I shouldn't be so naive about this sort of thing at my age, but comments posted in response to our story on Connecticut changing from a blue state to a green have convinced me more deeply that the church needs new approaches.
A deeper work of prayer and some good old-fashioned PR (in the form of what we used to just call "neighborliness") are sorely needed if we are to overcome the hurdles which we ourselves have erected to the Gospel.
Here's what I'm hearing. Bear in mind that these are actual recent quotes from comments to this blog:
- Just what we need, more ignorant "evangelical christians".
- I can't tell thus far from what I've read in your blog, but I would really love to know if you're in the crowd of evangelicals who want to make America an official 'Christian Nation' (i.e., religion in schools, fundamentalist legislation) or the kind of Christian who promotes a secular government. I'm just trying to sort Christians into 'enemy' and 'friend' piles at the moment, and I want to know what's behind your blog.
- I think the real issue is the inane belief that if we post a couple Ten Commandments on a building and force kids to robotically regurgitate some prayer or pledge, the World will be right....all I know is that my Religion is considered a farce to the Protestant Evangelical mainsteam. SO let's keep them as far away from politics as possible!
- Hey, man, I don't knock Christians because I am one. But let me tell you, what we don't need in CT or anywhere else -- is more insular, closed places that promote Jesus as some kind of Americanized freak.
To tell you the truth, I'm glad these folks are reading my blog, but here's a more sobering thought: they and millions of others are watching us live and listening to us every day.
Read this article by Charles Colson about the failure of Christians to reach out the way that Jesus did, then let's reflect about how we can better relate to people who are "not like us."
Tags: Connecticut, Christian, Christianity, Evangelical
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