christian bumper stickers

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Posted by e. barrett | Posted on 05-01-2009

Category : choice, faith, taking action

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“He Dyd 4U”

Or at least that’s what the license plate in front of me said. 

Every day I seem to come across a car that has message like that.  Usually it’s a Christian bumper sticker or “Jesus fish” slapped on the back.  They declare that “Jesus loves you” or “put the CHRIST in Christmas” or some such thing. 

I don’t know what most people think when they see those bumper stickers, but I always have one thought: does the driver has any idea what message they’re sending?  And I don’t mean with the words on the bumper sticker.  I’m thinking of a more fundamental level.  When you mark yourself as a Christian you are declaring that you believe certain things. 

So what happens when your life doesn’t match your faith? 

In my case, the license plate may have read “He Dyd 4U.”  But it was the woman who was trying to force her way into traffic that I was focused on.  Her actions could have literally lead to my death.  And the death of a dozen other people.  Every time you don’t use your turn signal, or cut someone off, you are sending a message about Christians. 

And it’s not a good message.

You can say, “love your neighbor” all you want.  But when you carelessly endanger other drivers, well, that’s not really the way to live out your faith, is it?  How can people believe what you say about God when your faith doesn’t match your life? 

We think we live in a world where everyone knows who God is, but that’s just not true anymore.  In fact a growing number of people are growing up unChristian.  The message this woman sent with her driving was that “I may claim Jesus died for you, but all I care about is getting what I want, when I want, and that includes not waiting for a traffic light!”  In one quick move she confirmed for people that Christians are nothing but self-centered and selfish. 

We live in a world that’s already hostile enough to the Christian message, do we really need to encourage those stereotypes by our driving habits? 

If you’re living out a life of faith, every aspect of your life demonstrates that purpose – including your driving.  So if you’re going to sport bumper Christianity my advice is simple…

Don’t drive like a lunatic!

the “best of” R3

Posted by e. barrett | Posted on 01-01-2009

Category : God, R3, different, faith, reader comments, sharing faith

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It’s hard to believe we’re into our first day of 2009.  It doesn’t seem like that long ago everyone was sure the world was going to end because of Y2K.  And now we approach the close of the next decade.  So before we close the 2008 R3 season, let’s take a look at some of the more popular posts:

Top 5 Reader Posts

  1. My “about” page – this is by far and away the most popular page on R3
  2. what I’m reading: unChristian – a book that shapes how I approach R3
  3. prayer thursday: courage – the most popular R3 page in Google
  4. what I’m reading: Chasing Daylight – Erwin McManus has a profound impact over my life and this blog
  5. prayer thursday: God’s strength, our weakness – this seems very appropriate considering 2008

My Favorite 5 posts

  1. i’m a Christian because of the money – No.  Seriously.  I am. 
  2. redemption: finding the way home – any time you can tie Darth Vader and the Bible together, you have a winning combination!
  3. what I’m watching: RockTV – if Christians used humor like RockTV more than Bible Thumping, more people would be willing to talk to us when we showed up at their door
  4. love your enemy (and fellow drivers) – I haven’t stopped thinking about this post since the day I wrote it, talk about living out a life of faith…
  5. what’s the point? – always a good question to ask yourself

God told me to do it

Posted by e. barrett | Posted on 10-12-2008

Category : humor

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Here at R3, when we talk about learning to live out a life of faith… this is not what we mean people!

Schwab told first responders at the scene that “the other vehicle was not driving like a Christian and it was Jesus’ will for him to punish the car,”

unChristian: overcoming failure

Posted by e. barrett | Posted on 04-03-2008

Category : CS Lewis, Daniel, faith, taking action

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It’s pretty clear that as a group Christians behave in very unChristian ways.  We simply don’t present ourselves well to the world.   

As with most things in this world, there’s probably no easy answer.  We’re all broken.  We all make mistakes.  Even our good intentions often turn out to be miserable failures.  But what should we do if we fail?  What happens when we try our best and we still screw up?

There are two things I think will help. 

