We have been trained from a young age that the questions of God were not to be discussed in public. Our popular culture, all of it, only invokes God when they want us to do something: God is a lash for the peasants. This leads to those hilarious descriptions of Jesus Christ as a non-judging socialist. It also leads to young men and women being clueless about themselves and their purpose as husbands and wives, because Genesis describes them, echoed by Christ, in that way, and no cultural or political institution does so without contempt.
"Why are Christians, of all people, so shy about advancing religious arguments? Are we afraid they won’t hold up? Or—more alarming still—have we lost the knack for talking about God as if he were real?"
Ok. I think I have a pretty good response.
1) We totally made caricatures of ourselves by exploding this pyramid-scheme-Cutco-knife-sales-style evangelism in the 1990s. The people with whom we were sharing the good news were the ones doing the ministering by putting up with these weird soul winning sales tactics. We started to be Biffs for the Bible, committing social faux pas, and commoditizing salvation. The evangelical church lost its taste for peddling evangelism at the same rate the public felt like they were customers more than friends.
2) We've watered-down the gospel to make up for how obnoxious we were. In the neo-con Evangelist church era. However, the seeker-sensitivity movement has been a component of rapid church decline. Your old man has ranted about the desperate habits of dying churches with greater clarity.
3) We, the Church, allowed the divorce of higher education from Western Civilization. Simply put, we've forgotten our ideological inheritance. This is your wheelhouse. I’m sure you’re well aware of the consequences.
4) Finally, I think we’ve come to realize “That people don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.” Certainly, true empathy is more valued than information at the moment. We are mired in the world of knowledge, but we’re longing to spend time with people we love. In this particular regard, I think the Church has improved. Anecdotally, it seems like we’re getting better at showing up in hard moments and caring for people, before we awkwardly throw a tract at them and hit ‘em with the brimstone.
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.”
In my conversation experience, whenever I speak in terms of God or Christ, I get poo-pooed by my listeners. They belittle what I’m saying and shove their atheism in my face. However, I have found that when I speak in terms of Alcoholics Anonymous they listen with rapt interest.
They see how beautiful our way of living is and some have asked if you have to be an alcoholic to join AA. They don’t realize that our 12 Steps is a Christian way of life.
Self-censoring seems to be SOP once the censored part is unpopular. It doesn’t have to be in the minority. On the contrary, the same way political correctness took hold was because a loud, vocal minority dictated to the majority what we must say, or how we must say it. All it takes is one prominent person to say X Is no longer acceptable, and people will start to follow along.
Thank you for this. It is a topic close to my heart as I teach geography in the public realm. For me, the wrestling within the space where science and Biblical theology meet has given me a greater fascination with the physical and social world as well as a deeper awe for God and how much He loves us. Sadly I have to leave all of this out of the classroom to keep my job.
Agreed 👍. That is why I love reading and listening to people like Dr. Hugh Ross, Astrophysicist/Genius who grew up agnostic in Canada and came to faith through his study and understanding of Astronomy and Cosmology, which pointed him toward all the holy books of different religions. After studying the Vedas, the Koran et. al. he read and studied the Bible over the course of a couple years and found no provable contradictions or errors. Ultimately he became a believer, never having had a spiritual conversation with a Christian. His Science/faith lectures and multiple books are so interesting. And they've given people like me confidence to speak of such matters in the public square.
The names of the stars tell a story. They reveal words that declare the glory of God.
Psalm 19:1-4 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showed his handywork. 2 Day unto day uttered speech, and night unto night showed knowledge. 3 There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. 4 Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,
Like most of us, I have traveled in circles where speaking about God, let alone "Jesus", in something other than theoretical terms, as if the spirit were alive in me, is considered very bad form. I have taken to listening to the following song almost daily as a mediation. Perhaps some of you might also enjoy it as I think it is in keeping with Spencer's post. The refrain in the early part of the song is: "I AM NOT ASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL ALIVE IN ME!"
It is from "Christ and Christ Crucified - (Spontaneous) - Live version by Lindy Cofer
So many people say when I talk about my church - I am spiritual, not religious. I then talk about my experience in other churches, but how my new church and my new friends teach are different. They teach bible and take action on it's principles. My husband is always inviting men to men's breakfast and I invite my friends to see the Christmas and Easter productions. We may seem like happy fools, but people see our joy and may want to get some. But I am also not afraid to have intellectual discussions about what the bible says and how "science" has not proved all you think it has.
