The Light Before We Land

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An Open Letter to Hudson (of The Traveling Team)

While this letter is on some level directed at The Traveling Team as a whole, it is most specifically directed at a member named Hudson, who gave the most recent talk at the weekly large group of Champaign/Urbana’s InterVarsity chapter.  You (Hudson) spoke with us about the Biblical precedent for international missions work, shared some details about the global religious landscape, and called upon us to involve ourselves in spreading God’s work around the world.

I will freely admit that I was not able to hear the entire talk; due to my only method of transportation to and from campus being a bus system that apparently considers 7:28pm to be a much better time to pick people up than the 7:07pm listed on their website, I was only able to hear the portion of the talk that lasted from about 8:00pm onwards.  I was also unable to come to the meeting that your team later held at the food court in the Union, that owing to it being my area’s turn to clean the Loft after service.  I am fairly confident (or at least confident enough), however, that what I did manage to take in was accurately representative of the broader amount of content.  If at some point in this letter you or anyone else finds that this is not the case, I would gladly welcome the correction.

What I heard was, for the most part, reminiscent of talks given by other full-time missionaries I have heard speak in the past (though I will say that despite the inevitable similarities in content, your presentation was excellent).  But one thing in particular that you said made me rather uncomfortable.  Long story short – I felt moved to write about it, I did, and here we both are.

After quoting from four calls to ‘go out into the world’ found in the last words of Jesus in each of the four respective Gospels, and from one other call found in Acts 1:8, you proceeded to say the following about missionary work (quoted as accurately as I can recall):

That’s it, folks.  That’s all there is.

Now, some of you might be thinking, ‘Well, that’s all well and good, but that’s not something I’m cut out to do, that’s not how I’m wired – that’s not who I am.’

At this point, you cited Galatians 3:29 in an attempt to link the missionary’s call to earlier citations from the story of Abram, and followed it up with this (again, quoted as accurately as I can recall):

If you’re a Christian, you’re part of one big church family, you’re in the family business, and the family business is missions.

To my mind, this is a rather disturbing position to take, primarily because it says that every Christian must be a missionary in the same way that you are a missionary, simply by virtue of their being a follower of Christ.  It says that if you’re really serious about following Christ, you go off and become a missionary - end of story.

Perhaps this was something clarified or expanded upon in some portion of your time here that I was unable to bear witness to.  Perhaps this is simply not how you intended your words to be interpreted (I would certainly hope that to be the case).  If so, I apologize for the misunderstanding.

But barring your being on hand to clarify those statements for me, I have to allow for the possibility that this is how you meant for your words to come across... and in that case, we have a problem.

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I fully understand that missions is your particular gift – and of course everyone considers their own particular gift to be dear to them.  But I must admit that my own past experience has shown me that missionaries are particularly eager to believe that their gifts are ‘special’ in some way that others are not - particularly eager to believe that what they have been called to do for God is a more pure and sacred form of service than others. 

Why this complex seems to be unique to missionaries is beyond me.  All I really know is that I have never heard any pastor say that preaching is a higher calling than others because it reaches so many people.  I have never heard anyone who gives childcare during church services claim that their spent time and energy is of the most direct benefit to a new generation of Christians.  I know of no Christian psychiatrist who believes that their walk with Christ is of especial importance because they are tasked with assisting those who have stumbled or fallen on the way.

Yet you – and plenty of others with your same gifts, to be fair - seem to have it in your head that your call to service is more closely aligned with Christ’s intentions for His followers than any other.

Of course we are all called to bear witness to non-believers we encounter in our own lives.  But the idea that Christ’s call to spread the Gospel to the world at large directly translates into a call for everyone who takes the label ‘Christian’ to pack their bags and spend a few months’ time in your vaunted 10/40 window is patently absurd.  At a bare minimum, such an outlook on what it means to follow Christ displays a pathetically poor understanding of the concept of spiritual gifts.  The notion that we must all be missionaries despite differences between individuals in ‘how we’re wired’ makes you sound like you have never cracked 1st Corinthians and flipped to chapter 12, where Paul says this:

⁴Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. ⁵And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. ⁶There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. ⁷But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. ⁸For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; ⁹to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, ¹⁰and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. ¹¹But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.

