth this burden.
June 11th, 2008 at 16:36I’m not quite sure what relevance 90% of your post has to the original post, but I’m interested to hear you say “When you really consider for a moment that perhaps you could be wrong about your faith”. Do you ever consider *you* could be wrong about your faith? Having a religious conviction and being open minded are not diametrically opposed, as you seem to imply.
From what you say, both here and on your own website, you seem to hold to athiesm in much the same way as I hold to Christianity - believing, from experiences and proofs evident to oneself, that one knows the what the truth is. Much of your belief is based on so-called science - but science and it’s methods are mortal, flawed, and are frequently outdated by newer and more relevant information. It’s no more firm than what you say my belief is.
James/I originally was doing some research on Postgres and found your post about “Are they really being Christian”. I think you are making some incorrect assumptions in thinking that people don’t believe in God because they see Christians that aren’t “living the true life”. People like me could care less what a Christian does or does not do.
I am agnostic because I think religion is mind control for the masses. Ultimately knowing that there are people that consider themselves free thinkers and this is why they don’t believe in religion is important to digest.
June 11th, 2008 at 18:28