ANNOYED BY CHRISTIANS

Hello, friends!

Recently I've shared several thoughts which are, shall we say, directly and unabashedly religious. Perhaps the biggest reason for this is that I've only recently begun to understand and internalize what Christianity is all about. And I was raised Christian.

Have you ever been annoyed by Christians? I sure have. If you're like me, you've been annoyed by a certain kind of Christian: the self-satisfied kind that looks down their nose at other people who are less moral, less disciplined, less religiously refined. Did you know that in the Bible, Jesus warns against being that kind of Christian?

It's natural for people to want to be their own master. There are two different, and opposite, ways of attempting this. One way is to ignore God, to break his rules, and do whatever you want. The other way is to obey God's rules and behave so well that you see yourself as better than other people and you feel that God has no choice but to be pleased with you.

A good number of Christians (and religious people in general) fall into this second group. They tend towards moralism and elitism, and so it is natural that many of us are annoyed by them and have become resistant to religion as a whole.

But again, Jesus specifically warns against that kind of self-righteous behavior. What Christianity actually teaches is different from what many Christians mistakenly believe.

Is it important to behave morally? Yes. But why is it important? If we're behaving morally to earn acceptance from God, we don't understand the Gospel. The Gospel teaches that acceptance from God cannot be earned; it can only be received as a gift. We receive God's acceptance when we acknowledge our own smallness, our inability to control things or be pleasing to a perfect God whose standards are infinitely greater than our own. In other words, God accepts us when we stop trying to be our own master and submit to our need for a savior.

Jesus teaches that religious people who try to be their own savior are even more lost than irreligious people who try to do the same thing. Because, although both ways lead to bitterness and death, at least the defiant people who intentionally break God's laws realize what they are doing.

So, if you're like me, and you've been annoyed by Christians or followers of any religion who are separatist and moralistic, what's the best way to avoid becoming like those people? If we resist religion altogether, we'll find that we share more in common with those people than we think. In my experience, the best way to break apart from all that, to become universally hospitable and humble, is to become a follower and a student of Jesus Christ.