From there, Paul goes on to the famous analogy (famous within most Evangelical circles, anyway) of the church as a physical body of Christ:

¹⁴For the body is not one member, but many. ¹⁵If the foot says, "Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body," it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. ¹⁶And if the ear says, "Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body," it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. ¹⁷If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. ¹⁹If they were all one member, where would the body be?

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Allow me to use myself as an example.

My particular spiritual gifts exist primarily along the lines of analysis, critique, and debate.  This combined with my strong (and sometimes headstrong) opinions about my faith leads me to believe that my place in the world is here, doing exactly the kind of thing I am doing even as I write this letter.  Perhaps I’ll do my best to take down the conservative fundamentalist pseudo-Christian movement that has so dominated and poisoned the public perception of Christianity for the majority of my lifetime.  Perhaps I’ll attempt to be a voice of moderation in the debate between Christianity and the New Atheists.  Perhaps my work will lead thousands of people to believe in Christ.  Perhaps it will lead to no new believers at all, but rather only serve to strengthen the faith of those who already believed.

But those are details; they don’t matter so much in the immediate term.  The point is that I know what my gifts are.  I know my place in the body.

That does not mean that I don’t talk with my non-Christian friends about Christ.  I do so when I see the opportunity to do so.  And, in fact, the gifts I mentioned earlier have allowed me to connect with some similarly analytical non-Christians in ways that the other Christians in their lives simply seem to be unable to.

However, I cannot comprehend how I could possibly be of use halfway around the world doing the kind of work that you do.  Foreign languages are definitely not my strong suit, and I am so completely introverted (never scored under 84% I on the Meyers-Briggs test) that I would be amazed if I would manage to connect with more than two native people in an entire six-week trip abroad.

Forgive me for saying so – but that truly is ‘just how I’m wired.’

Perhaps, given enough time in the field, I could eventually grow into a decent missionary.  But I know, without a doubt, that the mission field as you define it is not where I would be able to make the biggest possible impact for God’s Kingdom.

And, quite frankly, being told to simply dispense of that understanding of ‘how I’m wired’ and blindly jump feet-first into your field of service, because you believe that’s what any serious Christian would do...

...well, it’s more than a little insulting.

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The church is a body – and you, Hudson, and the other members of The Traveling Team, are the feet.  (You might be the hands, too.  And I guess there’s an argument to be made for your being the mouth.  Sorry - I’m not as adept with the body analogy as I’d like to be).  You have been specially crafted by God to go out into the world and spread His good news to the ends of the earth.  Your function as part of the body of Christ is extremely important.  Simply put, without you and others like you, the Church would be largely incapable of growth beyond the borders of our own country.

I suppose I should also make it specifically clear, just in case this has somehow gotten lost in the critique, that I absolutely do not fault you for making your field of service better known to us.  Nor do I in any way fault you for your attempt to bring more missionaries into the fold; I applaud you for it.  College is definitely when most young Christians begin to seriously question where they fit in the church.  If your coming here and speaking to us has made someone realize that their gifts lie with yours in the mission field, then more power to you.  You certainly need all the help you can get out there.

All I am asking is that you do not lose your head due to either your excitement, or perhaps your ego.  You are an important part of the body of Christ – but no more important than any other.  We each have our own place in the church.  Just because the missionary field is your calling does not – and cannot - necessarily imply that it must be mine.

   Love in Christ,

                    - Dan Emmons

All this and more has made it a favorite of many members of the New Atheist movement, who repeatedly point to it as an example of modern-day evidence of the harmful influence that (in their view) any and all religion can inflict against impressionable and/or undereducated minds.

