Jimmy Robson - Outside Reading #3

Last semester, at the recommendation from a friend, I picked up Jonathan Acuff's book, entitled Stuff Christians Like. Based off the idea of a website called "Stuff White People Like", the book offers a comical look at the patterns of Christian culture. Almost everything he mentioned in the book, I have seen multiple times While reading the book, my reactions were mixed. The book addresses such things as hating on Mega-churches/feeling sorry for churches that aren't mega-churches, being caught off-guard by divorce, and rating honeymoon sex slightly higher than the Second Coming of Christ. On one hand, I thought it was hilarious, as I found almost all of the topics to be true, especially of myself. However, by the end of the book, I became slightly disturbed. I wondered to myself "is this really how the non-Christian community views us?" As a Christian, I don't want to be known for talking about finding God in nature, being naive to emotions, ignoring pain, or being forceful about sharing my faith. I feel that, by doing the things that all Christians seem to do, I am failing to represent Christ. Christ told his followers in John 16:33 "in this world, you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world." I want to be able to empathize with people. I want them to know that loving them is more important to me than forcing them to believe what I believe. I don't want to be a boring, prudish person that turns people off to Christianity. Jim Rayburn, the founder of Young Life, once said "It is a sin to bore high school kids with the gospel." I believe this applies to everyone. I want to be identified as a Christian because I am living a life similar to the one Christ lived, not because I display the pattern that almost all Christians fall into.