Christian Book Store: Unfortunate Represenation of Mainstream Christian Culture

So I was thinking the other day about the culture of Christianity. We have a very unique culture - and sometimes that is not a very good thing. Actually most times that is not a very good thing. Christianity is often far behind the rest of society concerning trends, style, fashion, and popularity. This is not to say that religion should be a popularity contest or on the up-and-up with Vogue or US Weekly or anything like that. But much of Christianity is out of touch with society and not relevant with the daily lives of people. What am I talking about? Let me entertain you with an example.


Christian culture is the exact same as a normal Christian book store. There are dozens of reasons why this is almost a perfect mold of Christian culture. Anyone who has ever been inside of a Christian book store can attest to the accuracy of the following claims. Here are a couple examples of how current Christian culture is like a Christian book store.

1) The Music: Right when you walk into a Christian bookstore, you are quietly bombarded by the magical mistings of praise, worship, and contemporary Christian music. It is a light and airy effervescence that permeates everything around you. This is exactly like our Christian culture. It is not church or a Christian gathering unless there is "Christian music" playing somewhere in the foreground or background. Also, just as you will never hear Jack Johnson or Dear and the Headlights in a Christian book store - most "non-Christian music" is not a part of mainstream Christian culture. It is just not something that we encourage or allow. We only allow the soft tones of worship music in our book stores and our lives.

2) The Books: Not like it is a bad thing or anything, but Christian book stores only have Christian books. I mean, I totally understand it. It is a niche market; therefore, Christian bookstores sell Christian books. But it just feels like the only things that we should read or watch should be Christian. Christian culture shows a strong disregard for most things that are not 'Christian'. We should only read Christian books and things. Just like the Christian book stores - Christian culture presents that the only valuable things to us are explicitly Christian.

3) The People: Christian books stores generally attract one type of person: Christians. They have Christian books, music, videos, gifts - and all of these things are made for Christians. The only people that come through the doors are Christian. It is like a world unto its own. This is the exact same with our current Christian culture. In our own little Christian culture we have made a world entirely for ourselves. We are the only ones that are in it, and everything that we are about is for us and by us. Just like a Christian book store - Christian culture only attracts one type of person: Christians.


These are just three of the examples that show how the Christian book store represents mainstream Christian culture. There are many other parallels, as well. Both Christian book stores and Christian culture rely on old and un-imaginative marketing. Both Christian book stores and Christian culture use products and strategies that are not relevant at all toward people's everyday lives. There are lots of other ways that these two are extremely similar, as well.


I guess I point all this out just to say this: we have to make our Christian culture relevant again. Just as a normal person off the street wouldn't walk into a Christian book store for basically any reason - a normal person off the street would not fit into mainstream Christian culture, either. We have to update our Christian culture to make it more relevant and in tune with today's society and the daily life of Average Joe.


Actually, we should update Christian book stores, too.

Arrogant Stance, Ignorant Sight

Christians have been against abortion since the very beginning. For years they have fought against this medical and non-medical procedure of the killing of an unborn baby. Christians claim that they value life; therefore, they stand against the role of abortion. But this is not new information. Everybody knows that Christians are against abortion.

Everyone also knows that Christians protest against abortion. They protest abortion clinics, in front of planned parenthood offices, and at political happenings and political places. Some of these protests have been violent, but the majority of the protests involve signs and banners and chants. Besides protests, Christians spend an inordinate amount of time on abortion related ventures. They write letters to politicians. They hold rallies and raise money to stop it. They wear t-shirts, buttons, and such. In all, Christians take very seriously the value of human life - and that is why they spend a lot of energy exhausting every avenue possible to try to stop it.

But on many levels, these things are extremely arrogant and even more ignorant.

How can Christians claim to value human life while so many children are dying from AIDS in Africa and other developing countries? How can we as Christians be so arrogant in our own stances on abortion while being so ignorant of situations outside of our line of sight?

It is literally ridiculous when you think about it. Christians spend so much time and money and energy trying to stop abortion with little to no success. For all of the resources that we put into it, we have very little to show. Granted, some things have been done - but nowhere near what we are seeking. For all of the protests, arguments, and rallies - babies are still being aborted everyday.

But in our arrogance and short-sightedness, we doggedly fight on with our protesting and raving and ranting. We put the full weight of the religious right behind trying to stop something that we have not been able to stop in forty years. We tarnish our Christian reputation by participating in violent protests at abortion clinics. We make our faith look horrible when we stand out in front of clinics and offices holding up pictures of dead babies. We make people even more annoyed with Christianity when all we constantly talk about is how terrible abortion is because of the value of each human life.

