Hmmm, what does being an American have to do with Christianity and whether it sucks or not?
 

P.S. Sorry to hear about the injuries. Hope you get healed up quickly.
 

Kelly,

My point in the last line is that my experience as a relatively spoiled American doesn't seem to lend itself to developing a character of sacrificial love.

Taking the call of Christ seriously is very contrary to my perception of what we as Americans do best -- which is consume entertainment, the planet's resources and acquire stuff.

Does that mean that there are no good Christians in America or that I believe that a spoiled American like myself can't enjoy living the life of Christ with integrity? Certainly not. It just is striking me as a real pain in the ass at the moment.

I keep hearing a couple of Jesus' phrases in my mind lately: "The last shall be first..." and "It's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle..."

I guess my point is that there's no shortage of cheap grace and counterfeit Christianity in this culture, but very little recognition and discussion about the difficulty in living the Christian life -- how counterintuitive it really is.
 

Try this one - I have 2 very good friends ( husband/wife ) fighting. A wife let another man buy her a drink while she was at a bar. Talking, no real flirting.

Her husband was somewhere else in the bar while the is happened. The husband is all pissed off. He feels she is a whore of some kind for doing this.

Question - Was the wife/woman right to accept a drink from a total stranger???
 

Anon,

I'm not totally up on bar etiquette, but I'd have to question the reasoning behind the wife accepting a drink from another man.

As a Christian, I would avoid any and all appearances of impropriety with any woman not my wife. Therefore, driving alone in a car, having lunch with, or a drink with some woman other than my wife that was not part of a group activity would be out of bounds.

There's too much temptation, especially if you're not getting along with your spouse at the moment.
 

By the same token, I'm not sure I'd get all "she's a whore" on my wife if she took advantage of such an offer.

If the guy's that insecure about the relationship, then there must be something else going on. What that might be is hard to say, but between the two of them, I'd say they are not using very good judgement if they want to strengthen their marriage.
 

About the American thing, I tend to agree with you. I would think, especially when I was younger, how freeing it would be to live in a society that persecutes Christians because you'd be forced to cling to Christ. But really that's just a crock. It'd be just as hard as here where we can become spiritually lazy.

I just thought it was interesting for you to say this. Weren't you recently saying that there really shouldn't be secular and Christain music, because if you're a Christian all things should make you think about Christ in some way? Maybe I misread what you were saying, or maybe you didn't extend it to all forms of entertainment. But that's my mindset when I'm listening to music, or watching a movie, or reading a book.

Then again, that really can't be extended to all forms of entertainment. Sports really don't lend themselves to theological thought. Neither do video games.

Also, I don't think the woman should've taken the drink but calling her a whore seems very overblown.
 

Kelly,

Yes, I definitely take the view that for the Christian, all of life's endeavors take on the sacred, as we are to be salt and light.

My objection to the term 'secular' has more to do with the double standard Christians place on entertainers, especially rock musicians, to do more than honor Christ by the quality and integrity of their work and the way they live their lives in their 'workplace'.

You and I are not 'Christian' programmers, as distinct from 'secular' programmers. We are both programmers who happen to be Christian. Of course, Christ is all in all to us, and these labels are somewhat meaningless. In reality, we are Followers of Christ who happen to make money writing programs.

The point of contention is that how we reflect Christ in our jobs is a matter between us and our Lord. There isn't a whole group of spectators critiquing our failures to start a lunchroom Bible study, or pass out tract, or share our testimonies in every meeting, etc.

Christ redeems our work, even as He has redeemed us.

I sorta lost the connection between that rant and my comment about the difficulty of being a Christian in America....

Oh, now I remember...

We still exist as aliens in our culture, whether we are famous rock stars or obscure IT geeks nestled in the 'Burgh. Moreover, I think that, for me at least, the rubber really meets the road in the attempt to honor Christ at home. It just seems like the real ugliness that's left in me is horribly visible at home, when I'm tired and irritable from doing what I have to do to pay the bills.

I also am wrestling with my own unrealistic expectations for the 'rest' I seek in my home life. It just ain't there. In fact, the work is harder and there is more of it.

I hope that makes a bit more sense.