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Open Season on Christians?

I must say that when it comes to making fun of Christians it’s open season. It has been that way for a long time. Why are people allowed to get away with making fun of the Christian faith?

I found this quote on another blog. I won’t bother to link to it because it has to do with politics and I don’t want this to be a political discussion. Can you answer the question?

I think the answer is that people aren’t really making fun of the Christian faith. They’re making fun of folks who call themselves Christians. Unfortunately, all some folks know of the Christian faith is what they see in our lives, and let’s be frank here, sometimes it ain’t pretty.

I also think outsiders like to pounce on us because we pounce on them. It’s like we’ve drawn this line that makes sin among sinners REALLY bad while sin among saints is “well, nobody’s perfect.” Then we want to come back at folks with “sin ain’t what you do, it’s about the relationship.” Yeah, right. I’m sure they get that and the word they use to describe it is “hypocrite.”

At the core of the issue, I think, is the way Christians dole out compassion. I sometimes feel that our compassion is reserved for other Christians, usually Christians we know personally, and we have very little for the world-at-large.

So I don’t really get bummed out when people mock Christians because sometimes we deserve to be mocked. Many times it’s not them defaming the name of Christ, it’s them calling us out because we’re defaming His name.

I think benson_headshot_1214this relates to our writing as well. How we draw our characters, the situations we put them in, and the way they resolve their issues all speak to how perceive Christian life. I think that’s why there’s such a diversity is what folks call “Christian fiction.” If I call myself a Christian and a book speaks to me where I am in my faith, then to me it’s Christian fiction. You’ll notice the definition is built around the person, not the book.

Anyway. That’s my nickel. What’s yours?

Angela Benson is hard at work on completing revisions for her fifteenth novel, The Summer of Me.  She can’t wait for you to meet Destiny and Daniel.

 

4 Replies to “Open Season on Christians?”

  1. I agree it’s not our faith or relationship with God, because what does a person of faith look like, can folks see your relationship? Its hard to live righteous because we are dealing with flesh and everyone has their own perception of what a Christian looks like, right.

  3. Hi Angela! You are so right about how we as Christians choose who we show compassion too. My husband and I recently relocated to Nashville, TN and while looking for a church…it really saddened me to see how few churches are concerned with outreach. Everything seemed to be so inwardly focused building funds, programs, etc.

    There SO many problems in the world i.e. the breakdown of the family unit, lack of basic social services, education, etc. I think the Church and we as Christians are uniquely positioned to bring hope and healing to the world. ( I think the Lord meant it when He said “Go ye into all the world..”) But when we let ourselves be concerned solely with the things going on inside the church and are oblivious to the needs of others…maybe we deserve to be ridicule.

    1. Thanks for posting, Simone. I’ve been on lockdown working on my book so I’m just getting back to this. I like that inward vs. outward comparison. It’s something to think about.

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