Saturday, February 18, 2006

Come on guys....guys?

When you were little did the following ever happen to you: You are hanging out with a friend and all of a sudden you have a strong desire to have contest of one sort or another with that person. It could be running down the sidewalk or seeing how many peas you could suck through your nose. Did it ever happen to you that you would dive into the contest with full enthusiasm and look over only to find your friend either calmly strolling behind you or eating their peas with a fork? Remember what that felt like?

It seems to me that Christianity is in the same situation. For a long time Christians have been competing with whatever the latest heresy happens to be. Creationism vs. Evolutionism being a good example. It seems to me that with the postmodern movement artists, philosophers, and their disciples have just said "Fuck it. I'm just not racing anymore." And then Christianity is left on the track, wanting to race but with no one to compete with. Here's Christianity doing all the training for a race which no one wants to run anymore. In much of the apologetic exercise today we're getting ready for a race, while the philosophers are sitting on the couch eating nachoes. We're trying to prove something and the problem is not that people disagree, they just don't give a fuck. So what are we supposed to do now? The most disturbing reaction Christians face today is not, "I disagree". It's "I don't care" or "I don't give a fuck" which will probably upset some people but which I think sums up well the attitude of most people today.
So what are we to do? My short answer is to stop trying to convince people and just start loving them. People aren't sitting there reasoning with themselves about which religion to pick. They're hurting, they're suffering, they need Jesus, but not in the way we think that they need Jesus in their hearts so that they don't have to go to hell. They're hurting and they need to be shown the one man who once and for all showed us what it means to truly live.

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