Good Intentions

"Toast! A toast! QUIET! SHUT UP! I, uh, I got words. I'm sayin' this is an auspicious day!" --Cute Drunk, Train Job, (Firefly)

So that had almost nothing to do with my topic this morning. Except that it kept rolling around my head as I formulated this post.

Because I have words.

These are my words: why do we use New Testament grace when we talk about ourselves and Old Testament wrath when we talk about others? Why is sexual sin (fornication, adultery, homosexuality) treated like it's so much bigger than wrath, pride, lies and unforgiveness? Why is a lack of love almost the hallmark of Christianity these days? Why do we trust God to save "even me" (as if we're collectively the Hitlers of our age) but we can't trust Him to order the world's events--or to save our neighbor? Why does the church call for "revival" and then reject the on-fire youth who are revolutionizing culture? Why do we say "God's ways are high above man's ways" and then expect God to work through others in ways we recognize?

Some friends and I have discussed on several occasions the disconnect between what the church assumes about the world and the reality. The church says that the world admires us for our peace, joy, security. We're a light, and we have to keep the light pure in order to emphasize the difference between our ways ("God's ways") and their ways.

In reality, "the world" really doesn't care. Christians don't look like they have an more joy, peace or security than anyone else. We certainly have more infighting and less tolerance. And I've found that what I'd previously class as "sullying" my witness has led to connecting with people in a more meaningful way than if I hadn't.

Why are Christians so out of touch? It seems like the vast majority are living in a slightly different dimension.

I recently watched a pair of movies, "The Perfect Stranger" and "Another Perfect Stranger," in which Jesus comes to have dinner with a woman and later meets up with her daughter. The concept, of Jesus actually inviting a skeptical woman sit down in a restaurant and talk, gently elucidating and loving, was beautiful. But the execution, involving on-the-nose dialog about arguments and issues borrowed from the '90's, was frustrating.

Frustrating, first because I'm tired of the production values of Christian work being so horrific. We live in an age where children edit and post video on YouTube. Synthesizers make incredible one-man soundtracks possible. Digital video makes high-quality filming unbelievably cheap. Not everyone is gifted at acting, but many are. Why are we willing to settle for pitiful and think it's a triumph just because it has the label "Christian"?

Frustrating, secondly because it feels like the "old guard" of Christianity (anyone older than, say, 40) has No Clue what is really going on in our culture right now. The arguments in A Perfect Stranger have NO RELEVANCE to the average adult right now. No one cares about why Christianity is true, or the difference between world religions, or that Jesus had historical contemporaries confirming His existence.

Want to know why?

Because people do not care about being right. They care about being loved and accepted.

Examples: gangs. Fraternities. Sororities. Women who stay in abusive situations. Girls who sleep around and hate themselves for it. People who admit that they've been fake all their lives in order to fit in. Succumbing to peer pressure.

If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 

Which is why people hate snotty Christians who proclaim that we have The Truth. So what if we have the truth? If we're all arrogant about it, no one's going to want to hear. They'd rather be wrong in a comfortable crowd than right with the holier-than-thou group.

Christians think it's plenty fine to speak out about "sin" in the world. It's fine to decry certain sin in the church. But somehow it's not okay to point to something and say, "This doesn't have love". I've been told that "God uses everything" and "God's word will not return void" and "If even one person is saved it will be worth it."

I'm kinda tired of that. Good intentions, we've been told since time immemorial, will not get us into heaven. They purportedly pave the road to hell. Good intentions are not a good excuse. Not for being out of touch, not for lacking love.

And in the note of not wanting to lack love, I want to emphasize that I'm not picking on "The Perfect Stranger." It was an example of what I'm seeing in the Christian world around me. I know many people will find it an amazing movie--but I have a hunch none of them will be under 35. And it's a problem when the elders in the faith, who should be mentoring the next generation, are this out of touch with our culture.