campus center
Awhile back I read this letter written by Christian author Shane Claiborne titled, “What If Jesus Meant All That Stuff?”
He starts the letter off by hitting us religious and holier than thou people upside the head by saying,
“To all my non-believing, sort-of-believing, and used-to-be-believing friends: I feel like I should begin with a confession. I am sorry that so often the biggest obstacle to God has been Christians. Christians who have had so much to say with our mouths and so little to show with our lives. I am sorry that so often we have forgotten the Christ of our Christianity. Forgive us. Forgive us for the embarrassing things we have done in the name of God.
Man oh man, do we as Christians get it so wrong sometimes. Why do we think that because we know who Jesus is and because we say we’re Christian, we think that we can put ourselves up on this pedestal of
I’m better than you because you’re a ‘non-believing, sort-of-believing, and used-to-be-believing’ Christian?
I had a conversation with a friend the other night, and we were talking about how being at a Christian University you would think that more people would understand that we are all screwed up human beings who obviously are not perfect and do not have all the answers. Instead, it is the exact opposite. It is like BECAUSE we call ourselves to be Christians, we feel the need to put up this religious cover-up to hide all of our weaknesses and screwed up parts of our lives.
I can personally testify to having been a Christian who used religion to cover up my sinful natured life.
However, my perspective has changed significantly.
I was eating lunch in the campus center after class one day, and this guy came up to me and asked if he could eat with me. I said,
Yeah, sure man.
I had no problem with it.
And so, we began talking, asking the common questions of,
Where are you from?, What year are you?, What’s your major?
But, being at a Christian University, it is impossible to not talk about your religious background.
The majority of people at Abilene Christian University are Church of Christ; hence it is a COC school.
Now as we were talking, I was asked,
So, what are you? (Implying what denomination I was)
I responded by saying,
Well, I guess you could say I am non-denominational? I don’t really associate my faith with a denomination. I believe in the bible and I believe in Jesus.
It seemed like my new friend was unable to comprehend my response. I don’t know exactly why, but it seemed like the only thing he knew was that everyone must be defined by something (a denomination in this instance).
He asked me,
So, you obviously haven’t grown up in the church?
My response was,
No, I actually have grown up in the church most my life. There obviously were times in my life where I didn’t go to church for periods of time, but I feel like I’ve had a subtle background of church throughout my life.
He was quick to ask then,
But so you’re just trying to figure things out then huh?
I was a bit taken back by this question.
And my tentative response was,
No, I feel like I have things kind of figured out. I mean, I obviously don’t have all of the answers, but it’s not like I don’t have a solid foundation of what my faith is based upon.
So, as the conversation ended, it seemed as though my friend had put himself up on this religious pedestal, and I was left in the shoes of the ‘non-believing, sort-of-believing, and used-to-be-believing’ Christian.
I could finally comprehend what I (we as Christians) need to quit doing.
How will we ever have legitimate relationships if we are unable to relate with people on an authentic, personal, deep, and passionate level?
If we continue to use our religion to place ourselves above others, you can guarantee that you will not have any type of impact on anyone you want to influence.
How about we just BE REAL?