Christian Persecution in America?

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Permalink Reply by Karla Elisa on December 4, 2008 at 3:05am

I don't think either God or Jesus are the problem.

Is it possible it's his messengers, i.e., Christians themselves, that our culture is finding offensive?

And is that maybe rooted in societies perception of their judgmental or close minded attitudes?

Or the last 8 years of the religious right meddling everywhere they can?

I can honestly say I feel quite put off by the religious leaders platforms and the garbage that's spilled out of their mouths. Pat Robertson, John Hagee, the late hate filled Jerry Falwell....I even read Rick Warren is giving Bush a medal for PEACE today....hearing that pretty much ruined my already wavering opinion of him.

Or could it be 2 wars being fought in the name of stopping 'radical Islam' while we behave like Christian barbarians doing anything BUT actually following what Jesus taught?

And our environment going to hell in a handbasket while so many Christians sit on the fence and saying ' we don't really know if climate change is man made' doesn't help the image of people who claim to know the Creator himself.

I think the response you are seeing is because Christians are failing to do what they are commanded to do, which is LOVE.

Perhaps we should look inside to find the answer to your question.

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Permalink Reply by Brian Booth on December 4, 2008 at 11:41am

Thanks Karla. I believe there is much truth in what you are saying. I think Jesus has definitely been misrepresented by many of his so-called "followers" by their lack of love, compassion and involvement with social justice. Unfortunately, I think abortion and gay marriage have also been two issues that have turned a lot of people off to Christianity based on the religious rights' narrow-mindedness on these issues.

I believe it's unfortunate that many people either don't see or choose to ignore the many faithful followers of Christ out there working and loving people for his kingdom. These are the true representatives of Christ; His hands and feet on earth.

I have hope that there is a new generation of Christians rising up to follow the call of Jesus to love and "to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God".

I do, however, believe that the message of the gospel alone can be offensive to many in our society. Jesus as "the way, the truth and the life" is often not a welcome claim in such a post-modern, "find your own way" type of culture. His call also asks people to give everything they have and change the way they live, putting others before self, and I think to a lot of people, this just is too costly. They would rather stay in their euphoric, self-consumed lives and not confront the dangerous reality that is true life in Christ.

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Permalink Reply by John Gnotek on December 4, 2008 at 1:40pm

Rick Warren gave George Bush a medal for PEACE?!!!

I don't even know how to respond to this.


But I do like this quote (paraphrased):
"The greatest threat to the movement of Jesus Christ is Christianity" -- Erwin McManus The Barbarian Way

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Permalink Reply by Wesley Tan on December 6, 2008 at 3:23am

Yeah that reminds me of this quote:
"The only indefensible part of Christianity is Christians."
- Os Guinness

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Permalink Reply by Chris Marsden on December 4, 2008 at 3:46pm

I got into a discussion with an old friend yesterday on Facebook about Christian radio. I am not sure if she is a Christ follower or not, (I certainly didn't get that impression in High School), but both of us were put off by the hosts rather than the content of the music (and lets face it, a lot of "christian music" is crap (but so is the rest of the radio dial)).

I have run into a ton of people in the last two years who have a desire for and a relationship with Christ. BUT... their relationship, ideals, beliefs, and politics don't fit the box that we call Christianity. Personally I struggle with this coming from a rather legalistic, conservative background, but ultimately I am not their judge and do my best to point them towards a more accurate, biblical picture of who Jesus is without giving them more reason to hate christians and the institutional church. (that could rabbit trail into its own discussion fairly easily).

Personally, I think there is a general lack of persecution against Christians in this country. I read what Jesus says about His followers being persecuted and I look at my life and the lives of most Christians in the West and I wonder what we are doing wrong that Satan isn't throwing persecution against us.

I think being made fun of, being left out, or being ignored is a lot different than persecution.

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Permalink Reply by John Gnotek on December 6, 2008 at 11:24am

>>>Personally, I think there is a general lack of persecution against Christians in this country<<<<br />
I think that goes to show how lazy of Christians we are. When I first read this, I thought, "Go into the hood and start preaching and get a cap up your--but as I thought about, probably wouldn't happen unless you were turning a lot of crack heads in the right direction, then maybe some dealers who are losing revenue might take a swing.

But I was reading Luke 16 this morning, particularly the blessing and woes section and came across this post again. And I think if you really wanted to be persecuted, go to the rich neighborhoods and start laying down some truths. Go to Saddleback Church and declare George Bush is NOT a man of "peace," that agreeing with some Cable News jockey about snuffing a world leader is NOT what Jesus would say or advocate. That is NOT Jesus' heart. Go to peace marches. Make waves, especially in affluent territory. I'll bet you get persecuted then.

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Permalink Reply by Mark Juane on December 6, 2008 at 12:10pm

Hmmm...I wonder if the reactions on this thread reflect the Christ-like character everyone seems to be demanding from the "Christian right?"

Perhaps, we should all admit that the answer to the question, "What's wrong with Christianity in North America?" is...I am. Christian left or Christian right...seems to be that it's all "ChristiaNUTTY."

In light of the upcoming discussion on Seth Godin's book, "Tribes," I think it's appropriate to make a distinction between religion and faith. And that the problem is that our society sees too much of OUR religion and not enough of our faith. IMHO, this goes for both sides of the center.

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