By Keith Simon
I want to cancel my subscription to 2021. I’ve experienced the free trial, and I’m not interested.
We know the basic outline of what happened at the “Stop the Steal” protest. And we know more about the subsequent attack on the United States Capitol on January 6. As more information about that dark day has become available, it’s unarguable that a sizeable portion of the crowd thought of themselves as Christians. There were Christian symbols, Christian music, and signs with Christian themes.
I wasn’t sure what to feel or think. Shock? Denial? Lament? Repentance?
Maybe I start with an admission: at times, I am embarrassed to call myself a Christian.
Don’t misunderstand. I’m not embarrassed by Jesus. I’m embarrassed by my fellow Christians (or, at least, by people who call themselves Christians). I hate to admit that because it sounds so self-righteous. But it’s true.
Westboro. Church leaders’ moral failures. Seminary professors who dressed up as gangsters. Prosperity preachers. Conspiracy theories. Gay-bashing. Political sellouts.
What is going on?! No wonder our neighbors are unwilling to consider the claims of Christ.
Jesus says that Christians should be salt to the earth and light to the world. And he warns that when we lose our saltiness, we are “no longer good for anything.” It’s our light—our good deeds—that serve as breadcrumbs leading to God.
Why are the Christians I see in the media so different than the ones I know?
The vast majority of Christians I know are trying their best to follow Jesus, even while acknowledging that they consistently fall short of their own standards (much less God’s).
Christians I know volunteer to house the homeless in the winter, work with disadvantaged high school athletes, and take in foster children. They give orphans a new home, volunteer at the food bank, send Christmas gifts to kids all over the world, and counsel addicts. They open businesses employing their neighbors, coach little-league, serve on the local school board and in the PTA. I know Christians who are rich, middle class, and just barely making it. Who are white, black, Hispanic, and Asian. Married, single, and single again. Young and old. They’re high school graduates and PhDs. They vote Democrat and Republican.
What do they have in common? A genuine love for Jesus.
Their sacrificial service inspires me. I’m challenged by the ways they open their hearts. I respect how they use their gifts for the common good.
But hardly any of them are featured in the media. I’ve given up complaining about that. If it bleeds, it leads. Media outlets are businesses, and I don’t resent them for finding a profitable business model. But I do lament the effect the media’s choices have on Christianity: the decisions to highlight the most unchristian extremes instead of the humble self-sacrifice of the majority of Christians.
A few more thoughts:
1. Christians need to do some soul searching that leads to genuine repenting.
We can’t blame others for our sins. Since we don’t tolerate the blame game from our kids, and we shouldn’t from ourselves either. We have to be willing to name and confess our sins– both personal and corporate. Repentance is the way back.
2. Just because someone calls themselves a Christian doesn’t mean they are a Christian.
I’m not trying to be judgmental. It’s just the way it is. Christianity is self-selective. There’s no group in charge that says who is and isn’t a genuine Christian. Only God knows a person’s heart, and he doesn’t share that information with us. So when we hear 81% of white evangelicals voted for President Trump in 2016, what that really means is that 81% of those who claim to be Christians voted for him. Maybe they were, and maybe they weren’t.
“Nutpicking” is a term for finding the nuttiest member of a group, then claiming that person represents the whole group. It’s a widespread fallacy. We can always find a nut on the other side of any issue and use that nut to discredit the entire group. The media has an ample selection of “Christian nuts” to choose from. That’s especially true when anyone can claim to be a Christian or a pastor.
3. I’m embarrassed to say that everything I’m disgusted by in others’ lives I find in some form or fashion in my own life.
Have Christians put too much emphasis on political saviors? So have I. Have Christians harbored racists thoughts or looked down on people different than them? So have I. Have Christians been unsympathetic to people in need? So have I. Have Christians had moral failures? So have I. I doubt anyone has done anything that I haven’t done or would have done if I had the chance. I must be careful not to cast the first stone.
So I’m embarrassed to be a Christian. And, at the same time, I’m embarrassed about being embarrassed. Jesus loves his church. And his church is made up of broken, sinful, flawed people. I count myself fortunate to be among them. To be embarrassed by others is, in some sense, to think I’m better than they are.
I’m not.
What is a Christian?
The word “Christian” is only used three times in the New Testament. It wasn’t a name that followers of Jesus gave themselves. It came from those outside the faith and was probably intended as more of an insult than anything else.
The Greeks loved to give nicknames to groups of people who followed a particular leader. They called those who followed the Roman General Pompey “Pompeians,” and those who supported the emperor Nero Augustus “Augustinians,” meaning “of the party of Augustus.” So it made sense to call the followers of the Christ “Christians.”
What an honor. To call ourselves Christians is to say that we are of the party of Christ. But don’t miss the point: Greeks called the first believers Christians because they imitated Jesus. They obeyed his commands, and they pledged allegiance to him, not the emperor. All of these characteristics are still true for Christians today. It’s time to live up to our name.
So what does living out a Christian faith in our current culture really look like? Check out Keith Simon‘s sermon teaching from Matthew 5:43, “Us vs. Them”.
I agree with you. 100%
Nailed it Keith!
Thank you Keith!
Thank you for saying what I have been thinking for awhile…and for sharing ways Christians are helping others, like giving homes to children in foster care.
Did you ever recall Jesus being embarrassed by his followers (Christians), or even non-believers. “Embarrassed” denote a sense of superiority, condescension, or lack of compassion for another’s goof up. We All have blinders on to our own. The title is a turn off. Best regards.
Reading Frederick Douglas and came across a quote:
“The best friend of a nation is he who most faithfully rebukes her for her sins–and he her worst enemy who, under the specious—garb of patriotism seeks to excuse, palliate or defend them.”
The same holds true to Christianity.
Thanks for your article, Keith
Good job Keith and as well with some of the comments. As a Christian apologist I’m confronted from time to time by the above argument. Something like “How can you claim to be a Christian? Look at what those crazies did down in such and such a city. Christians are (take your pick here…) stupid, irrational, bigoted or hateful).
My response is usually something like the following-
I don’t spend a lot of time trying to explain or apologize for the silly or downright sinful words or deeds of my Christian brothers and sisters for a couple of reasons.
1. Christians are still sinners. They should be sinning less all the time but, still sinners and what do we expect from sinners? Sin. You hope that they can learn from their mistakes.
2. If you use their behavior as an excuse for despising all Christians or not being one yourself then logically you would never go to another doctor because there are some bad doctors out there who don’t behave as a good doctor should. You wouldn’t go to the grocery store since there are people who work there who aren’t honest and upholding the standards that good store employees should. You couldn’t work for the company you work for since there are people in your industry who shame the name of corporations like yours. In short you’d have to withdraw completely from society if you held that attitude!
3. Keith alluded to this one above. When you point out almost any media story about almost anyone you are often reading/discussing a small minority of any group. Not all the time but often. That’s the case with the story of most of the strange or illegal things Christians make the news for. What percentage of Christians in the US broke into the congressional buildings in DC? What percentage of US Christians bomb abortion clinics? When you attribute the actions or words of a single person or small group to the whole group you are the one guilty of a sin.
I would disagree with Audrey’s comment about embarrassment over people who do these things. Sometimes it may be the case that I do have those feelings of superiority etc. but when my kids embarrass me I don’t feel that way. I’m embarrassed because their words or actions reflect badly not just on me but them as well and I don’t want people to think less of either of us so I correct them but I still love them and want the best for them.
It is no secret that faith justifies everything.
Which gives the faithful plenty of reasons to be embarrassed