It is for these reasons that, as a Christian concerned about the future of the faith, it needs to be watched.  It needs to be seen as an example of Christianity gone entirely off the rails – but more than that, it is worth using as a tool of honest comparison against and assessment of the state of our own churches and our own personal theologies.

So, over the next several days, I will be offering up a commentary of the documentary in five or perhaps six parts (this being part one).  Again, if you haven’t watched it, I’ll be introducing the main players below and quoting extensively during the series, so you don’t have to worry about feeling too left out.  That being said, you do have plenty of options available to you if you want to watch the movie - buy, stream, or torrent – one or another of which I highly suggest you do.

If you do decide to watch it, I recommend you have some of whatever kind of music you listen to when you’re frustrated and/or angry at the ready.  If you want to stave off the insanity, you’ll need it.  The first time I watched it, I went for the hardest Tool I had, and I still have to go back to it every so often when rewatching it.  You’ve been warned.

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Becky Fisher is the central adult subject of the film, and is the obvious choice of such (since she runs the camp).  And, wow, is she an interesting character.

It is quite obvious that she has an enormous heart for children.  She believes that children’s ministries that restrict themselves to teaching Old Testament stories about animals off of a felt board (as an example) are detrimental to the spiritual development of the children taught in such a way.  Her opinion is that the children brought up on such methods are being instilled with a weaker faith, which then causes them to become disinterested in the church when they hit their teens.  In addition, she believes that the appropriate response is to teach children a more substantial version of the Gospel, imparting on them “the meat” of the faith, so that their faith is stronger later on in their lives.

The theory is probably a very accurate one, and it seems to me that it would work out wonderfully if the faith she was teaching was anything like the one Christ taught.  The faith she advocates so strongly does not promote assisting the less fortunate or bringing peace to conflicts whenever possible as methods of serving God’s purposes.  If it accepts that sinfulness is a fundamental and unavoidable element of the human condition, it does an excellent job of hiding it.

It is instead a faith of moral superiority, conservative political activism, and rejection of basic science.  It even goes so far as to imply that spiritual warfare, capable of manifesting as literal warfare, is a necessary means to God’s ends of spreading the Christian faith to the entire Earth.  (That last one might hold some water if you consider yourself to be a Calvinist, though as I don’t consider myself one, I’m probably not the best person to say so).

If you look at the world’s population, one-third of the world’s 6.7 billion people are children under the age of fifteen.  One-third.  Where should we be putting our efforts?  Where should we be putting our focus?  I’ll tell you where our enemies are putting it – they’re putting it on the kids.  They’re going into the schools.  You go into Palestine and I can take you to some websites that will absolutely shake you to your foundations, and show you photographs of where they’re taking their kids to camps like we take our kids to Bible camps, and they’re putting hand grenades in their hands, they’re teaching them how to put on bomb belts, they’re teaching them how to use rifles, they’re teaching them how to use machine guns.  It’s no wonder, with that kind of intense training and discipling, that those young people are ready to kill themselves for the cause of Islam.  I want to see young people who are as committed to the cause of Jesus Christ as the young people are to the cause of Islam.  I want to see them as radically laying down their lives for the Gospel, as, as they are, uh, over in Pakistan and in, in Israel and Palestine, all those different places, because we have – heh, excuse me, but we have the truth.

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Twelve-year-old Levi is one of the two main child subjects of the film.  His parents homeschool him, and as such he has been led to believe that the earth is 6,000 years old, global warming is a non-reality, etc.  His parents’ single-minded understanding of political action have transferred over to him as well.

Despite all this, he is obviously quite bright and articulate for his age, and the adults at the church he attends have encouraged him to use those gifts as a speaker.  In fact, he is not just encouraged to allow those gifts to develop, but he is allowed to actively preach in his church and during the camp on Biblical matters.

