Viral used to carry a very negative connotation (“I have a viral infection” meant this was someone you wanted to steer clear of for a while!), but today the term can mean something good from an advertising or marketing perspective. We talk about “viral videos” or “viral marketing,” meaning something is spreading both quickly and broadly across various media sources (think a Facebook meme or YouTube video). One such viral video has been making the rounds, entitled “I’m a Christian, But I’m Not…” In this video, there are several young people who begin by saying, “I’m a Christian, but I’m not…” followed by several qualifiers: “but I’m not homophobic;” “but I’m not unaccepting;” “but I’m not judgmental;” “but I’m not uneducated;” and “ but I’m not close-minded.” They then go on to describe all the things they say they are: “gay,” “a feminist,” “accepting,” believer “in science,” and “love wine.” Finally, these young people want others to know Christianity is not made up completely of “crazy” and “terrible people” who “judge people for who they are or what they do.”
When I saw the video, two things came to mind. First, I thought of the Pharisee who was praying next to the tax collector and said, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men…I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get” (Luke 18:11-12). I could almost hear these young people in this video say, “God, I thank you I’m not like these conservatives, these evangelicals. I’m gay, I’m open-minded, I read all the progressive authors!” There was a certain arrogance and pretentiousness in the self-affirmations of these young people. What you failed to hear, over and over, person to person, was the attitude of the tax collector who was praying at the same time as the Pharisee: “God be merciful to me, a sinner!” The attitudes on display were self-centered and self-congratulatory. Though I suspect these young people thought they were conveying a purer form of Christianity (one said, “But at [Christianity’s] core it’s really about love and acceptance and being a good neighbor”), the reality is they are not so different from those they are denouncing.
Second, I thought of Paul’s statement in Romans 1:16: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes…” The Gospel of Jesus Christ exposes our sin and shows us we are in need of a Savior, but throughout this video, Jesus is not mentioned once. The Gospel is not mentioned once. What is proclaimed is a false gospel of acceptance of sin. Rather than discussing how Christ has changed their lives, they spoke about how they could be a Christian without any change whatsoever. Indeed, one might not have any idea these individuals were Christians at all, were it not for their loud proclamations of how they are not that kind of Christian.
When someone meets you and begins to get to know you, would they describe you as a Christian? Would your faith be that evident? And if the person were you ask you if you were a Christian, would you feel the need to add a whole bunch of “buts”? Would you be ashamed of the Gospel and feel the need to distance yourself from it? Just something to think about…
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