Now, I'm a Christian and, even with all the baggage that term carries for many in and outside the church, I'm not embarrassed to say so. Christian, to me, means "one who follows Christ" and I'm trying my best to do that (and failing at it, to some extent, daily). What concerns me is that "Christian" is viewed, by those out and (especially and unfortunately) inside the church, as static. Even the terminology we use often refers to those who have yet to become Christians as "seekers."
What lame logic convinced Christians that discovering the source of truth meant that there were no truths left to discover? Why is it that we don't see following Christ as something that ought make us "inquisitive" and "still learning"? Why does becoming a Christian mean I stop being a "seeker"?
And is it possible that this is part of what makes being a Christian so unappealing to so many?
4 comments:
The paramount reason that "being a Christian" is so unappealing is that mens' hearts are dead in sin and they hate the Gospel. It's undeniable that Christians are sometimes hypocritical, unloving, or otherwise seriously flawed representatives of Christ but the idea that "seekers" can be excused because of our failings misses the point. Certainly we, as Christians, are to continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ.
I don't think anyone being "excused because of our failings" was the point I was making. I was hoping to begin a conversation about why we don't seek more and explore more. If our seeking stops at conversion, doesn't that imply that God is static and, if it does, why do we speak in terms of following Him?
I would say that if I stopped seeking after conversion, then I would need to question my own conversion. If someone has the view that their conversion is a one time event that doesn't have any outworking in their life, then they're in need of more Biblical instruction.
To those on the outside, who see Christianity as static, I would say that seeking is something that probably doesn't happen quickly for most folks. So what might seem static is just taking longer to work out.
Why don't we seek more? I'll throw these out there.
We're busy. Family, job, other relationships and our selfish desires all demand our time and all those things demand our attention in a more strident and insistent way than our conscience can.
The idea is foreign to us.
It's hard.
Our old man is dead set against it.
We all fail at it everyday, thank you Jesus! I don't ever want to be to the point that I can't seek more, find more, learn more, BE MORE! I don't want to be to the point where I can't listen to what someone else has to say, especially when it comes to God.
I can't fathom being in a place where there is nothing new that God can show me. I could read the bible over and over again, study everyday and still find new perspective with each pass. If I'm done learning, isn't that when death comes calling?
I think people are more scared that the more they learn, the more they're going to have to give up. The more I get into the word, the more my life changes. More sacrifices have to be made; less I can control; less of me, more of Him. And I think the sacrifice scares people. They want to just have the hope of heaven and eternal life, without having to change their world now.
I sometimes think of how much easier my life would be if I didn't believe as I do. How much easier having a job would be, having dates, making life happen. But all of the things that would better are in instant gratification scenarios. Which technically, they'd be easier, not better. None of them better for my life in the long run. Probably the exact opposite to be exact. I would get stuck in a marriage not of God and doomed to fail, I would be in a job that leaves me stranded, a life with no meaning and a death for nothing. And that's the end, my one life wasted and unhappy.
I think becoming a Christian means becoming a stonger seeker, and sadly that's not how it works for most people. Especially in the beginning. It's sad that God has to constantly nudge us to do what we know we should. And then we still don't listen.
"The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians; who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbeliving world finds simply unbelievable."
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