Pain. That is what I felt emotionally. The comment was made casually yet sunk to the depths of my bones. It was real. It was honest. It was eye opening.
We were sitting around the family room after dinner with our extended family having casual conversation when the topic of Christianity came up. As the conversation progressed, George* decided to speak up. His eyebrows were raised, his shoulders tense, and he spoke with a passionate frustration as he gazed at the floor: "They are hypocrites. They are no better, and often worse, than people who aren't Christian. Why would I want to be a part of that?"
I have spoken to many people before and diffused their view of hypocrisy in Christianity, so it wasn’t the accusation that surprised me. I sat there speechless, thinking of what to say. Do I tell him how Christianity is the only religion where you don't need to reach some moral or spiritual standard to get in the door? Then I could explain that we are saved by no merit of our own, only by the work of Christ. But I could tell this would have done no good. What if I told him to not focus on how Christians act and behave, since we are all struggling sinners in need of Christ, rather look to the Bible and what Christians claim to believe. But I felt like saying this would be like telling someone to not judge a restaurant by the actual quality of the food and service, but by the restaurants philosophy and operating guidelines. Or to not judge a car by how it actually performs, but by how the company wanted it to. That just doesn't make sense. I could not think of anything constructive to say. I sat there…speechless.
It hit me hard that night that this was a reality for many people. A large percentage of people's biggest obstacle to faith is they very people who claim to believe it. We are our own worst enemy. It is time we admit and accept that we now live in a world where Christianity has a bad name. This is not the 1950's anymore where going to church and being a Christian is seen as a respectable thing. This is a different world today, and we have a bad reputation.
We all have experiences with companies that lead us to not trust them. From a bad service experience to the large companies such as Enron, Firestone, BP who had a major shortcoming that tainted the image of the whole company. Whatever the reason, this we can know: it is extremely difficult to recover from a bad reputation. Companies must go above and beyond in hopes of recovering. We see this now with BP, as they are now showing commercials to announce their efforts to clean up the spill. They are seeking to gain the publics trust again.
So what can we do to regain the publics trust in the church? I believe we will regain a good reputation when we start acting like our faith calls us to. When we start looking radically different then the rest of the world…and not just because we have plans on Sunday morning. Our time, talent, and treasure should all be used for the kingdom. We can no longer just sit around and hope. I am calling all of us to either get in the game or get out of the game. We can't afford anyone just sitting on the bench. The stakes are too high, the work is too great, the need is too deep.
[This post is adopted from my October 2010 Newsletter]
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