Cutesy 'Christianity'

Several years ago I had a friend that told me she believed the majority of things sold in 'Christian' bookstores should be burned. When she told me that I was literally shocked. I've long enjoyed books and well, I just couldn't bring myself to think the way she did. I still can't.

I am well aware of the false teachings, twisted Scripture, fantasy that shouldn't be labeled as Christian, and outright lies that go into some of the so-called Christian books. And I would agree that there is much being sold in 'Christian' bookstores that truly may be, and probably is, more damaging to a person than any secular book ever could be and without a doubt, every last one of those should be burned. But I can't bring myself, even now, to believe that most all books being labeled as Christian should be burned.

I thought of that long ago conversation this morning because of several things that have happened lately. I recently had someone, someone that would call themselves a Christian, same as I do, comment on one of my blogs lately. This person left numerous comments, refuting what I wrote, and correcting me, or trying to. I truly appreciated every one of those comments. I enjoyed engaging in conversation, if you can call it that, with one of my readers, and I enjoyed the chance to test my own beliefs, but I also came away from that conversation with a different perspective than I went into it.

From that ongoing conversation, and from others I've had with other people in the past, it amazes me that anyone can believe so strongly in something that isn't in Scripture. I know what Scripture says, I know they are blinded, I know they are veiled by the Lord, but it still amazes me.

The person that commented on my post corrected me, telling me that 'Calvinism' is heresy, and seemed to be outright hostile to anyone holding any belief that could even remotely be considered Calvinism. But that isn't the first time I've encountered someone that believed that way, and I doubt it will be the last. And honestly, at least they do believe in Christ. That is, at least, a start. I don't have a clue where someone believing in Christ but also believing in heresy might fall into the Lord's elect and I'm content to leave them in His hands and not worry myself too much over it, beyond the need to correct them.

But...there are so many sides to being a 'Christian' in modern America. And I really am grateful for everyone of those sides. I think. Some of them have very anti-Scriptural beliefs, and a good many of them use a label, Christian, that does not fit who and what they really are, and in the process they make true Christians look bad.

They go around living a life that is against Scripture while claiming to be 'Chrisitian' or else they live a life of such works righteousness that they show the world you must strive hard to attain salvation when Scripture says none of that is worth anything. In fact it says that those works are nothing but filthy rags and that the person striving for salvation is nothing but white washed tombs while inside they are dead mans bones.

How much plainer could Scripture be?

The person that told me most of what is in 'Christian' bookstores should be burned knows Scripture, at least they know it through the filter through which they approach it. They understand all of Scripture through preconceived ideas of what Scripture teaches and they gain from Scripture twisted teachings that support their beliefs as opposed to understanding what Scripture actually says. That pains me, it grieves me, it hurts my heart. I have tried pointing this person to the Truth of Scripture in the past but I cannot get them past those preconceived ideas, to what is really written in Scripture. Which really isn't surprising. Most people are that way. I personally believe the single most dangerous thing about the 'salvation prayer' is the false sense of security it gives people because they put all their faith in that prayer, trust in its ability to save them, and then will not listen to the true way to salvation according to Scripture because they have been assured, usually by a preacher, almost always by other 'Christians', that they have been 'saved' and will go to heaven when they die.

A number of years ago I wrote Christian fiction. I was never published but I had hopes of being published. As a result of that I made friends in the 'Christian' writing world. Today I often shake my head in wonder at the beliefs of some of the writers turning out things that are labeled as 'Christian' and sold to anyone willing to buy the book because of the label it holds.

I well remember when I had no clue of what theology meant, when I bought 'Christian' books because they were 'Christian' and therefore they must be safe to read and might teach a few biblical things along the way. How wrong I was. I once spent lots of money buying a library of Mennonite books for my children because I thought they would be good clean books that would influence my children to nothing but Christ. While I can't say those books were the worst thing my children were ever exposed to, and since they went mostly unread it really didn't matter anyway, but those books, if they had been read, would have taught my children a system of works righteousness that isn't Scriptural.

