The Cool Christian
I am a Christian. Sure I don’t wear the t shirts, have the bumper stickers, hand out traks, or tote a Bible under my arm all the time. I mean come on its a brown leather Bible and I normally wear black, you cant do brown and black leather everyone knows that. Oh no I drink beer, smoke every once in a while, and even say words that my parents said were bad.
Here’s the conundrum. I strive as a Christian to not fall into the mold of a stereotypical christian, but in doing so I loose the resemblances that people associate with Christianity. I have been struggling lately with understanding how to show my faith without falling into the mold and it is harder then I thought. I have come down to the only thing that can set me apart from others is my overwhelming love and care for people, that I feel the Bible calls us to. That scares me though that’s a really big investment. Are there some way to work around this that I’m not aware to show my Christianity (maybe with a little less investment)(and oh yeah stay cool)?
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Nope.. no way around it. Cool or not… IT all comes down to laying your life down as a sacrifice to others. To esteem others as higher than yourself, to love others as you love yourself…. total investment.. trust me I do get it too. I grew up in a christian home and all the way back to at least my great grand dad were pastors… my grandmother jsut about disowned me when I got my first tat.. outward religion kills.. so many churches look at the outside.. how long is your hair , no make up, jewelry, etc blah blah blah… Jesus couldn't give a rat's ass about the outside.. true change comes from the heart. Jesus wouldn't be welcome in most churches today because of his outward appearance.
Agreed. Many churches are terrified of loosening their grip on certain legalisms… although they wouldn't refer to it as that. Its not about the outside, its about whats going on in the inside… totally agree…but it's easy for Christians to justify crappy decisions with, "Jesus doesn't care about the outside." I think Jesus cares about what motivates your outward appearance.
Also, to say: "Jesus wouldn't be welcome in most churches today because of his outward appearance. " That's pretty extreme. Where in the gospels gives you that idea? Just curious. Again, I agree Jesus looks at the heart…but do you really think that Jesus wouldn't be welcome in churches because of his appearance?? If anything, I would think he wouldn't be welcome in churches because he turns tables over, or rubs mud on blind people's faces (kind of odd)… but his appearance?
Maybe the only way out of the cool Christian/stereotypical Christian trap is to model a true and radical Christianity. When we try to maintain our cool qualities, (not that I have any, which doesn't stop me from trying,) we are just in another way conforming to the world.
As I see the intolerant, moralist, anti-intellectual Christians in the world I look around and think , "at least I am not like them." And we know where that leads.
Great post, fairly ok comments. I shall return, and sample a bit more.
I think it is a lack of trust of our fellow Christians that holds a lot of us back. We all say that we won't judge, but who really believes that we won't be judged, even when people are praying for us?
Drinking, smoking, swear words, tattoos. None of that matters so much (unless you are doing it to excess and harming yourself or others). What is supposed to make is different is the radical love of Jesus lived out through us, the sacrificial love that makes you lay your life down for Him and for others. Which will impact people more? Seeing you refuse a beer because you're a Christian, or seeing you refuse to gossip or badmouth someone who has hurt you? Knowing that you're going to say "darn" when you drop something or knowing that you are someone they can come to at any hour of the day or night for help, even if they have wronged you in the past you will love them steadfastly. So many of these things Christians "aren't supposed to" do are things simply meant to make ourselves look better than others, by a particular and ever-shifting standard of "good". But Paul said that true witnessing comes when people are asking what is this incredible hope you have in Christ? And that is not something people ask you just because you never touched a cigar.
I agree. An overwhelming love is the key, but that is sooooo sacrificial of all of yourself and so counter cultural to care completely for others and none for yourself. In fact just typing it, scares me a little.