I do think I’m different from other kids, because we know Jesus and we’re hungering after Jesus, you know?  But you know what – I wouldn’t be different from other kids if everybody did their calling.  See, that’s the thing with America.  America, you know, is supposed to be, uh, God’s nation, right?  But then things just kinda started twisting around, you know?  And now a lot of people in America just aren’t following God.

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Nine-year-old Rachael is a study in contrasts.  She is at once very enthusiastic about her beliefs and somewhat awkward in normal conversation.  She uses many gestures when speaking about her faith and is generally quite animated and excited about it, yet her ability to form a sentence that rolls smoothly off her tongue is still a little beyond her.

And she is, to me, by far the most frightening person shown in the entire film.

Rachael, more than any other child shown in the movie, is an incredibly sweet and well-behaved child around her church community.  However, get her to talk about people who don’t believe as she has been taught to believe (Christian or not), churches that aren’t as enthusiastic as the Pentecostal church she attends, etc., and she reveals a perspective that is indifferent at best, but more often indicative of a smug sense of superiority – even bordering at times on the malicious.

I’ve been teased several times, and I just thought to myself, ‘Man’s decision, whatever.  God’s decision,’ [nods head] ‘something.’  They think I’m weird - go ahead, you’re not the ones who are gonna be judging me if I’m gonna go to hell or heaven.  God is.  It matters what He thinks of me.  It doesn’t matter what you think.

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Note here that there is another nine-year-old girl named Tory (short for Victoria) who makes a few appearances, but very few.  The two central child subjects are obviously Levi and Rachael, so unless I dig up a choice quote from Tory that would be more relevant to some subject at hand than a quote from another character, I’ll be largely passing her over.

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Mike Papantonio is the fourth major subject of the movie.  He co-hosts a radio program with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. entitled Ring of Fire, which airs on the liberal radio network Air America.  He is not a born-again Christian as Evangelicals would define it, though he is a Methodist, has been since childhood, and by all accounts is very committed to his faith.  The documentary breaks from showing the other subjects every so often to show him on the air, discussing the politicization of Christianity.

If there is any flaw in his commentary, it is in an assumption he makes at one point that the 80-million strong Evangelical movement is of a single mind on the issues he mentions (very largely correct, but not entirely, especially when examining Evangelicals under the age of thirty).  But in general, and especially to those who are already concerned about how religious activism influences the political process (and visa versa), Papantonio provides a few sorely needed oases of rational and theologically sound commentary jammed in between the stretches of sheer craziness.

I mean, yeah, I’ve been raised a Christian all my life, um, I think that’s probably the thing that upsets me most about what’s happening…  So there’s some new brand of religion out there, that somehow [thinks] things have changed since Matthew wrote, uh, wrote about Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus told us to be peacemakers.  And right now, they’re- everything they do, they say they do in the name of God, that we need to go to war in the name of God.  They’re being told that George Bush, of all people, is a holy man, who’s been anointed with the job of creating a Christian society, not just in America, but all over the world…  There’s this entanglement of politics with religion.  What kind of lesson is that for our children?

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The next installment will focus primarily on the fundamentalist plus Pentecostal take on what the Bible does and does not have to say, as well as how those beliefs affect (or, in some cases, does not affect) the more everyday lives of the people who believe in this way.  It won’t show up tomorrow, just as this piece didn’t show up on Monday, and I don’t really know when to tell you that it’s coming other than “soon.”

For those of you who didn’t already know, my father just recently went off and got cancer again, and he has a surgery for that on Tuesday the 21st – so the several days leading up to that will be busy with all sorts of stuff that the ‘rents want done before then.  I’d imagine I can get at least one more post up between now and then, maybe two, but realistically there’s no way the whole series is getting done in such a short and unpredictable time frame.

Just a heads-up.

- Dan -

P.S.  I just learned from the Wikipedia article on Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. that he gave a speech in Urbana in the fall of 2007.  I never even heard that he was in town.  So now I’m pissed at myself for missing it.