At some point I came across a 'Christian' website that had an article on it that spoke of books. The author of that article talked of how a writers beliefs will infect the books they write and if our children read those books then our children are being taught about those beliefs. They gave examples of popular classic books. One had a seance in it, another taught magic, and still another some sort of religion was taught through nothing more than making a character that practiced that religion look appealing.  The author of the article told of how those things can influence our children, sometimes with no more than something they read and forgot and sometimes by getting them interested in something they had never been exposed to before. I had never considered any of those things until I read that article. After reading that article I started being a little more careful what I let my children be exposed to.

Later, as I dipped into the 'Christian' writing world, I began to see the truth in what that person had written in that article. I made friends with a 'Christian' author, one whose books I had read, and found out that she was Roman Catholic. I had no problems having her as a friend but I remember thinking that I wouldn't have read her books if I knew what she believed.

I still have friends that are 'Christian' writers and more and more it amazes me the things they believe. Most of them, no matter what denomination they prescribe to, believe in name-it and claim-it type of beliefs. Most of them wear the label of author before they wear the label of Christian. And so many of them buy into and promote a 'Christianity' that isn't the Christianity of Scripture, than they write those beliefs in their books and teach them to anyone that will read them.

In the case of fiction, their personal beliefs are generally limited, usually to having the main characters go to 'church', prayer before meals, and throw up a prayer when they get into trouble. But even that...teaches an easy believism type of 'Christianity'. In the case of non-fiction, though, there beliefs can be way more damaging.

Let's say I wanted to read a book on Christ. If I wanted something that would show me who Christ was as a man, the things He taught, and how He lived...I would be best served to pick up my Bible, or at the very least Crossway's The Gospels...but let's assume I wanted a book where someone else was explaining all these things to me. If I managed to get hold of a book where someone went to Scripture and detailed all that Christ did without adding to it or taking away from it then I might be well served to read that book but the chances of finding a book like that are pretty much nonexistent. Chances are I would get hold of a book about Christ written by a professing 'Christian' that approached Scripture with a veil firmly in place and wrote of a Christ that does not exist within the pages of Scripture. If I did not understand what Christ really was like before reading that book, and therefore be able to mentally, or literally, mark out all the false teachings it contained, I would be influenced by the beliefs of the author.

I write. It wasn't something I went looking to do. I sort of fell into it both when I wrote fiction and now as I write the posts that I place on the blog. I have no idea how I write the things I do. It is a gift and nothing of me. But even my own writing, although I write what I understand to be the Truth of Scripture, has the ability to influence people. I consider that to be a good thing. If someone believing in a false 'Christianity' reads any of what I write, maybe, just maybe, my writing will plant a seed within that person, a seed that the Lord might someday use to save them.

But there is another side to 'Christianity', one I've seen show up in 'Christian' writers and non-writers alike. It is the cutesy side.

I am currently working my way through the life of Paul, following his journeys, reading his letters as close to where he wrote them in those journeys as I can, and learning much about him. I can't help but think that he did not live out a cutesy 'Christian' life. His life was hard. He faced much, battled much both in the physical world and the spiritual one, and endured much for the sake of Christ. 

How many people today, people that go to 'church' every Sunday, people that teach Bible study, have prayer meetings, witness to others, and write 'Christian' books, endure anything for Christ? And how many of them live the cutesy 'Christian' life?

I've seen a good deal of what 'Christian' authors, and agents seem to rely on to get them through. I know one 'Christian' author that is into Bible journaling. I see nothing wrong with that. I write in my Bible. I take notes, highlight, even put my children's and grandchildren's hand prints in them. I have Bibles that I wouldn't mark in for anything and then I have the Bible that I bought specifically so I could write in it, and discovered I truly like that Bible. But I write all in that Bible. I take notes, write questions, even make little journal entries of where I was, why I was studying that passage, or what was going on in my life as I read that. I have nothing against Bible journaling. But this friend, is into the new fad called Bible journaling, and even that, I can't say is necessarily bad. It's just that I have seen pictures of this friends Bible. She takes one passage of Scripture, sometimes one verse, and draws all around it, adding stickers and whatever else strikes her fancy to that page, making a whole page of Scripture highlight one single verse. The rest of the page can't usually be read.