1.  We don’t need to be perfect.

CS Lewis once said “a Christian is not a man who never goes wrong, but a man who is enabled to repent and pick himself up and begin over again after each stumble.”  If we could be perfect on our own, Jesus never would have had to sacrifice himself for us.  Instead we need to remember that sometimes we fall down so that we can learn to stand back up.

The Bible is filled with examples of people failing and having to learn to get back up again.  Moses killed a man.  Peter denied Jesus 3 times in one day after promising he’d never leave his side.  David committed adultery.  But their stories don’t stop at the fall.  Their stories continue, showing each of these people learning to get back up again (some faster than others). 

And that’s what God wants for us.  He wants us to get back up and be vulnerable with others, to love them, and to show them who God is. 

2.    It’s okay to say, “I don’t know”

Sometimes Christians feel if they don’t provide perfect answers to every question “outsiders” will think we don’t know what we’re talking about.  Or maybe that’s just me!

Now I believe Christianity provides an answer to everything.  The more I study who God is, the more I realize just how well Christianity explains the world around me.  But just because there are answers, doesn’t mean I know them!  And that’s an important distinction to make. 

Take Daniel’s story.  Daniel prayed for 21 days with no answer.  On the 21st day an Angel came to him and said, “I have come in response [to your prayers].  But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days.” (Daniel 10: 12-13)  If this angel hadn’t explained this to Daniel he would have had no idea why his prayers had gone “unanswered.”

As Shakespeare once said, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”  Sometimes the world is so complex that we don’t know exactly what’s going on.  And you know what?  That’s okay. 

There is no way to always be perfectly Christian towards other people.  As I said, we’re all fallen and broken.  But that doesn’t mean we should give up trying.  The goal is to always move closer to resembling Jesus.  And as long as we do that, we’ll ultimately change the way “outsiders” view Christians. 

what I’m reading: unChristian

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Posted by e. barrett | Posted on 01-03-2008

Category : book review, choice, faith, feeding my brain

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Gabe Lyons came up with a crazy idea to actually study people’s opinion of Christianity.  He wanted more than anecdotal stories, he wanted some evidence.  To do this he enlisted the help of David Kinnaman of the Barna Group.  Their research led to a book entitled unChristian.     

But if you’ve been reading this blog for the last few days, you’re not surprised that unChristian is my “book review” this week!

unChristian has had a profound impact on me in a short period of time.  It’s really shaped the way I look at interacting with the world. It’s made me more sensitive to how I talk about God, and how I interact with people who don’t share my faith. 

Some people are looking for an excuse not to believe in God, and when we set a poor example, we’re only supplying that excuse.  But I’m not sure there’s much we could do about that.  If you’re motivated to reject God, you’ll find a reason.

What’s concerns me more are the people who are open to God, but because of our arrogance, pride, and general unpleasantness, we push them away.  And this is the thrust of unChristian.  The book shows just how strong of an impact we have on “outsiders” (their term for people “outside” of the church).  It’s filled with information, statistics (mostly percentages), and a ton of ‘hard truth’.

As I was reading it I couldn’t help but relate this back to my own life.  The book lays out six areas where Christianity is seen as unfavorable to the world.

We’re…

1.  hypocritical
2.  too “salvation” oriented
3.  antihomosexual
4.  sheltered
5.  too political
6.  judgmental

Too many of those areas touch close to home.  I’m often too quick to judge, and too slow to listen.  I’m quick to criticize, and slow to act.  I’m quick to point out flaws in others, and ignore my own mistakes.

And each time I do that, I run the risk of pushing someone away.  That’s the message I take away from this book.  That’s what I want to remember as I go into the world. 

One of the things that drives me (and therefore R3) is my own faith journey.  I had to learn who God was the hard, lonely, and painful way.  And  once I did, I found myself asking, why no one told me who Jesus really was.  Not the hippy version.  Not the wimpy version.  But the bold, dangerous, courageous, loving, and forgiving Jesus. 

Sometimes I send an unChristian message without realizing it.  And that’s something I need to find a way to change.  I can come up with a lot of excuses why – I’m tired, I’m lazy, it’s too hard, it’s too dangerous.  But are those really good enough?  Are those excuses Jesus would have used? 

I can’t always control what another person hears when I speak.  But I can be more aware of the message I send.  And how I act. 