Now, this doesn’t affect me personally, and I’d be surprised if it affected anyone I know personally.  Beyond the standard response of a massive facepalm at yet another example of blatant corruption in Illinois, I don’t think there’s really much to be said.  Oh, except STOP IT.

Oh, and maybe this, too:

Why is it wrong to admit students with subpar academic records because they have political connections but perfectly acceptable to admit students with subpar academic records because they have superior athletic skills?

There.  Somebody needed to say that.

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In other news, I’m not dead.

*cheers*

Sorry about the lack of updates.  It’s been an… interesting summer.  Hopefully I can get into the swing of things over the next few weeks.

I’ve been working on the Jesus Camp series, at least.  I’ll be putting that one out next week - five posts, one each Monday through Friday.  If you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend you do so.  Don’t worry too much about being left behind – I’ll be quoting extensively – but I highly recommend that if you have the time, buy it, stream it, or torrent it.  (Watch it, too.  That generally helps).

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As a last aside, check out the new link on the bottom row.  It’s not a perfect reference, as nothing is, but it seriously hits the mark far more often than not.  There’s also a YouTube channel – not as complete, but it’s there.

That’s about it.  See you on Monday.

- Dan -

The one actually doing said trying was a black man, probably about forty years old and a couple inches taller than me.  After pulling out my earphones, he explained that his name was Richard, that he had traveled here from Missouri (and was now stranded here) with the other man, and asked if I had money so they could at least get something to eat.  His friend was was white and a few inches shorter than me; one hand was bloody and wrapped in a rag, even though it looked like it had been stitched up.  (I think Richard also explained how that happened, but I forgot the details almost immediately.  I can be a truly awful listener sometimes).

I gave them the remainder of the cash that remained in my wallet, which at that point amounted to thirteen dollars (not including a few coins, which I couldn’t easily shake out with groceries in hand).  As I handed it over, Richard got this look in his eyes – the unmistakable look of someone who has just had an immense burden lifted from their shoulders.

Then he looked at me and said something I will never forget.

God bless you, man.  You’ve done more for us than any of the churches we’ve gone to.

And then they both turned and walked off.

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For several seconds afterwards, I just stood there in shock, groceries and wallet still in hand, staring off into space towards the spot where Richard was.  I just couldn’t seem to take his words as the simple expression of gratitude that they were probably meant to be.  I couldn’t even seem to pin down that feeling of warmth/fuzziness/satisfaction that usually comes over you after serving someone like that.  The implicit indictment was just too much to wrap my head around quickly enough to be able to save face in front of the other people walking by and giving me strange looks as I continued to stand and stare blankly at nothing in particular.

It was as shocking and tragic as it was unexpected.  Thirteen dollars isn’t enough for two people to walk into a Qdoba and each emerge with a burrito and soda.  How could that possibly have been more than any church had done for them?

Granted, I didn’t ask them what churches they had gone to, nor whether they were churches located here or in Missouri.  Nor did I ask what requests they had made at the churches they did go to; for all I know, they walked in demanding room, board, and medical care for the one mangled hand, all free of charge.

But quite frankly, the specific circumstances are more afterthoughts than anything else.  As Christians, we follow a God who will judge us based on how we served “the least of these,” because that’s who Jesus spent the vast majority of His time serving.  Over and over and over again we are called to follow His example in precisely that way (and I didn’t even touch the book of Acts).

So when two hungry and penniless people walk into the one building where we as Christians purportedly take the time to strengthen our individual and communal relationships with said God, why do we then turn a blind eye towards Christ’s commands?  How difficult should it really be for us to understand that at the least – at the least - they should be given a meal, the money to buy one, or directions to a shelter or a food bank?

I guess it’s more difficult than I imagined it would be.  I guess even a paltry thirteen dollars is too much for some of us.