It's a cutesy type of thing that encourages the twisting of, and the picking apart of Scripture. President Lincoln had a Bible that is called the blank Bible. They call it that because he literally cut out all parts of Scripture that he did not like or agree with. That, to me, is what this friend does in her Bible journaling. She may not cut her Bible apart, she doesn't have to, she just colors over, paints over, and puts stickers over, the parts she doesn't find particularly important or interesting.

That is a form of cutesy 'Christianity' that has nothing to do with true Christianity. And it's only the tip of the ice berg.

Professing 'Christianity' in a lot of ways has been redefined to fit social media. Like this and God will bless you. Share this and God will fix your bills. Here's a pretty picture and a Bible verse, a verse taken out of context, not written for every person in the world, now apply it to your life and feel better about yourself. And when you move into the writing world, a world of authors and various professionals working to put those 'Christian' books on the bookshelves, you also get book promotions, people posting about how wonderful libraries are, posting about leaving a review of a book you enjoyed because authors don't make very much money... You get the idea, they are promoting themselves and their trade. There's not necessarily anything wrong with that. If a person has a business they must promote it to stay in business. The problem comes in when this is what you see of a person that is claiming to be a 'Christian'. 

From knowing these authors I have been able to see the beliefs behind the 'Christian' label, at least I have seen some of them. And what I have seen is disturbing.

I don't know all of them well enough to know their deepest held beliefs, in fact, I would say I know none of them well enough to know their deepest held beliefs, but I do know all of them well enough to see what persona they want to show to the world. I see the persona they want their fans to see...and it isn't that of being a Biblical Christian. Not even the one author I know that claims to be reformed.

I'm using authors as an example because in a lot of ways they are what influences so many of America's so-called 'Christians'. These people write books that wind up in the hands and minds of thousands...millions...of people. They spread their beliefs to all that care to read their books, even if their book happens to be a cook book. And yet...the majority of them subscribe to a belief system that shows cutesy 'Christianity' and name-it and claim-it 'Christianity' over Scriptural Christianity.

Whether a 'Christian' is an author or an ordinary, everyday person, whether they are male or female, married, divorced, or single, there are 'Christian' retreats and conferences to attend, there are books to be bought and read, there are movies to watch... All of which promote something other than what Scripture promotes.

Much the way the person leaving comments on my blog recently was promoting something other than Scripture. That person even alligned themselves with a certain denominational belief, using the terms we and our to describe their beliefs, which left no doubt to the fact that they were laying claim to those denominational beliefs, only to turn around and say that they were not of that denomination. This person had a hard time even knowing their own beliefs well enough to stick to one story much less being able to back those beliefs with Scripture that wasn't twisted to support that denominational belief. Although I will give that person credit, I don't believe they were subscribing to cutesy 'Christianity'.

But one anti-Scriptural belief system is just as damaging to their soul as another. It doesn't matter if they believe God will do something for them if they post or share something on social media or if they believe God will owe them salvation, or owe their children salvation, if they can just be a good enough 'Christian'...it's all a false gospel that leads away from the true Christ and not to Him.

They can go to a conference to be taught how to have a good 'Christian' life on earth or they can sit home, pouring over their Bibles, studying for hours, to learn about how to be a better 'Christian' by doing...this. It all goes against Scripture.

I have been tempted, many times, to take a poll of those that I know both in real life and online, to see what denomination they line up with. I truly am curious, although I know the answer for some of them, just to see how far the cutesy or name it and claim it 'Christianity' has gone. 

Years ago I was part of a 'church' that claimed to be nondenominational. When I went there they did a fairly good job of reading straight from Scripture but the few encounters I've had with members of that 'church' over the last year or so has shown me that they have embraced the prosperity gospel and they teach classes using books and materials written by definite heretics.

Where is the true Christ in all of that? When does Christ get the glory through someone liking something on social media? How is Christ pointed to by someone working their way into sinless perfection so that God will 'owe' them the salvation of their children?