As a Christian I should run to someone who is suffering, not holding back because they don’t believe what I do. 

why relationships matter

Posted by e. barrett | Posted on 27-02-2008

Category : faith, trust

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All I have to do is look at my own life to realize it’s no wonder why people react so harshly to the word “Christian.”  To be honest it’s been a bit humbling thinking about all the times I’ve screwed up.  Sometimes in our enthusiasm to talk about God we do it in pretty heavy handed ways.  And sometimes those hands come with steel gloves…  

And frankly, I’d probably respond that way too if I felt someone was judging me unfairly.  It’s hard to build trust with someone when they are already suspicious of your motives.  It’s hard for them to let their guard down when they expect to be attacked at any moment. 

This presents a serious problem, because the message we need to deliver can be hard to accept.  Especially in a world of hyper-rationalism.  Things like gods, angels, and demons seem irrational.  So how can Christians claim these exist, let alone knowledge of a one true God?  Even claiming that is enough to put many people on edge. 

And can you blame them?  It’s hard to believe in those things.  It’s hard to buy into things we can’t always prove with 100% certainty. 

That’s why relationships are so important.  Relationships build trust.  Or perhaps I should say – if you don’t trust someone how do you know they aren’t a crack pot?

For example: who am I more likely to believe?  A person I’ve known for years, someone I know is sane, telling me they believe in angels?  Or a random person off the street talking about being demon-possessed?

I’ll save you a guess, it’s not even a close contest! 

Of course according to Christianity, they may both be right.  But I have a hard time believing the person I don’t know.  I have no context in which to evaluate his (or her) outrageous claims.  And I think when you make outrageous claims you’d better be able to back that up.  I also have no reason to spend time evaluating their claim.  They are just one more lunatic on a street corner.

Relationships force us to evaluate radical ideas more closely because we have something invested. 

It’s no different with our behavior.  When we talk about how loving, generous, and forgiving God is, and then turn around and attack people because of their lifestyle, why should they believe us?  What possible motivation would they have for trusting us?

There’s a reason that Jesus got under the skin of the religious elite, but was loved by “sinners.”  I think maybe we should be a little more like that, and a little less unChristian. 

the power of words

Posted by e. barrett | Posted on 25-02-2008

Category : God, different, faith

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We all have more power over the people around us than we imagine. Every so often something reminds me of my this. I know I should be more aware of this, but life is hectic and it’s easier to just forget about it. After all, who wants to consider other people all the time?

The trouble is, that’s what we should be about as Christians – other people.

Now this power I talk of sounds kind of ominous, doesn’t it? I promise I’m not any kind of supervillain. And I don’t wear a black hat. But I still have a lot of influence over people.

Sometimes I am reminded of this power when I watch the reactions of someone I’m talking to. I can see them deflate or get excited. Other times I see it in an e-mail. You can read the tension in the e-mail all because I was too hasty in writing down my thoughts. And still other times I see it in how relationships have changed over time.

When you look at the Bible you’ll find a lot of references to the words “mouth” or “speak”. The writers of these books knew just what words could do. They knew that revolutions and romances have started from a few select words. They knew that knowledge can be passed from one generation to the next just through talking. Even the universe was created with a word from God.

Words have power.

The irony is we often use this power in a way that actually hurts the message we’re trying to send. According to research done by the Barna Group when people are asked to associate terms with Christianity the picture isn’t flattering. They use words like “hypocritical”, “homophobic”, “closed minded”, and “judgmental”.

Ouch.

That does not make me feel good. In fact it breaks my heart because I know that I don’t always reach out to people in love. I don’t always characterize who Jesus was. I’m sometimes too consumed with my own life to care. In short, I am very unChristian. Oh sure I probably have excuses. Some of them are probably even pretty good.

But none of that matters. When we act carelessly with our words we run the risk of turning someone away from the very message they need to hear. If they don’t believe God is love because they see Christians as bigoted, how can they ever experience the freedom that love brings? If they hear us judging them instead of giving them support, why would they think God would be there for them when they are alone and hurting?

Words mean something. And all too often I’m guilty of using them carelessly.

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