Perceptions

I spent most of my life teetering between atheist and agnostic. As such, I always felt like I had an outsiders, "objective" view of Christians. I was thinking about this last night and thought I'd share the perceptions that I had.

For starters, Christians spend a lot of time disapproving of others. There are a lot of types of sin in the world, and Christians look down on all of it! Whether it is someone that drinks, is gay, or swears, they are all looked down upon and shunned!

Christians also spend a lot of time with each other (probably talking about all those sinners). They tend to cluster, and then the don't let others into their circles. They are pretty closed off.

They are close minded. In fact, it was relatively easy for me to get someone to question their beliefs, I just had to get them to open their mind a little bit and once their mind was open to a little bit of doubt, all the pretend conviction that they had would leak out. This happened enough that I stopped discussing religion with people, I was tired of the tears and broken lives.

Christians are all about guilt and "don'ts". Don't dance, don't drink, don't swear, don't mess around outside of marriage, don't do anything fun. If you happen to do any of that stuff, you'd better feel guilty. Also, if you know of anyone else that does any of that stuff, make them feel guilty too!

Christians use a lot of the same jargon and rarely listen. If I don't feel like I need saving, I don't care that Jesus can save me. I don't care what Jesus would do. If I'm enjoying (or just think I'm enjoying) my sinful lifestyle, I sure won't turn from it because you say so. Giving up the things that give my life meaning (or pleasure, or at least temporarily fill a void), going to bed early on Saturday night so I can sleep in a sanctuary in front of some lame preacher who just wants my money? Why would I do that?

Of course, this is all in the past for me, but it is very real in the present for many, many non-believers. These are stereotypes based on interactions I had with very young Christians before I was aware of God's power and grace. What I find scary is that I still find myself surrounded by people that fit this stereotype. I believe that in order to be an effective Christian, to glorify Him and spread the Word, we need to be aware of these perceptions and do whatever we can to fight them. I don't mean fight them by arguing with people, but fight them by contradicting the stereotypes! Don't use empty phrases, embrace sinners (but not the sin), be a good listener first and not a dogmatic preacher. Be open to outsiders, make them feel welcome and special. Gently guide them into God's arms, don't hit them over the head with a Bible.

Blog change

I'm still a runner, still me. My life has taken a "turn for the real" lately, so instead of writing about running, I will be blogging more deeply (that is, deeply for me). My current ramblings and interests cover parenting, manhood (particularly father/son), God, leadership, marriage, and other random topics. If you stumble across this, feel free to leave me a comment or suggestion.

Accountability and God

I've been reading about and thus thinking about accountability. What are some of the things that keep us from accomplishing the things in life that are important to us? It is a failure to take ownership of the obstacles in front of us, shake off the victim mentality, and seize the moment to turn the world into the place we want it to be. Yes, we live in an imperfect world, but in order to have our surroundings (people, places, finances, etc) be what we want them to be, we need to live in a way that is worthy of them. At work, don't wait for someone else to set the example, instead be the employee you want to be surrounded by. I recently heard the phrase "Contend for what God has called you to do". This doesn't mean sit back and wait for God to lay a path before you...it will be hard to live life in a way that glorifies Him! One thing I know to be true, the easy path and the right path are rarely the same. God designed each of us uniquely and wonderfully with a purpose and a plan. Living out that plan, become what God has designed us for is one of life's hardest challenges. In fact, it takes our entire life to unfold, and even then it unfolds imperfectly. The sooner we get started on it, the sooner we learn from the mistakes we make (and there will be more than a few), and the sooner we are able to live a life that glorfies Him! So get going!