We have been trained from a young age that the questions of God were not to be discussed in public. Our popular culture, all of it, only invokes God when they want us to do something: God is a lash for the peasants. This leads to those hilarious descriptions of Jesus Christ as a non-judging socialist. It also leads to young men and women being clueless about themselves and their purpose as husbands and wives, because Genesis describes them, echoed by Christ, in that way, and no cultural or political institution does so without contempt.
"Why are Christians, of all people, so shy about advancing religious arguments? Are we afraid they won’t hold up? Or—more alarming still—have we lost the knack for talking about God as if he were real?"
Ok. I think I have a pretty good response.
1) We totally made caricatures of ourselves by exploding this pyramid-scheme-Cutco-knife-sales-style evangelism in the 1990s. The people with whom we were sharing the good news were the ones doing the ministering by putting up with these weird soul winning sales tactics. We started to be Biffs for the Bible, committing social faux pas, and commoditizing salvation. The evangelical church lost its taste for peddling evangelism at the same rate the public felt like they were customers more than friends.
2) We've watered-down the gospel to make up for how obnoxious we were. In the neo-con Evangelist church era. However, the seeker-sensitivity movement has been a component of rapid church decline. Your old man has ranted about the desperate habits of dying churches with greater clarity.
3) We, the Church, allowed the divorce of higher education from Western Civilization. Simply put, we've forgotten our ideological inheritance. This is your wheelhouse. I’m sure you’re well aware of the consequences.
4) Finally, I think we’ve come to realize “That people don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.” Certainly, true empathy is more valued than information at the moment. We are mired in the world of knowledge, but we’re longing to spend time with people we love. In this particular regard, I think the Church has improved. Anecdotally, it seems like we’re getting better at showing up in hard moments and caring for people, before we awkwardly throw a tract at them and hit ‘em with the brimstone.
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.”
In my conversation experience, whenever I speak in terms of God or Christ, I get poo-pooed by my listeners. They belittle what I’m saying and shove their atheism in my face. However, I have found that when I speak in terms of Alcoholics Anonymous they listen with rapt interest.
They see how beautiful our way of living is and some have asked if you have to be an alcoholic to join AA. They don’t realize that our 12 Steps is a Christian way of life.
Self-censoring seems to be SOP once the censored part is unpopular. It doesn’t have to be in the minority. On the contrary, the same way political correctness took hold was because a loud, vocal minority dictated to the majority what we must say, or how we must say it. All it takes is one prominent person to say X Is no longer acceptable, and people will start to follow along.
Thank you for this. It is a topic close to my heart as I teach geography in the public realm. For me, the wrestling within the space where science and Biblical theology meet has given me a greater fascination with the physical and social world as well as a deeper awe for God and how much He loves us. Sadly I have to leave all of this out of the classroom to keep my job.
Agreed 👍. That is why I love reading and listening to people like Dr. Hugh Ross, Astrophysicist/Genius who grew up agnostic in Canada and came to faith through his study and understanding of Astronomy and Cosmology, which pointed him toward all the holy books of different religions. After studying the Vedas, the Koran et. al. he read and studied the Bible over the course of a couple years and found no provable contradictions or errors. Ultimately he became a believer, never having had a spiritual conversation with a Christian. His Science/faith lectures and multiple books are so interesting. And they've given people like me confidence to speak of such matters in the public square.
The names of the stars tell a story. They reveal words that declare the glory of God.
Psalm 19:1-4 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showed his handywork. 2 Day unto day uttered speech, and night unto night showed knowledge. 3 There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. 4 Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,
Like most of us, I have traveled in circles where speaking about God, let alone "Jesus", in something other than theoretical terms, as if the spirit were alive in me, is considered very bad form. I have taken to listening to the following song almost daily as a mediation. Perhaps some of you might also enjoy it as I think it is in keeping with Spencer's post. The refrain in the early part of the song is: "I AM NOT ASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL ALIVE IN ME!"
It is from "Christ and Christ Crucified - (Spontaneous) - Live version by Lindy Cofer
https://open.spotify.com/track/04hFX9fSewa7eBFZ9LtmLW?si=b4fc5a274b39463f
I have nothing to add to the stellar comments above, only that time spiral is awesome. I needed that in my textbook growing up.
Embarrassment. People don’t want to declare their faith in public for fear they will be identified with organized religion.
So many people say when I talk about my church - I am spiritual, not religious. I then talk about my experience in other churches, but how my new church and my new friends teach are different. They teach bible and take action on it's principles. My husband is always inviting men to men's breakfast and I invite my friends to see the Christmas and Easter productions. We may seem like happy fools, but people see our joy and may want to get some. But I am also not afraid to have intellectual discussions about what the bible says and how "science" has not proved all you think it has.