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Most if not all of you who come across this post are probably friends of mine just coming back from Chapter Focus Week (do let me know how that went, by the way), and as such, I should probably apologize for adding something else to what is likely a very long list of things you are already trying to process.  I can take some solace in that regard since this post was not nearly as much informative as it was a simple and largely aimless rant.  Still, if this has only served to further confuse or exhaust or overwhelm you after spending a full week in study, I am sorry.  Come back and read it again later – or don’t.  It’s not like this is the last time I’ll be touching on serving the poor.

I’m still working on getting a skeletal version of two of the planned discussion series in order.  It struck me that a good place to start would be in dissecting the two most popular documentaries about religion (in secular groups) made in the last decade.  One is Jesus Camp, which follows a group of children raised in a fundamentalist church and chronicling what they learn.  The other is Religulous, which follows Bill Maher as he interviews people of a number of faiths (though most are Christian), asking questions, being …brash, and just generally acting like he normally does.

I’m thinking that it makes more sense to start with Jesus Camp – at least so when I get to Religulous, you (hopefully) have a better understanding of the preconceptions that most nonreligious people hold of Christianity and of religion in general.  But I may switch that around.  Suggestions are quite welcome, as usual.

And with that, I am off to play either some Team Fortress 2 (if the servers aren’t bogged down with people – double update and free play weekend!) or maybe some Plants vs. Zombies (if they are).

On one particular occasion, it was pointed out to me that being a cubicle farm witness is hardly an ineffective end to meet as a servant of God – that even two or three fellow workers who meet Christ due to your interaction with them over the course of your entire career is not a waste. There is much to agree with in this view. Certainly witnesses in this area of American life are needed, and certainly many people will answer to this particular calling. But it does not mean that all will, nor that all should. Two or three people brought to Christ is not a waste in and of itself, by no means – but what if you had felt and answered a different calling that would have brought thirty people to believe, or three hundred, or three thousand? To not do so would make it seem that something is being wasted.

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So over the last several months, I’ve given some careful consideration to what I could possibly do with my life that would make some kind of positive (and, God willing, substantial) contribution to Christendom as we know it today. And in searching for the problems that seemed most in need of solving, I stumbled across a truth with profound implications for the future of the whole religious landscape in this country:

Christianity is dying.

This is a fall that has been three decades in the making on the outermost surface alone, and tracing its roots as far back as possible steps through several decades more. The basic idea – which I will expand upon in detail at various later times – is twofold.

1. The majority of American Christians have fallen prey to a particularly virulent strain of nationalism that has captivated and corrupted their vision of being servants of Christ. It has convinced them that the secular government of the United States is to be used as a tool of Christian moral enforcement. It has constrained their vision of a newly moral society to include little aside from upholding of traditional “family values.” This takes its form in intense and near-exclusive dedication to being pro-life and anti-homosexual, and it comes at the terrible price of almost entirely precluding the universal calls to peace, generosity, and love.
2. Many of those who do not believe in this way have by now seen more than enough of Christians being publicly arrogant, ignorant, and hateful. Their experiences in these areas and others have given rise to an ever-growing anti-religion movement, the size and intensity of which have never before been seen within the borders of this country. Christian responses to this movement have thus far been impulsive and misguided, and have only served to add fuel to the fire. Already the conception of Christianity as obsolete at best and dangerous at worst has gained significant ground. Left unchecked, it could easily come to force a popular perception of irrelevance (or worse) onto all who call themselves Christians - bringing with it the potential to irrevocably hamper the efforts of even those Christians who do not believe or operate as per the aforementioned popular perception of Christianity.

That “popular perception of Christianity” is largely what I refer to when I refer to Christianity’s “fall.” I have no doubt that there are more solid Christians than those I mention above who will ensure in some capacity that the Gospel will not be entirely lost. But the behavior of the majority of Christians will always have an immense impact upon the ability of Christ’s Word to flourish rather than simply survive – and it is here where Christianity is facing monumental obstacles.

