Why Being A Christian Is So Hard These Days

As a Christian, I’m confronted everyday with realization that, while stupidity is also a contributing factor, most of the problems faced by Christians these days, are of our own creation. From the benign parodies to the more malicious persecution of our most basic beliefs, the truth is, we bring most of it on ourselves.

Too many Christians are, ironically enough, not Christians at all. Their “Christianity” is an amalgam of diluted, and often misinterpreted, mythology and dogma. The sad part is, they’re the ones doing most of the talking for the religion. Remember the old quote: “all it takes for the forces of evil to win, is for enough good men to do nothing”, well it applies to stupidity as well.

Unfortunately, it’s people like the Westboro Baptist Church, and Terry Jones that are representing our religion in the media. And Christians wonder why people think we’re all insane. As Christians, we need to do more to denounce these idiots as soon as they appear, and stop letting them hijack our religion. Saying that these groups are an accurate representation of Christianity is like saying that Al-Qaeda is an accurate representation of Islam.

As bad as these people are for Christianity, they’re not the real danger. Idiots like that are easy to identify and most rational people are willing to dismiss them for what they are, attention seekers, trying to make a buck. The real danger to Christianity comes from a much more dangerous source

For years, I’ve listened to “conservative” radio and TV hosts tell people about the “War on Christmas”, the “Attack on the American Family”, and all sorts of other dangers faced by our country today. The problem with this, is that it’s simply not true. These people think that religion in America is a “zero-sum” game, in that, if someone is promoting Non-Christian values, they’re attacking Christianity. Not only is this ridiculous, it’s also dangerous, as it breeds contempt and resentment between people of different beliefs.

Listen, I know why I’m a Christian, I don’t need to have someone tell my why my faith is more, or less, important than anyone else’s. On that same note, I know the difference between actual slights against my beliefs, and someone simply voicing a different position.

In my humble opinion, a relationship with Christ, like any relationship, is a very personal thing. Most people would have enough sense not to go around blabbing every intimate detail of their marriage all over the place, I think some of that same discretion would be well suited for your spiritual relationship as well.

Yes, I know Christ wants us to spread the Word among all the peoples of the world, but there are appropriate ways of doing this, and inappropriate ways. Standing outside a soldiers funeral and holding up signs that say: “God Hates Fags”, definitely falls under the latter. This has to be the most Un-Christian thing I’ve ever seen, yet these people are the ones representing our faith, especially in the media, because they’re the only ones doing the talking.

Added to all of the other difficulties faced by Christians today, there is also the age old “battle” with non-believers. To me, this is the least pressing issue, but it’s still worth mentioning. I was recently in a discussion with an atheist friend of mine (yes, Christians can have atheist friends) who was going on and on about how some new research project at the LHC in Switzerland was going to prove that God doesn’t exist.

Never one to diminish the opinions of my friends, I let him tell me all about the article he read, and how this new experiment was going to “answer all of the big scientific questions”. As the night went on, he became increasingly agitated that his “scientific proof” didn’t change my faith at all. This is something that I find is common among the science-faithful.

First of all, Science as a belief structure requires just as much faith as any religion. The prime example being that you have to have “faith” that your fundamental knowledge is accurate. As we know from history, with advances in technology, our understanding of the Universe around us grows, and we see just how wrong we’ve been all these years.

To be honest, science is at the very core of my belief in God. When you look at the complexity of the Universe, and the mathematical precision that binds it all together, it’s foolish to the point of absurdity to think that all of it could have occurred by chance. The precision is takes for even the simplest things is proof, at least in my opinion, that something more than “chance” played a part in the creation of the Universe.

The electromagnetic relationships among the particles in even the most simple atom (Hydrogen) is a wondrous thing, and to think that all of the matter, and energy in the Universe happened to align in just the right way, at just the right levels for all of it to work… and you think my beliefs are irrational?

The truth is, it’s called “faith” for a reason. We as Christians need to understand that people who voice opinions different from our own are not necessarily attacking our beliefs. We also need to do a better job of speaking up, and denouncing radical behavior that’s being perpetrated and passed off as Christianity.

There are enough real problems in this world for us to address, without creating more for no reason.