UnChristian…thoughts

Knowing how much I love to read… ha ha ha, that is an oxymoron, like– good Broccoli! Anyway, I have been reading the book UnChristian. This has been one of the most eye opening things that I have encountered in a long time. This book describes what the people outside of Christianity think about Christians and the Christian faith. Some of it is jaw-dropping. Some is humbling, very, very, very humbling. I know that it has angered me, about the way that Christians are perceived, yet they wouldn’t be perceived in that fashion if it wasn’t true. As bees would not have a bad rap for stinging and annoying people, if they had never stung or annoyed people before. You simply can’t be guilty of something you didn’t do. (well I guess you can, according to the Arizona & Illinois court system… but that’s a LLLLL OOOO NNN GGG story)

Back to business… I have also been convicted of the way that I think about some people, and their choices in life. I heard an excellent illustration for something, and I believe it is very relevant. We expect people outside of Christianity to behave like “us Christians”, when they don’t know how or why they should. Think of people outside of the Christian faith as hay, in a field. And the field is their natural habitat. We the church, are the barn where the hay is stored and well kept. We expect the hay, to uproot itself and carry its little hay-self into the barn for safe keeping. THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN IN 1 MILLION YEARS. We, people of the church, are the farmers, and the tractors, and the combines, and the bailers. We need to go into THEIR places, their habitats, and reach them, harvest them, and then bring them into the church, or the barn for safe keeping. Not the other way around.

I have also been saddened by the way that people think about Christians and Christianity because of misrepresentations from movies, or people claiming to be Christlike, after all that is what a Christian is supposed to be. not giving any excuses, because I know myself, that I haven’t always been the 100% perfect example of Christ. But like I said, while reading this book, I have been challenged, and had to change my way of thinking.

This book has been soooo good for myself, and the students as we are studying it in sunday school. The students have had some great discussion about some of the chapters, and I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to be challenged and learn what outsiders think about Christians. Maybe it will convict and change some of the way that you think we should reach out to non-Christians.