And yet the worst part is that we don't even value human life enough to look outside of our borders!!! We say that each life is precious while we turn a blind eye to the tragedies happening in Africa and other developing with AIDS. We try to save the life of a child who may or may not be born WHILE THERE ARE MILLIONS OF CHILDREN WHO ARE BORN WHO ARE DYING OF AIDS IN AFRICA AND OTHER DEVELOPING COUNTRIES. We spend time protesting and praying about the evils of abortion while we don't even know about the crisis that is happening across the Atlantic Ocean. How can we say that we value human life when we haven't done virtually anything to help the children dying from AIDS in Africa and other developing countries? What the heck, Christianity.

I could write a novel about all of this. I could go on and on about how we have failed - and how we continue to fail with this.

But instead of doing that, I will try to offer an apology and a challenge - an apology to those we have neglected and hurt and a challenge to those who are humble enough to see the light.

We have been arrogant in our stance...and we have been ignorant in our sight.

For far too long.

Emergent Church - Fair Shake

Recently I read two separate articles in the Treasure Valley Christian Newspaper about the Emergent Church. In each of these two articles, the subject of the Emergent Church was discussed. But in both of these articles - the Emergent Church was not given a fair shake at all.

The authors of these two articles both decried the Emergent Church Movement. Yet their reasons were completely generalized, off-base, and non-understanding. The articles listed off certain beliefs of the Emergent Church and why they were spiritually and Scripturally wrong. It explained the roles of Brian McLaren and other top leaders in the Emergent Movement and how their teachings and thoughts were completely wrong. Both articles listed out all of the reasons why the Emergent Church was incorrect and dangerous.

Yet the entire tone of these two articles was marinated in ignorance and judgment. Am I being too harsh? Probably not harsh enough. It was plain to see that the authors had pre-supposed dispositions to the Emergent Church movement gathered from prooftexting books, sermons, and blogs most likely. Their information was scarce and unrefined. They used specific small information to cast conclusions on general substances. I am sure that the articles resonated well with traditional Christians who want to hear the simple and the clean-cut. But for those of us living in reality, these articles were another example of the Church missing an opportunity to connect with those outside of its walls and demographics.

To clarify, I am not proposing that the Emergent Church is perfect. By no means. But I am propounding that the media and everyone else can at least give the Emergent Church Movement a fair shake. Here is what I am talking about.

The Emergent Church is so young that it has not been fully defined or developed. It is still changing and adapting; therefore, it is premature and unwise to state definitively something about it. Also, the Emergent Church Movement is much bigger than the leaders that supposedly started it. McLaren and others are simply a small part of the larger whole. In fact, the Emergent Church Movement is not so much a set of specific beliefs as it is a concept and a mindset. It is the concept and mindset that we need to use different means of sharing the same Message of Jesus Christ in order to reach a new generation living in a new society. There are thousands of good things coming about because of Emergent Churches and Emergent movements around the country and around the world.

Yet the articles mentioned nothing about these things. It simply took the bad theology from specific individuals that are associated with a small part of the Emergent Church. It did not give the Emergent Church a fair shake at all. The authors' attitudes, demeanor, and stance were arrogant, ignorant, and narrow.

Maybe that is why we have a Church that is trying to emerge from this...

Child's Play and Christianity

I was talking with a friend recently, and she told me an interesting story about a little boy that she nannies. The little boy's name is Michael. He is a fun, rambunctuous little boy. He loves to explore and discover. Just a classic little boy.

My friend has watched Michael for a little while now, and she has seen how he has grown up. Now that he can walk and crawl and get around a little bit, my friend has watched him travel all over the house. He explored everything and just loved discovering all that he could. But then he reached a point when he had seen everything. He had been everywhere in the house. He had played with all the toys. He had crawled in all the rooms. He had been there, done that. And now he needed something else.

I guess Michae proceeded to get into trouble by touching the things that he was not supposed to get and getting into the places that he was not supposed to get into. My friend told me that since Michael had been everywhere and done everything - now he was exploring into the places where he wasn't allowed to go and touching the things he wasn't allowed to touch.


Isn't this how we are, too?


We all have a desire to explore and discover. None of us want to be bored and predictable. We want to have fun and have adventures and stuff like that. Yet - just like Michael - we can find ourselves in a situation where we have been there and done all that already. We are bored with our surroundings, our situation, and our life, basically.

So what do we do? Just like Michael, we start to touch the things we shouldn't touch and go to the places where we shouldn't go and do the things we shouldn't do. It's the only excitement we can find. It's the only new thing that we have in our life. It's the only thing that is yet unexplored. And so out of a psuedo-desperation and need - we just get ourselves into trouble.

So what should we do then? I think a simple answer might be best. Go find something else that you haven't explored - something that is good and right - and explore it. There are so many things to do in this world and so many areas that need help and so many people who are ripe for relationship that we should never be bored enough to resort to cheap and harmful amusements. You cannot tell me that you have done every adventure available on earth and explored every type of world situation and interesting facet of God's creation. No way.

So get on out there. Explore. Discover. Enjoy. Something new.

Maybe Michael will be there, too.