I know from personal experience that a very large number of these types of Christians have excellent intentions - but I also know that their chosen methods of ministry and activism are ineffective at best, and that their vision does not even begin to approach the (admittedly quite broad) range of commands that Jesus laid out for those who follow Him.

I am also quite aware, however, that many others – perhaps the majority – deal in Christianity as a means of validation of their own personal hatreds and bigotries. When asked to produce an image of these types of “Christians,” the image that likely comes to mind is that of Westboro. But the truth is that it’s not at all difficult to quote the Big Three of the Christian Right (Pat Robertson, James Dobson, and the late Jerry Falwell) with quotations that rival even those of Fred Phelps. One example out of many:

The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism, and become lesbians. – Pat Robertson

It is all too easy to dismiss this kind of thought as simple psychosis. But people like Pat Robertson are still considered mainstays of American Christian leadership; to this day they retain massive numbers of followers. It is not entirely surprising that this brand of thought has become the public perception of Christians everywhere: intolerant, ignorant, hypocritical, unloving, uneducated - even dangerous.

And there is little to no distinction in the collective non-Christian mindset between Pat Robertson and even the most loving and learned Christians among us.

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Realizing the full extent of this from within the bounds of InterVarsity has been more than a slight challenge. This, of course, is to the infinite credit of IV and its adherents here, through whom I have learned so much about walking in the footsteps of Christ and who give me hope that Christ’s Word will endure the new era, as it appears to have endured through the era previous.

But the overall reality remains the same. The increasing public hostility towards even individual Christians is already producing new types of barriers to the spread of the Gospel that we simply have not encountered before. If we wish to become (or remain) successful as witnesses, if we wish to see the Gospel regain some level of public credibility, then we must know how we are perceived, we must know how to recognize legitimate criticism of ourselves, we must know how to counter our deficiencies at the deepest levels – and we must make it known that, though we may (and absolutely should) try, the perfect example of Christian behavior will never be found in a Christian, but in Christ.

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These are hardly circumstances I would have chosen. I have a very distinct feeling that this won’t end up being a fight so much as an exercise in damage control. But these are the circumstances nonetheless.

So here (at least for now) is where I will be trying to counteract the flow in the only way I can think of: analyzing and spreading information; discerning where Christianity has gone wrong and how it can right itself, separating the valid criticisms of nonbelievers from the misconceptions, and (hopefully) facilitating greater understanding and more civilized discussion on behalf of both Christians and non-Christians. I certainly don’t believe I’ll be promoting the purest possible truth at every turn I make – I’m only human, after all - but then that’s why I said I’d be trying.

Below is a list of topics I intend to discuss at some point or another. It is in no particular order, it is definitely incomplete, and many or most of them will require being handled in multiple stages.

• Abortion
• Homosexuality
• Creationism
• Faith vs. Works
• Nationalism
• Corruption Within Christian Leadership
• Christian Hypocrisy
• History of the Christian Right
• The “Culture War”
• Capitalism
• Materialism
• Why Christians Don’t Have Life Easier
• Religious Violence
• Brutality in the Old Testament
• War and Peace
• Fundamentalism
• Religion and the Public Square
• Religion and Politics
• Submission to Public Authority
• The End Times
• Biblical Authority in Witnessing
• Distribution of Religious Knowledge
• Faith and Independent Thought
• Repercussions of the Fall of Christian America

I’m quite open to additions to the list, suggestions of what topic to start with, etc., so feel more than free to voice your thoughts in a comment. I can’t say exactly when I’ll get around to actually dealing with the next entry; I picked an awful stage of the school year to start this up. I might also try to finish dealing with the site layout before writing anything else (let’s face it, this lightish-turquoise post background color has to go). But I promise I will get to it as soon as I can.

*phew*… I think that’s enough for now.