I've sat in the midst of so-called 'Christians' hearing the message they heard from their preacher, being told snippets of Scripture in a way that doesn't stretch the mind, doesn't convict the soul, and doesn't lead one to the Christ of Scripture. I've been told how much Jesus loves everyone, been told how  a 'Christian' should strive to be a better husband, wife, dad, or mom, and a multitude of other things. Things that are just 'Christian' enough to make one feel good about themselves and their weekly sacrifice of sitting in the 'church' and giving their 'tithes'.

I've visited with the people that sat through the same message and I've walked out of those messages gaining nothing from them or gaining very little. I've easily left a mornings teaching, which is really only about thirty minutes worth, behind as I moved back into my real life, going and doing the things I needed or wanted to do. Just as every other person in those pews did.

Where are the fire and brimstone messages that leave a person convicted, angry or emotionally hurting for Christ? And where are the 'Christians' that want those sort of teachings?

America's 'Christians' today don't want those teachings. They want the cutesy teachings that tell them they are basically a good person, that their sins aren't really all that bad, and give them just a tidbit of Scripture to stretch them a hairsbreadth from where they were when they walked in the door, a stretch that won't last past lunchtime.

Or worse, they take that little bit of teaching, teaching that is erroneous at best, and add it to the celebrity author or preachers teachings they have been absorbing all week in their books and movies and then they take to the internet to share more cutesy 'Christianity' and tell other people how great a life they can have here on earth while never even noticing that the Christians of Scripture, including Christ himself, did not have great earthly lives. They take no note of the fact that Scripture tells us that we are to be content with food and clothing and that earthly things are not blessings but curses.

It's almost as if these professing 'Christians' live on the cutesy sayings, the do this and you'll be blessed by God posts, the pictures of serene places with a nice little verse written at the bottom to point them back to a surface level 'Christianity'. They seem to need to see, or post, these things every five minutes. It's like a drug addict taking their next hit. 'I'm running out of steam, I've lost my 'Christian' focus, let me post this to remind myself of what I'm supposed to be believing.' They have been well trained by a world that is antagonistic to true Christianity. They feed themselves and allow themselves to be fed off things that are not true Scripture.

They pick their Bibles apart and use them like drawing tablets or coloring books. Again, I have no problem with writing or even coloring pictures in your Bible. I think that if those things help a person to meditate on Christ than doing them is a good thing. I also think that if taking notes, highlighting, or even drawing a picture in your Bible helps you to better enjoy your Bible, or if you're trying to make an heirloom for your children or grandchildren, and you want to preserve your beliefs along with pictures you've drawn, letters you've written to a certain person, or even just to whoever might get your Bible someday, than that is a wonderful thing. Anything that points someone to Christ, even through pictures or letters in a Bible, is a good thing. And anything that a person enjoys, that makes their Bible feel more like their very own, that makes them more comfortable with, or helps them better enjoy their Bible is great. What isn't great or good, or wonderful, is the picking apart of Scripture to highlight only a certain section, turning all of Scripture into nothing more than a book filled with those cutesy pages where most of Scripture can't even be read.

Those same 'Christians' wear their 'Christianity' on their t-shirts, they drive it around on their cars. But do they share the Christianity of Scripture? When they wear shirts that twist Scripture, shirts they proudly acquire the way the non-Christian acquires...something...are they pointing anyone to Christ? Do those t-shirts, bumper stickers, and emblems point to Christ or do they just promote more cutesy 'Christianity' that is of no more benefit than an atheists beliefs?

Do these 'Christians' live for Christ or do they live for the recognition they get through those t-shirts, through their weekly dip into the 'church' pool, through their taste of Scripture through their little pictures with verses, through their...pats on the back to themselves and others by way of compliments and encouragements in their cutesy 'Christianity'. Are they living for, pointing toward, Christ with their brief 'Christian' moments, that must be constantly fed with cutesy 'Christianity' in order to stay strong in their lives, or are they just feeding their egos?

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