Pop Christianity

I’m seeing a lot of hurt, disillusioned, cynical Christians on Twitter and Facebook.  Most of these people I have contact with fall into the 20-40 age group, but it sometimes extends up into the 60’s.  I think “betrayal” is the feeling many of them would voice.  They feel like they were snookered by the prevailing Christian culture of their youth.

The evangelical subculture of the 1980’s-2010’s raised some expectations in many Christians that couldn’t be met, and this ended up causing the disillusionment and bitterness for some.  By evangelical subculture, I mean the parachurch ministries that sprang up separate from particular denominations or churches, but that still often influenced churches and pastors:  book publishers, radio and tv programs, retreat organizations, pop Christian music, men’s ministries, women’s ministries.  Some examples would be Focus on the Family, American Family Radio, PromiseKeepers, Weigh Down Workshop, Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace, Bill Gothard Institute, True Love Waits, and a disproportionately high number of books on marriage and the family.

Many of these organizations had noble intentions and did some good.  Some were corrupt or poorly conceived from the outset and did a lot of damage. But a common thread from this subculture was the heresy that IF you did what God told you (as interpreted by their teaching) AND YOU HAD ENOUGH FAITH, you would be blessed by God  (i.e., you would get what you wanted).  If you followed the diet program and put God first, you would lose weight.  If you stayed pure and didn’t date around or have sex before marriage, God would bless you with the mate of your dreams.  If you submitted to your husband and honored him, he would be so smitten with you, he would wait on you hand and foot and treasure you like a princess.  If you sheltered your kids from worldly and sinful influences, they would stay faithful and be strong leaders in Christian circles.  If your husband went to the right retreat, he would return a changed man with strong friendships that would hold him accountable. 

So you see where this leads the average Christian kid or young adult trying to do what’s right:  feelings of failure and disappointment if things didn’t turn out right.  They must not have had enough faith.  They must have done something wrong.  Or God didn’t fulfill His end of the bargain.  

What has been your experience here?  Did you go through this?

This is similar to the “Prosperity gospel” that promises Christians financial success and/or health if you have enough faith and you give tithes to God.  Even though the majority of Christians disavow this “health and wealth gospel,” these promises by the Christian subculture contained the same underlying belief with just the rewards altered. Yes, God does answer prayers and Jesus rewards our faith, but on God’s terms, not ours.  And there’s no equation here:  Faith + obedience ≠ rewards here on earth.  Just look at all the faithful people in the Bible who didn’t get what they wanted: John the Baptist, Jeremiah the Weeping Prophet, Stephen who was stoned, Paul in jail, even Jesus didn’t get what he prayed for.

You can’t blame Jesus for soft-selling the gospel.  He made it clear that we would have to die to ourselves, that it would be hard and some would turn back, and that in this world we would have trouble.  But he said it would be worth it. (Luke 9:23, John 6:66, John 16:33).

So if you’ve lost faith in that “Christianity” you were sold in the last few decades – good.  It was bogus.   Reexamine what you were told and what your faith was in.  “Deconstruct” is the trendy term.  THEN check out Jesus, unfiltered through any pop-Christian lens, uninterpreted by any Christian “influencers.”  Just Jesus.