Tag: Christian

Christian Chicken

Silva

Every couple of months I get a publication, Discipleship Journal, that helpfully guides Bible study. It is a very practical and useful (and full!) publication. They’ve got this section of short takes or quotes, “Currents: Beliefs and Values in Today’s Societies.” This is where I read about Christian Chicken.

Chicken on the way to Chicken Church

As a Christian, I tend to think of myself as “purposely avoided” by non-Christians. In other words, if I think of myself as anathema to someone, it makes it easy for me to avoid them. If I’m avoiding them, well, then I’m safe. No? Well, here’s what I learned today about this fact:

75% of non-Christians “would be willing to listen to someone talk about his or her Christian beliefs”

78% of non-Christians “would enjoy an honest conversation with a friend about religious and spiritual beliefs, even if they disagreed with the friend”

28% of non-Christians “think the Christians they know talk to them too much about their beliefs”

[source: www.lifewayresearch.com]

OK, some observations. First, this proves the existence of Christian Chicken. How many Christians do you know who actually share their belief in Jesus Christ with others? How often do you do it? This silly survey shows us that there is no reason for us to refrain from sharing good news except that we’re flat out chicken.

Secondly, this also proves that Christian Chicken stinks. I know you’ve had the experience of opening a package of rotten or rotting Chicken – it is almost unforgettable. It stinks; it’s bad; it will make you sick; it is sick. Christian Chicken stinks in this same way. God Himself has told us that there is no reason to be chicken. Now, if my son told me that there’s no reason to be chicken that’s one thing, but for God to do so should mean something completely different for me. But, it usually doesn’t. That stinks.

Why would we assume that God didn’t prepare people to hear the best news they could ever hear? It’s not as if you’re about to tell someone they’ve got something hanging from their nose.

Lastly, Christian Chicken gives Christian a bad name. I wonder how many people look at Christian Chickens and think to themselves, “what they believe mustn’t really be that significant – they don’t really tell anyone about it.” Of course, that is to say that Christ’s leaving paradise to come to a desert, live perfectly, die because of the wrongdoing of others – in their place, and rise again is also insignificant.

Full Disclosure

Silva

What did that title provoke in you? “Full disclosure” here means I’m going to tell you about me and why I’m blogging. It also means we’re going to strive together to unearth and reveal what is going on in our world. Why? One author has said “revelation is required for relationship” – in other words, to know you have to know. Forget change if ignorance is your goal.

Let’s begin – first, we live in a bent world. That means things are not as they should be. It doesn’t take IVY league education to observe that truth, does it? But, neither is observation enough. How do I know? Disclosure #2.

Second, I’m a Christian pastor. That means I have both a perspective and a motive to blog. My perspective is that we live in a bent world where things are not as they should be and there’s a way out. My motive is to ask you to consider what a “straight” world looks like, feels like – is like – and then go there.

Hopefully some of you are already aware of the bent nature of this world. Maybe. It’s not just that things go wrong but that they ARE wrong. In the church we say we sin because we are sinners. Some things happen because some things are. There’s something inherently bent in our world. It wasn’t always that way, but it is certainly that way now. You don’t have to be a Christian to come to that conclusion, but you do have to be to enjoy the solution. Full disclosure, remember?

Many are bent people in a bent world. I once had a friend who used to tell people to “get bent” – ha! Now, you may know what that means and I’m not going to tell you here. But, the fact of the matter is that it takes no work to get that way and too much work to change. Still, change is possible and it starts with revelation – knowing.

Third, this blog is about our world views. What’s that? It is what you think or conclude when you look at yourself, the world and the future. Chances are your view is bent – mine is (though not totally).

Finally, as you can see, this blog is about the concrete, the real, what is. We like to think that we’re nuanced in our thoughts and beliefs. Maybe we are, but we’re certainly not in our living. How well did you tolerate my assertion that your views are probably bent? Did you like it?

Nonetheless, disclosure 2 is very relevant for all these things. I have a perspective that I will support from the Book of Truth. My motive is that you’d see things as they really are and then as they can be. I’m in that process not at its end (else, I’d be sending this note to you from heaven).