I’ve been seeing a rash of posts around the internet of people saying they’re “done” being “Christians” because they’re sick and tired of having to justify their behavior to people who might take issue with actions they choose to take in their lives.  The postings have ranged from simply refusing to use the term “Christian” to telling entire groups of believers that from this point forward, their thoughts and views will just be ignored.  People on twitter trumpet the postings as “must reads” and say how refreshing it is to have people standing up to essentially dismiss other Christians as somehow less worthy of discussion than people who don’t profess Jesus as Lord, don’t care to profess Jesus as Lord and in some cases are openly hostile and bigoted toward Christians.

I’m sorry.  I can’t see how anyone who is truly a Christian…excuse me, follower of Christ…could act in that manner.

I can understand someone’s frustration with uber-fundamentalists that go around condemning people for sins they may commit.  It’s never fun when someone comes up to you and calls you out for an action you’ve taken.  It can get tiring to have to explain to someone the difference between having a drink and being drunk.  It’s especially frustrating when you have non-Christian friends who don’t say a peep to you about having a few beers with the gang at the club.  You get into a mindset that they’re really showing Christ because they’re not judging you or condemning you or saying an action you’re taking is somehow wrong.

So you join your friends in mocking other Christians…er, followers of Christ.  You laugh at clips of Beth Moore or Joel Osteen or Pat Robertson or James Dobson and say that people really need to step up and shut those people down because they make non-Christians mad by saying something they do is a “sin.”   You rail against “fundamentalists” that say the Bible calls some kind of action “sinful” and say that only God can judge and that we’re under grace.  You start to profess how you’re getting along so great with your non-Christians friends and how they all appreciate the way you never bring up things that are “wrong.”   You then try to say what a great witness you are for Christ because you don’t judge or condemn them at all just like Jesus!  You only condemn the Pharisees because that’s all Jesus did!

The problem is you’re not at all “just like Jesus” acting in that manner.

Jesus didn’t just call out the sin in the Pharisees of his day.  He called it out in EVERYONE.  He showed grace and mercy to all but you don’t see Jesus running around pretending that people weren’t violating the instructions of His Father just because they didn’t have the big flowing robes with the Jerusalem Pharisee’s logo printed on it.

This hit me while I was reading about Jesus and the woman caught in adultery in John 8.  I imagined what would happen if this was the present day and word came down that a big religious leader told a woman who was caught in an affair that he didn’t hold it against her but to go and don’t sin anymore.

The first thing that would happen is this woman would tell all her non-Christian friends that this religious leader told her what she did was wrong.  Her friends would then tell her what a horrible, judgmental person this leader was and that they’re going to tell others about what a horrible thing this man did by telling her she sinned.  Besides…he’s been seen having wine and he said drunkenness is a sin and so he’s just a big hypocrite!

Then other Christians who want to not offend any of their non-Christian friends and show grace to the woman who was cheating on her husband would rush in with blogs and message board postings condemning the religious leader for being so judgmental.  They’d say that it’s only natural a woman whose husband isn’t showing her enough affection would look for someone to fulfill that need.  And since God created that feeling within us it has to be natural and therefore there’s nothing sinful about trying to find love and companionship!  So how could that be sin?  The Bible just can’t be taken literally in any place and anyone who does is just a horrible bigot that needs to be shouted down to save the faith.

It would no longer matter that God called adultery a sin.  Getting along with the world…showing “grace” to them…is much more important.

Now, some of you are going to rush to the comments and say “well, that’s just absurd.  Of course adultery is a sin.”

How many married Christians do you think right now have profiles on dating sites looking for someone else for adultery?

How many of them would tell you it’s none of your business if they do that or not?

How many Christians would tell you it’s none of your business if they’re doing it?

How many “followers of Christ” would condemn you for being judgmental for saying what they were doing is wrong?  Would say that you just don’t know how to show grace the way Jesus did?

Somewhere along the way someone’s actions (sin) have been melded to their identity (the person) so that any time you call out sinful behavior you’re condemning the person.  Any time you say that something a person is doing is wrong, you’re now a horrible judgmental person who needs to learn that we need to change the way we approach the world in this new millennium.  That attitude then turns into mass condemnation of Christians who say that the Bible gave us instructions on how to live and that violations of those instructions are sin.   They all become horrible fundamentalists that aren’t worth talking to because they just refuse to see the doctrine of grace and what Jesus really taught us.

Jesus said in Mark 3:25 “if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.” (ESV)

We have so many Christians actively trying to divide the house and others cheering them on for doing it.

Satan has to be laughing his head off.

I talk to a lot of people who I know are Christians who I disagree with on a lot of issues.  There are some friends I have who I know endorse sinful behavior as being perfectly fine because they don’t want to risk losing a friendship with someone who’s not a Christian and/or they want to “reach the world.”  They no longer bring up situations where they’re giving a free pass to sin because they know I’ll call them out on it as being wrong.   I don’t stop talking to them.  I don’t run around saying they’re heretics who need to be silenced.  I don’t tell them they’re no longer welcome to comment and if they do they’ll be ignored.  EVERYONE is wrong on some things and just because someone who’s a Christian might be misguided is no reason to say they’re worth less than a non-believer.  It’s entirely possible that I’m wrong on things.  It’s entirely possible that you’re wrong on things.

I’ve lost friendships with people who aren’t Christians because they were offended I said something they did wasn’t right.  I’ve been on the receiving end of more than a few incidents of pure hate because I didn’t take the easy route and tell someone their actions were perfectly fine.

And it’s OK because Jesus is more important than my friendship with the world.  He’s more important than your friendship with the world too.

And the accepted definition of Christian that you have as a Christian should not be defined by a world that hates Christ.  That would be like a definition of what it means to be a Democrat as defined by Sarah Palin.  When you see a survey of non-Christians that says they think Christians are “X, Y and Z” your response shouldn’t be that we need to change to make them happy.  They don’t love Christ.  They don’t follow Christ.  We can look at how we may change our delivery of the message but we cannot change the message and leave things out (like sin) just to make the world happy.

You can be a crusader for grace and still call a sin a sin.  Hey…without sin there’s no need for grace in the first place!  I don’t deny there’s been a real lack of grace shown by many Christians these days.  It’s certainly a cause for concern and place that Christians need to work TOGETHER to increase the way we show grace as individual believers and corporately in church families and organizations.  (People of the Second Chance does a great job of promoting grace but you don’t see them telling people it’s OK to have affairs, etc.)  We have to stop putting a priority on the world’s set of standards for right and wrong and get back to Christ’s set of what’s right and wrong…and as Christians stop condemning the people who choose the Bible over the world.   If that means we have to show some extra grace and patience to people who question our actions, then that’s the price we have to pay for following Christ.  And it’s a small one.

Oh, and the possibility of us actually being wrong and committing a sin that someone calls us out for is also a price of following Christ.  Just saying.

Christians are not perfect.  Christians make mistakes.  Sometimes, Christians are really judgmental.  Sometimes, Christians turn a blind eye when someone’s sinning so we don’t make them mad.  Christians will never be perfect.  But Christians are people who love God, want to follow Jesus as best they can and try to change the world through Christ’s love.  And I’m proud to be a part of the family of Christians.