Day 29: The Confusion.

I was talking family with a co-worker, and this was a slight summary of their religious beliefs according to her.

Christian belongs in quotation marks like such: "Christian".
Their family is "Christian" (using the quotation marks).
They don't attend church or anything.
They got religion.

First off, I believe it's a first that I've seen someone claim something and then undermine the title/group that they're affiliating themselves with by putting it in quotation marks. That's like saying, "Oh! I'm a 'Republican'." It smacks of "Republican (Whatever that is, it sounded cool at the time when we signed the paper)". Interesting in itself.
I won't make anything of what she claimed, for I am not a judge. But to take this an interesting turn,

Christianity, depending on what study you follow, is claimed by the majority of the population of the United States. If you include Catholics, that number shoots up a bit, especially if we're counting illegal immigrants. I think it'd be safe to say, at least 65%. But to ask Wikipedia's opinion on the matter, the number is roughly, 58.3% to 82.3%, including Catholicism. The exposure of Christianity is pretty far reaching. Most kids by the age of 12 can tell you who Jesus was. "He's that guy that had the cool cross necklace that carried the Bible, right?" Because a lot of times, Christianity is brought into debates such as abortion, gay marriage, and more, more beliefs are presented to the general public.

I think the United States suffers from Christianity Fatigue. We're tired of hearing about Jesus. Think about it. If 82.3% of the US were really Christians (that number seems a bit high to me), then Christ would be talked about by pretty much everyone, and hearing the Gospel message would be boring because most of us don't need to hear it. However, because so many people hear it, and they see no change (The crime rate is rising along with the percentage of Christians). DCTalk (I'd love to cite the writer and not the band, but I do not know which came up with the line, or if it's even original to them) wasn't far off when they opened "What if I Stumble" with 'The single greatest cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.'

Those of us who do more than answer "Christian" on surveys, those of us who attend church, those of us who really want to take it seriously, really need to stand out from the hypocrites. Ted Dekker in his book "Heaven's Wager" had a character jokingly suggest that Christians should walk around pulling on their skin in the neck or arm areas. It'd look ridiculous, and it'd be shameful to most, but those who really wanted to live it out would do it. I don't know if I'd go so far as to suggest stretching out your skin, but it's the little things that count. Find ways to live that stand up with the Bible. Really respect people, regardless of what they do. We are not measured by the cards that are dealt to us, but rather how we decide to play our given hand. It takes a huge act of faith to really live out the Christian walk, and sometimes I think we're all a little underplaying it. How many people do you know really stand out? Are we really radical? Who would rather go minister than watch a game of football, or hold a worship service in a Starbucks without once thinking it strange.

Who does that nowadays?
Few and far between.