I recently read a blog post titled “10 Things I hate about you… er sorry… Evangelical Christianity,” which really got me thinking… In this post, there were some rather challenging thoughts. Although I don’t necessarily agree with them all, there are a few points which sadly explain the status of Evangelical Christianity today. One only has to read a few books such as to “They like Jesus but not the Church” by Dan Kimball or “UnChristian” by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons to gain a small glimpse of how the evangelical church has sadly marred her own identity.
What I thought I’d do through 3-4 posts, is work my way through this blog and share my thoughts and in return hear yours. I know that some of you are quite conservative in your thinking and so I’d love to hear your thoughts as to why you disagree with some of this authors thoughts.
Here is the first thought:
“You vigorously deny the existence of thousands of gods claimed by other religions, but feel outraged when someone denies the existence of yours.”
This I would argue is so common, we don’t even see it, perhaps because we’re the ones doing the arguing. I say we as I see a bit of evangelical Christianity in my own spirituality although I don’t really enjoy labeling myself. That’s another discussion tho!
Why is it that we expect people to listen to our arguments as to why the/our Christian God exists and yet we don’t have the energy, time, patience, or whatever it is listen and hear out their story. Perhaps they to have thought through their religion and they believe theirs makes more sense than what ours does.
Here is the second thought:
“You feel insulted and "dehumanized" when scientists say that people evolved from other life forms, but you have no problem with the Biblical claim that we were created from dirt.”
This one caught me off guard a bit as I’ve never really thought of the creation of humanity in this sense. I certainly have been criticized many times with regards to my understandings of and views on the doctrine of humanity, as I go against what most ‘reformed’ and perhaps ‘liberal’ scholars would believe. I’m open to chatting about this at some point. A future post? Maybe…
What is it about evolution that gets under your skin?
Here is the third thought:
“You laugh at polytheists, but you have no problem believing in a Triune God.”
Why is it that we think people are (to put it nicely) silly when they worship cows, elephants etc? A very valid point I believe, is raised here. We insult and laugh at someone worshiping something they in most cases can see, understand and touch when the God we serve is a God who is 3 persons in 1. A God who is/was in one place yet was all over at the same time. A God who is all powerful yet died a sickening death on a cross. There are many things about our God which doesn’t make sense at all… have you thought about the God you worship against the God they worship?
These really are just quick random thoughts off the top of my head in response to what I read. I’ve also tried to share and provoke your thinking based on my personal experiences with those in other religions. Should we not sit and think through this before start trying to convince others that we have the answer?
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