The Religious Nerd

I have several friends who are atheists, agnostic, or identify with religions other than Christianity.  All of these people (minus one person who Is Jewish by heritage) have confessed to have had some sort of Christian experience during their childhood.  Whether it be a parent who was (is) religious, or some other situation that brought them into the Christian church, all of these people had an encounter with Christianity at a young age. What do these people have in common now?  All of them no longer identify with Christianity, and most of them are now very skeptical of the Christian faith (and Bible).

There are millions of people who grew up with a Christian influence in their life who ultimately decided later on that they don’t believe in Jesus.  One atheist friend of mine explained that when he was a part of the Catholic Church (as a kid), they made up new rules and policies on a weekly basis.  They “invented” things as they went along in order to control people and force them to submit to their authority (out of fear).  Another friend confessed to me that his early encounter with Christians exposed an extremely judgmental sect of people who seemed to be experts in pointing out the specks in his eye while they missed the planks in their own eyes.  Negative experience after negative experience creates a sour taste in these peoples mouth, which ultimately has contributed to what the Bible refers to as a”hardened heart”.

While it is true that only God can Regenerate a person, enabling them to believe in the Gospel, it is also true that you can play a part in the process of a persons heart being hardened or a person being saved.  This is often accomplished when skeptics see the Christian saying one thing, and doing something entirely different.  I honestly believe that every human is fascinated about the Jesus of the Bible when they first encounter Him.  He’s different, He isn’t what you would expect, He’s humble, loving, and compassionate, while also being aggressive, assertive, and to the point.  In essence, He’s magnificent!

The skeptics wonder , if Jesus is so special,  why are so many of His followers so fake?  So many Christians wear a mask that acts as a superficial indicator that they are good religious people, but when you get to know them, and witness how they live their life, the mask comes flying off.  With an increasingly skeptical community of thinkers in America today, I wholeheartedly believe that if Christians wan’t to stand a chance at reaching them, they must ditch the superficial mask, and learn how to become more like Jesus (authentic).

There are too many fake people in the world already for Christians to continue to jump on that bandwagon.  We are called by God to be different (1 John 2:15-17).  The skeptics are watching us closely, and to some extent, Christianity’s reputation is on the line. With that in mind, what are some things that Christians can do differently that will make it clear to the watching world that our faith is authentic?  I’d love to read your thoughts in the comment section below. 

Whatever the solutions may be, if we continue doing business as usual here in the United States, the Christian church is going to receive a rude awakening.