Where’s the Love?

 I would like to say my month of silence has produced some deeply insightful revelations to write about, sadly the bulk of my silence is the result of mental complacency. I find it funny how often I can take a break from writing out my thoughts despite the constant sense of accomplishment and continued self-development when I maintain a pattern of writing; enough with my excuses, on to the blog.

I have found over the course of the last 3 years that it is especially enjoyable to read two books at a time. I started doing this because the wear and tear on a single book being transported on my person constantly became irritating, especially when it was a decently thick hardcover. Currently I am reading Do Hard Things by Alex & Brett Harris (the younger brothers of Josh Harris) and Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. I usually have opposing topics between the two books, but this duo has a certain common ground which I find even more enjoyable for each.

Blue Like Jazz (BLJ), subtitled "Non-Religious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality" is a tread softly emergent book. The author emphasizes Christian spirituality vs. Christianity. I would find a more appropriate comparison is Christian living vs. Christian Religion. In Divergently Emergent Church I mentioned the clear danger when dealing with Emergents due to the varying theology, as I am about halfway through it so far it seems okay. I chuckle to myself because the author throughout the book he casually mentions several prominent individuals such as Mark Driscoll and Josh Harris, but he did it in such a way as “The cussing pastor from Seattle named Mark” or “Josh, the guy that wrote a book about not dating”. Donald’s story is certainly a read welcomed to those turned off to religion. It is constantly a sad thing there are so many people turned off to Christianity because they have experienced Claiming Christians and not Christ. I’ll return to this as a bridge the two books.

Do Hard Things (DHT) is a battle cry to the American Christian Youth to challenge ourselves. The heart of the book I could not agree with more. I believe the 18-24 age group has the potential, constantly, to be the most powerful age group. Instead, be it the society which tells us if we want to be successful we need to stay in school for 22-24 years before we can potentially be useful, or our own laziness, or fear of risk. This is certainly a must read for Youth leaders and the youth themselves. The target audience of the authors is actually 13-19 as it is mostly devoted to teenagers and the accomplishments extraordinary teens have made past and present. Being that it has been more than 5 years since I left my teens and yet this book still encourages, I recommend it to all who want to impact the world.

Based upon the descriptions of each it doesn’t seem like the books would have much commonality. This is where the two meet each other, BLJ talks about a confession booth several Christian students made in the midst of a several day party at Reed College, under the connotation that the party lived up to the drunken orgies which celebrated all forms of debauchery. At the confession booth the Christians would apologize to the unsuspecting sinners about the mistakes of Christianity. In doing so the author tells the story of remarkable ground gained for Christ. On the flip side, multiple times throughout DHT when giving an example of different causes to impact the world examples like Ending Poverty, Curing HIV, and Saving African Children were given.

I agree whole heartedly with the theme of DHT in which Christians make a difference and living the faith in big ways. However, when compared to the confession booth which brought the drunk, stoned, and promiscuous into the arms of Christ, I had to ponder “Are the two methods consistent, opposing, or contradictory?” Is it just me or does it seems Christians tend to focus on making people moral instead of trying to reach a fallen world? While I support most of the social agendas of Christian organizations too often it seems fellow proponents get so focused on the legislation and policy they forget about the people it affects. Can we as Christians honestly ask ourselves that our faith has made us more known for our love or our hate? It often frustrates me that I fall in line often with the stereotypical "religious right nut job" due to my views; however, when those who disagree with me actually dialogue with me about how I think we ought to approach those I disagree with, or the improper tact of our supporters use, ground is often made both for the cause and for Christ.

I don’t think I would have gone so far as apologize to random individuals the sins of other Christians, at the same time Christians need to be honest about the mistakes that have been made throughout the world in the name of Christianity but not in accordance with Christ. One of my favorite clips illustrating this is in the Kingdom of Heaven. As Baelian goes to meet the King of Jerusalem we see this dialogue with a Knight-monk friend concerning a hanging they just witnessed.

“These men are Templars, they killed Arabs.”

“So, they are dying… for what the Pope would command them to do.”

“Yes, but not Christ I think, nor this King.”

When I think back to the early Church, amidst the Roman, Galatian, Ephesian, and Corinthian societies most anyone would agree that our culture is nowhere near their forms of cultural sin. Take your pick from the historical examples, the Coliseum which public entertainment was to watch people fight to the death, the cliffs used to cast undesired babies, or the rampant sexual promiscuity practiced throughout the land; Scripture doesn't address changing the laws of the land. It speaks of changing people's hearts, and with their hearts a minority of Christians shook the entire Roman Empire. Perhaps we ought to follow suit?