Christian Identity

Modern, non-denominational teaching which floods our generation strongly advocates our relationship with Christ as paramount. Our relationship with Christ is vital; however it is not the only part of Christianity that is important. We cannot pick some parts of Christianity and leave the rest. 1 2 In our generation this obsession as let to a problem not unique to our generation. Dr. Harold Brown said it well:

"Instead of stressing personal Christianity, at a certain point much of Pietism began to cultivate the Christian personality, and soon found itself more romantic than Christian." 

Although this quote was about the Pietism movement and not originally about our generation, we find that history does often repeat itself. There are no new thoughts or movements, simply a new generation rehashing the things of previous generations. We see that the same issue has popped up again; we replace relationship with personality. We are drawn to the 'modern, hip, spiritual Christian' personality and it is so much simpler to conform to the standard than personally develop our own faith. This MHS Christian is pretty easy to identify, as they permeate all of social media.

 The ideal modern, hip, spiritual personality consists of:

-Strong Conservative or neoConservative views
-A stance against modern, conventional medicine
-A healthy condemnation of denominational beliefs as merely divisive
-Country house with a large yard
-An entrepreneurial hobby, usually involving woodworking or whole foods
-A beard obsession
-A natural health regimen
-Several children, all kept at home

This is what a good, modern Christian is supposed to look like. Its more romantic, a more desirable form of faith. Solid doctrine, opinions on complex theology, and a stance on denominational views are looked at with suspicion and concern. Rather than stressing a thorough education or critical review, the focus is on relational issues. The strength of a church is now measured in the extroverted charisma and popularity of the pastor, combined with a photogenic face.

We find these personalities usually have the gift of gab; that is they can speak for long periods of time sounding very spiritual without actually teaching or exhorting their listeners with any concrete beliefs or mandates. They delight in pleonastic speech, unarticulated faith, and vague vision statements that leave everything to the imagination. They take every opportunity to speak, without saying anything. Most importantly, they don't take a stance on difficult doctrine; in fact, they condemn those 'divisive' churches that have such doctrines. They are easy on the ears, supremely motivational, and demolish straw men with confidence.

We find ourselves enamored with the personality of these leaders, not the teaching thereof. We would rather follow the personality; its fun, its easier, and preprepared. It doesn't require discernment, just duplication. These are easy men to emulate, and we feel good doing so. We find that as we do that, we automatically fit in with all the rest of our peers that are duplicating the exact same thing. We have a pre-made clique, it is comfortable and safe. Of course our neighbors agree, they are copying the same master plan.

Was there anything inherently wrong with any of the traits I described? No, but when we replace substance with personality there is no personality that can take the place of substance.

Like everything in life, the easy route isn't really the best route. Most of the prerequisites we have created for a good modern Christian aren't even Christlike goals or have a blessed thing to do with Christianity. They are comfortable goals of our own generation and socio-economic class. We should not mistake our desires and whims with God's. Our nationality, patriotism, economic plans, or political views should not be valued the same way our faith is. We can't worship a God we create in our own image. If we fancy God to be an upper middle class Conservative gun-toting, Republican-voting, coffee drinking, bearded Confederate, we have created our own God. The ego we display by assuming God needs to approve our lifestyle rather than tailoring our lifestyle to Him is flabbergasting. There is no wrong in having a beard, artisan coffee, or gluten-free bread. There is great wrong in merging these things into our faith.

We are creating a new generation of non-traditionalists. We reject the traditions of the 'old' church; its teachings, practices, and style, yet we are creating equally preposterous standards; more so, since many of our new standards of Christianity have nothing to do with Christ. In fact, we find that much of this generation is labeling itself 'non-denominational', as if that were possible. Having no opinion on doctrine is in itself a doctrine, and we find that most 'non-denominationalists' really do have personal doctrine, they merely don't understand the terminology and implications of that belief. The culture of ignorance is valued as greater than knowledge because we have equated ignorance with humility and knowledge with pride. This will cause the church great harm as difficult situations arise and the church has no cohesive way to approach it. The personalities will fail us, as they are silent on the difficult parts of life. All the coffee, nonGMO foods, and natural sugars won't have an answer. We must stand up and be followers of Christ, to know what we believe and take the hard road. Doctrine may not be easy, but the church needs it; it is a vital component of a healthy church.