Penguin Sex and Jesus

[zachfleury]

God, please grant me the serenity
over the things which I cannot chage,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.

My name is Zach,  and I am a Christian-bestseller-basher-aholic.

(Hi Zach).

I have a problem.
I need help.

Last

Comments

self-loathing in evangelical contexts

[anonymous]

Hey Zach,

The discussion here is really great, so I don't have much more to add at this point, except to say that I read BLJ last week and was left with a slightly metallic taste in my mouth -- sort of like waking up from a concussion, or maybe just gum disease.

Okay, that was gross and unnecessary (grossly unnecessary?) -- what I mean to say is that I felt like Miller was really hung up on not being church-y, and he operated on that stereotype that Evangelical Christians are a bunch of uptight, humorless, sheltered rich people who are afraid of liberals. While I understand and agree with the apology for Christianity that Miller and his friends make on their campus, it felt like there was something more behind it, something akin to the self-loathing that you see in the really vain people, the ones who are always worrying what other people will think. I can relate; I don't tell people I'm Christian (or Republican, for that matter) unless I'm pressed or I think it's safe, and a large part of that is not just because of the stereotypes, but because of real personal experiences where the Church has hurt people. And I'm ashamed to say that I hide because I care what other people think of me. When I'm not thinking in a cultural context but in the sanity of naked thoughts, I can appreciate the honorable truth in much of what I was taught growing up, because it did bring me to relationship with God.

Where Miller really frustrates me is when exhibits an intolerance for ritual and institutions that have for years ministered in truth and love to their communities. What's ironic to me is that his point of rejecting the religion that he grew up with and discovering a faith and relationship outside of the normal boundaries has been the point that Evangelicals have made since the Reformation. Leave one church and start a new one -- it's the American thing to do. The thing is, every time you leave, while you may be gaining some purity and removing much corruption, you also lose some of the good of the last -- for me, it's the difference between the experience of holiness in an Orthodox Church and the immediacy of the Holy Spirit in Pentecostal Revival tents. I think that people have established and maintained relationships with God through both, though perhaps not equally so...

Along these same lines, did you ever read Brian McLaren's "A New Kind of Christian"? I like it when I want people to think I'm culturally savvy and sensitive. Apart from that, it makes me a little queasy.

-- Anika

Re: self-loathing in evangelical contexts

[anonymous]

I agree with Anika relating to the statement "out with the old and in with the new" sometimes leaves behind something "good" from the old. I am part of a dynamic new & trendy church - sistered off a large more traditional one... that is bringing in people that have been bored or turned off with the traditional or never considered being a part of a church at all, people ARE connecting & growing and it is becoming a Huge community. It is fantatistic that many of the rigid prideful parts of ministry are melting away-and "on their own" individuals are meeting together building community amongst the mass- ...The church is multiplying 10 fold. Yet, on Christmas Eve, I visited a more subdued conservative chapel type service and sang traditional songs that spoke to my heart in volumes. I felt like I was with God...in "Church" as if I was missing something lately. I don't think that our regular church is without "God" - God IS ministering there! Just sometimes we seem to miss the sweetness that comes with the absence of hyped energy and high tech distractions. The high tech is important to be "cutting edge" and does draw today's families - Many get bored so easily without it and stop coming-Yet a perfect world for me would be to have both tech, laughter & peaceful contemplation. Ultimately God USES all kinds of people and approaches to teach people. Both in a whisper and a shout. Catch phrases or words can be "right on" to one person that has never heard it that way and turn off someone who feels it is now cliche' I personally like it when the child in all of us speaks first - because childlike openness is a doorway to togetherness on at least some level. That's all for now...just babble...but ya gotta love the LJ :)

mom