Christian Authenticity

by Hugh Hollowell
via Red Letter Christians

I think it was my friend Karen who turned me on to Jamie’s writing. I was hooked by the title of her blog: Jamie – The Very Worst Missionary

She lives in Costa Rica as a missionary. What I like about Jamie is she is very authentic – she talks about her very unreligious thoughts, her family fights, and her struggles, both temporal and spiritual. On twitter a while back she was talking about her urinary tract infection.

Most religious professionals act as if they never get urinary tract infections. Or, in fact, ever urinate. For instance, here is Rick Warren’s twitter feed: This feed could be a bot. There is nothing here to indicate a real person is running it. It is promotional material, recycled Bible verses and “How Great I Art” messages.

Here is John Piper’s: Same thing.You don’t get the feeling that either of these guys ever had a bad thought, ever had any problems, and ever ate a bad lunch, even. Can you imagine either of them ever talking on the internet about a fight with their spouse?

I am not criticizing these two people, specifically. They are just two very public evangelicals that a lot of people listen to. Rather, it is indicative of the larger trend: Lack of authenticity.

I get criticized from Christians for being “negative”. Non-Christians praise me for being honest and transparent.

The Buddha said, some 500 years before Christ, that life is suffering.

Christian leaders: The people who look up to you, who you claim to care about – they experience this suffering. They have lost jobs, they have sick family members, they have work related stress, and they are tired single parents.

They don’t need your recycled Bible verses and tired clichés. They surely do not need to know how great your life is.

They need hope. They need to know they are not alone. They need to know that life is hard, but it can be overcome.

We Christians profess to know something about that.

—-
Hugh Hollowell is an activist, a speaker and a Mennonite minister. He is the founder and director of Love Wins Ministries where he pastors a congregation made up largely of people who are homeless.

The Myth of a Christian Religion

by Jeremy Myers
via Till He Comes

I recently finished reading The Myth of a Christian Religion by Gregory Boyd. Overall, his approach is similar to the one I will take in Close Your Church for Good. He reveals how the church has become seduced by various powers which have kept us from living according to Kingdom principles. After laying the groundwork for this premise, he writes about various subjects that the church must avoid in order to revolt against these powers and return to living like Jesus. For example, he calls for a revolution in the areas of judgment (chap. 4), nationalism (chap. 7), racism (chap. 10), and greed (chap 11).

It was a good book, and I really appreciated how he approached each subject with grace and tact. After presenting an area of concern, he gave suggestions, but always with gentleness and respect, knowing that the Spirit may lead you or I to respond differently.

And that brings me to my only difficulty with the book. I think that he didn’t go far enough. Greg implies that though most churches in the world are enslaved to the Powers, he and his church have found a better way. I have never visited his church, but my guess is that if I did, I would not be able to tell that it was much different from almost any other church in town. He’s made some changes which I think are a move in the right direction, but are they enough to reverse the course we are on?

It’s like a Playboy photographer who doesn’t look at Playboy magazines, or a Tobacco Company CEO who doesn’t smoke, or a BP Oil Executive who drives a hybrid. If you’re still part of an abusive, exploitive, damaging system, who cares if you make a few tweaks with your own involvement?

Maybe what we need is not a revolution, or even another reformation. What we need is a death and resurrection.

[Full Article]

Dueling Marquees

via Florilegia

A Catholic church and a Presbyterian church across the street from one another.
Probably Photoshop since nothing ever changes in the background, but still kinda funny.

10 things the CNN Belief Blog learned in its first year

By Dan Gilgoff, CNN.com Religion Editor

After publishing 1,840 posts and sifting through 452,603 comments (OK, we may have missed one or two) the Belief Blog feels older than its 12 months would suggest. But it also feels wiser, having followed the faith angles of big news stories, commissioned lots of commentary and, yes, paid attention to all those reader comments for a solid year.

10 things we've learned:

1. Every big news story has a faith angle...
2. Atheists are the most fervent commenters on matters religious...
3. People are still intensely curious about the Bible, its meaning and its origins...
4. Most Americans are religiously illiterate...
5. It's impossible to understand much of the news without knowing something about religion...
6. Regardless of where they fit on the spectrum, people want others to understand what they believe...
7. Americans still have an uneasy relationship with Islam...
8. God may not prevent natural disasters, but religion is always a big part of the response...
9. Apocalyptic movements come and go...
10. Most Americans don't know that President Barack Obama is a Christian...

[Full Article]

"life" in the bunker

by Bonar Crump aka "bunker buster"

I will always be amazed by the massive volume of ways that my Christian friends attempt to protect themselves from sin and even the hint of displeasing God. It’s like watching someone build a bunker in which to live that is capable of withstanding flood, earthquake, fire, wind, and all other forms of natural disaster. Then as they sit snuggly inside their spiritual bunker feeling safe and rather pleased with themselves for their obvious foresight and preparation, the unexpected happens. There are bugs and mice and air quality issues that sneak in and begin to rob them of their sense of security. Their isolation from sin is an illusion at best.

I want to live out in the open where I get to see the trees sway in the wind and feel the sun on my face from time to time. Sure, living in the open presents its hazards, but there’s nothing like watching a gentle curtain of rain approach from the West atop a hill. Isolation is highly overrated—especially when the far-reaching result is isolation from other people that have much to teach us.

Most of my Christian friends are convinced that they have something genuinely wonderful to share with the world around them. The problem is that sitting in the bunker doesn’t quite lend itself to sharing anything with anyone. Come out into the light, folks! Take a breath of fresh air! We won’t tell anyone if you sit atop this hill and enjoy the view with us. It’ll be our little secret.