Christian, Christian

(Disclaimer: I don't have all the answers, but I believe that God does, if only we would actually listen to him and be willing to accept the answer even if it is what we do not want to hear.)

Christians either try to blend seamlessly into society, willing to put aside principles of the Bible and sacrifice them in order to be relevant (assimilation) OR try to create a segregated counter-culture based on some past romantic ideal of “Christian government” (isolation, utopian ideals) or “Christian society” (Dominion-ism, fundamentalism, etc.) Both assimilation and isolation are evasions of the question, “How can I be a Christian in the world I live in today?”. Some try to live in the world as the world, and simply be a part of it, worldly in all ideals and unwilling to be different. They simply accept society and culture. Others, fundamentalists, attempt to seclude themselves from “secular society”. They attempt to create a perfect society, a perfect society with a perfect system, perfect government, and perfect way of life. They want to make everything “Christian”. They want Christianity and Western, Christian culture to dominate and subjugate all opposition. People are tired of Christianity. They are tired of being preached to and sanctimoniously told that they are going to hell. They are tired of the rhetoric, they are tired of the hypocrisy and two-facedness. They are willing to accept anything, anything other than the so-called “Christianity” of the Western World. They are willing to accommodate Islam, atheism, anything that allows for a plural and open society. They want two sides. They want fairness and equality. They want the freedom to think and act outside of so many pointless constraints.

The world struggled under the burden of Western Christianity. It cried out to be free from the religion that had been manipulated for the self-serving purposes time and time again, from unscrupulous and self-serving church leaders, to the dictatorial popes of the past, to the monarchs of Europe, even in the extreme figure of Adolf Hitler.

Yes, there are honestly genuine and kind people who call themselves Christians but Christianity itself has become insufferable to modern society. Christianity pisses people off. It is an affront to people today in Western countries to read the Bible and to pray and to be in any way Christian because to them, you are being a self-righteous "assh*le" ready to force them to mold them to your form of religion.

Let's put aside our pride and self-righteousness for just a second, or long enough for me to plead the case that it is, most of the time, not Jesus or the Bible or the true faith of Christianity that people hate so much, it is us. Christians – haters, bigots, bullies. It's not because of Jesus that we are hated, its because of us that Jesus is hated.

Of course, I'm being very general, but I believe we only have ourselves to blame for half the “persecution” we believe happens to us. So often, is not “persecution” in Western society actually simply the loss of power and influence (which hurts our egos and makes us feel insecure) than the real persecution. We are suffering the whips that we laid upon other's backs – they are now lashing us back in the face.

We have a persecution complex, feeling every bit of opposition to our precepts a violation of our religious rights.

We complain about our religious rights being trampled upon while we do and build towering buildings and monuments that Jesus never told us to be, hold religious services that Jesus never prescribed..... we want to parade our religion on the streets and scream it from every rooftop. We want every billboard plastered with Christian threats of eternal punishment. We want the world to belong to us, and not to Jesus. We want people to cower in fear when we instruct them in the way they should go.. We are like spoiled children, grabbing toys for ourselves and crying “foul play” when the other children we bullied unite together and take them away.

We are called to be humble. We are called to be disciples, and naively put, sacrificial do-gooders. We are not to become religious police, or institute religious government. “My kingdom is not of this world,” Jesus said, and He is always right. Jesus' kingdom, Jesus' temple, is built in the hearts of men, men and women and children from all around the world. He wasn't looking to restore a Davidic monarchy (yet) or to take over the Roman government and use it for Christian ends.

We are called to be lights in darkness. Stand out, and stand alone. We are called to be the unpopular ones, the poor ones, the humble ones, the meek ones, the peacemakers, the poor in spirit... not the dominating, authoritative ones. Not the ones that push our weight around (Jesus never did). We are not called to take dominion – All power already belongs to Jesus.

Humble, penniless, property-less, stateless, poor in everything, despised for our insignificance and overlooked for our obsequity... and yet rich and powerful in all the ways that count.

First of all, we have to acknowledge our attitude to problem. Then we have a huge public-image problem to deal with, which we can only do by being a witness in little ways. Maybe we have to prove to the world, not by big events and showy dramatics, but in our every-day life, in our attitudes and in our dealing with others, who Jesus really was and is and always will be.

Glory be to Jesus alone! Power belongs to Him alone!