The State of the American Christian
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| Image taken from Openresources.org |
This
article posted in The Atlantic last April speaks volumes as to how American
Christians are understood by non-Christians in America. “If the coronavirus
is a test of our collective character, some American Christians are flat-out
flunking,” writes Jonathan Merrit. From my personal experience, this
is also the perspective of many, believers and non-believers alike, in other
parts of the word when considering the American Christian. We do not know how
to suffer well. We do not have a theology of suffering. Suffering must be God’s
punishment on us for breaking rules, right? That’s the ethic we live out. Ugh.
And we act fast to stack the standards high of how we can be better and garner
God’s favor. It is pathetic and grim. I cannot help but think, however, that
vengeance belongs to God and is being poured out on the house of God, as Patheos
reports. Astonishingly large numbers of Christians are dying in the bible
belt as a direct result of actions born out of their mixture of faith and
politics in response to the Corona-crisis.
Furthermore, God seems to be
vindicating the cause of the oppressed and exposing corruption in rare form
this year through the copious amounts of white people finally listening to the black
voice, and I’m not that mad about it, honestly. It is high time we all start
living in reality and stop hiding behind our American dream of the best
athleisure-wear, vacation packages, award seasons, and 401ks. Remember the hashtag
#firstworldproblems? We should all be ashamed of ourselves. I mean, we are
living in a country where the majority race doesn’t even want to stop and admit
that our history
books leave out REAL history simply because it makes us look bad. And we
said the Russians were brainwashing their people in the 80s? Come on! Wake up!
White-patriarchal-supremacists have literally been spoon-feeding us lies and
crap. Do you know how many friends on my
Facebook feed were talking about how they had never heard of Juneteenth? And do
you know that I only learned about it in the last ten years? The conspiracy
theory is wrong that people are plotting to take away our rights by making us
wear masks and get a Coronavirus vaccine or sell us all to China for that
matter. The REAL conspiracy is the inflation of our American and
American-Christianized ego.
Have you watched American Gospel?
Jesse and I just did. You should watch it. Everyone should watch it. If you are
a Christian, watch American Gospel.
I know I just used this phrase, and I’m not sure why it keeps coming up, but we
need to check ourselves, REAL quick. There is no way we are winning souls by
writing articles
like this, Mr. Carter. I get that you want to point out that the secular
world is taking up months of the year to celebrate the cause of LGBT, and that
Christians shouldn’t be forced to celebrate something if they believe it is
sin, but you flat our write that the vast majority of LGBT people do not go to Christian
churches, and I have to ask myself: “Perhaps is that because they don’t
freaking feel WELCOME IN THE DANG CHURCHES???” I would not want to go
somewhere that I knew people were looking at me and feeling sorry for me and
wanting to FIX ME either! Where is the grace? Where is the space? Where is the
room to be a PERSON, just as you are, and to come- to be a flailing person in this world, one who doesn’t have it
together! Is there room? Did Christ die for sinners? Or did Christ die for certain types of people? TOO many Christians are NOT being Christ-like;
and thus- we have a lot of lost souls wanting nothing to do with our
brand of Christianity we are sporting. Spit it out. Disgusting!
Fortunately, not all Christians are
guilty of this. There is the remnant. God always works with a remnant, right? And
God always pulls into the remnant those from the outside… those from the
street. I desire to be part of this people that God is raising up, and I
believe I will be standing beside many broken and destitute and poor people, of
various colors, shapes, sizes, ethnicities, of various genders, with broken
sexual identities because WE ALL have broken sexual identities. We are all searching for identity, figuring out who we are….All of us! All of us are struggling to get back into this communion with God for which we were made. THAT is what we are doing… and the beauty
of the matter is, IT’S DONE FOR US….in this CHRIST we profess. He has run
the race already and attained the prize. He’s drawn from the well. We
have only to drink. Thankfully, there are people who preach this… thank God
there are people who preach this… Give me ears, Jesus, to listen and to absorb
it because the Christians are killing me with their double talk. Help me Jesus.
JONATHAN MERRITT writes, “Most Christians, of course, are
trying their best to live a life consistent with the values and teachings of
their faith. They run soup kitchens and homeless shelters, hand out water
bottles at summer community events, and are more likely than
the average American to donate to charity. But too often, their brasher
brothers and sisters steal the headlines. These kind souls are responding to
the pandemic with condolences, compassion, and prayer. These are real
Christians, and their goodwill stands in stark contrast to the coldhearted
pronouncements of some of their pastors.
The earmark of Christianity is kindness, compassion, and
supernatural love. It’s not fighting back, attacking enemies, settling scores,
or leveraging other people’s pain for your own advancement. Some of the most
visible Christians in America, it seems, need to go back to Sunday school and
discover the loving roots at the core of this great religion’s message.” -The Atlantic, April 2020
Where
are you at tonight, friend? Which side of the spectrum are you lingering? There
is space… I can move over. I can make room. Come Holy Spirit… fill up this
place.
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