Of Course I’m a Christian! Didn’t You See My Stupid Bumpersticker?- How to Not Let Our Symbols Lead to a Mistaken Identity

March 25, 2008

“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” -John 13:35

“Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.” -Matthew 7:20

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” -Matthew 5:14-16

There is nothing in all of our modern society which can more quickly draw my ire than seeing people who proclaim “Christianity” in some manner or another and in doing so do more to drag Christ’s name through the mud than to give it glory. I felt this recently in watching a reality show where a girl wearing multiple crosses spent the hour unveiling her sexual indiscretions and activities in front of her mother, boyfriend, and a national audience, without remorse, in an attempt to win money! I feel it every time a celebrity takes the mic at an awards show and thanks God for giving them the talent to write songs about drugs or perform so well in their sex scene.

But more than that, I see it everyday on t-shirts, jewelry, t-shirts and even Facebook groups, all of which have become more about pop culture and less about a revolutionary lifestyle. Now, I don’t want this to be a series of ranting about some rapper who referenced God or some guy with a Jesus fish decal who cut me off. Instead, I want this to be a way for us to critically examine the ways in which we identify ourselves as Christians and see if the message we are trying to give is the right one.

Please hear this: I don’t believe that for a Christian to wear or display certain self-identifying markers is a bad thing. I personally wear a cross necklace on a daily basis which is very non-traditional, with a good conscience, and so feel in no position to be casting stones about that. However, as a Christian there is a certain level of discernment which we need to exhibit so that our markers are emblematic but not detrimental. In this there are two things we must consider.

First, we must make sure that the symbol is not bad theology. This is directed especially towards bumper stickers and t-shirts. There are so many of these items available which are clearly meant for a Christian consumer, and yet the message they give is a total misconstruing of Biblical teaching. If we are going to brand ourselves, make sure that that brand is at least true to the message it conveys. Second, we must beware of making the marker an idol instead of an emblem. If our identity revolves around wearing a specific item or signing emails with a certain verse instead of around the God who loves us, then we have stepped into territory where we dare not tread.

This said, randomly over the next little bit I want to share with you guys some of the ways in which we identify ourselves as Christians that may or may not give off the right message, always keeping in mind that the verse does not say “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, that you wear those wicked cool Jesus shirts every Wednesday!”

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Posted by Todd Burus

What Do We Do About Harry Potter?- The Potentially Harmful Conundrums of Religious Christianity

March 19, 2008

“You remember Harry Potter? Big publishing phenomenon. I remember when the books came out. There we had a world full of war and terror, a world where millions were dying of malnutrition, where children were being born into slavery, where drugs were rampant and violence was endemic. A world where people flew planes into buildings, and greed and avarice wiped out whole communities around the world. And the burning issue for Christians was ‘should I let my child read Harry Potter?’ “ – Nick Page, The Church Invisible

“They only were hearing it said, ‘He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.’ And they glorified God because of me.” -Galatians 1:23-24

I came across the above quote in my readings today and felt this really put us on the horns of a dilemma: what about Harry Potter? Of course, Harry Potter is just a placeholder. You could just as easily replace it with ‘The Beatles’ or ‘moshing’ or ‘South Park’ and get the same essence, that being the question of whether or not Christians should condemn aspects of the culture which move into the vogue?

Of course, the question is really more than this. As the rest of the quote says, there are all of these things going on around us, 9/11, the war in Iraq, mass suffering of AIDS patients in Africa, and yet what does the world see? They see a Christian community whose biggest ethical query involves a children’s book. As the author points out, “No non-Christians were worried about that.” No non-Christian goes to bed at night and loses sleep because their child just received Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows. And if that’s the case, then why should we? Should we be more concerned about a nerdy junior magician in a fiction novel than we are about the sufferings, whether physical or spiritual, of our fellow humans? At the risk of exposing a bias I would have to say no.

Why? Shouldn’t we care that our children are being exposed to the dangerous world of witch craft and black magic? I mean, isn’t Harry Potter trying to turn all of our children into pagan worshippers of the paranormal? Well, even if he is, we as parents should have enough influence over our children and should be making our devotion to Christ apparent enough in the home that our children are left with little doubt as to what team we’re on. This seems to me as the same question that comes up in the home schooling movement that is running throughout Christian circles these days. As Christian parents we see a public school system which no longer reflects our moral values (didn’t we just talk about this golden age thing?) and so the cry comes out to have an “exit strategy” to save our children. (However, this is a discussion which is likely to come any day know, so I won’t go into it any further at this time.) To me, I wonder how we can ever claim, as Paul did, that people glorified God because of us when all the world sees us doing is fighting against every new piece of pop culture and secularization that makes its way onto the scene.

In the end, I guess the big question is this: how do we possibly become “all things to all people” when we spend the majority of our time running away from them?

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Posted by Todd Burus

The Nonsense of Biblical Compromise- A Quote from Timothy Keller

March 8, 2008

Recently I read an excellent book on modern/postmodern apologetics entitled “The Reason for God” by Timothy Keller. In this book Keller devotes the first half to giving a Biblical defense against many common objections to Christianity by the younger generation, and in the second half he develops arguments for the foundation of major Christian doctrines.

One particular passage in the chapter concerning the inerrancy and infalability of Scripture really made me think. In discussing the fact that many people in the modern world want to dismiss the Bible as an authoratative text because some of its teachings aren’t PC enough, Keller makes the following observation:

“To stay away from Christianity because part of the Bible’s teaching is offensive to you assumes that if there is a God he wouldn’t have any views that upset you. Does that belief make sense?”

…Well, does it?

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Posted by Todd Burus

Americans and Modern Child Sacrifice- John Piper on Abortion

January 31, 2008

“They angered him at the waters of Meribah, and it went ill with Moses on their account, for they made his spirit bitter, and he spoke rashly with his lips. They did not destroy the peoples, as the Lord commanded them, but they mixed with the nations and learned to do as they did. They served their idols, which became a snare to them. They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons; they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood. Thus they became unclean by their acts, and played the whore in their deeds. Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people, and he abhorred his heritage; he gave them into the hand of the nations, so that those who hated them ruled over them. Their enemies oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their power. Many times he delivered them, but they were rebellious in their purposes and were brought low through their iniquity. Nevertheless, he looked upon their distress, when he heard their cry. For their sake he remembered his covenant, and relented according to the abundance of his steadfast love. He caused them to be pitied by all those who held them captive. Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting! And let all the people say, “Amen!” Praise the Lord.” – Psalm 106:32-48

This past Sunday was “Sanctity of Life Sunday”, a yearly observance by many of America’s churches over the anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade. In accordance with this, as he has made a habit of doing, John Piper delivered a message to his congregation on this topic. The message this year was over the text above, Psalm 106:32-48. It was an amazing message and can be found here .

One especially powerful statement Pastor Piper made was when he approached the issue of child sacrifice and how it pertains to the modern day act of abortion. He says:

“A sacrifice means you give up something that you ordinarily regard as valuable, like a sheep or a bull, and you sacrifice it in order to gain something better, like favor from a deity. Now, almost nobody does abortion in America in order to win the favor of a deity. The religious component of child sacrifice is gone, but the essential meaning remains the same: You give up something that is ordinarily considered valuable in order to get something better. Now, what the better is defines the measure of America’s barbarity. …The life of the child is being sacrificed for something, and what that something is defines the measure of our heinousness in our sin.”

I don’t want to give any extra commentary on the quote at this time, I would just like to post it here and allow you to think over what has been said on your own, listening to the whole sermon, and meditating on the issue of abortion as we are confronted with it today.

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Posted by Todd Burus

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