part of the reason i feel uncomfortable with people lauding 'kate the christian' is you then have to come up with a reason to distance yourself from the christian brother done for disgusting dodginess.
i don't want people to consider christianity just because christians are good people or nice cooks, in the same way as i don't want them to write it off because of people like the victorian paedophile or the norwegian mass murderer.
rather i want people to consider christianity because they see in Jesus a God who has proven his love for them, and they see in the bible a way of looking at things that makes sense of the world and ourselves, our ability to do great and beautiful things but also to commit great evil.
5 comments:
Your right Doug, there is a danger in trying to raise up a celebrity Christian, and put our faith in them to make a difference.
like this!
where's the FOLLOW button for ur blog?
thanks areta.
dunno where the button is. i just write stuff. if you have a blog reader just put in the web address and it should work.
it's a pretty old design so i don't know if it could handle a button. that sounds too high-tech!
Thoughts.
1) If she's a Christian, then she's a sister. And if she's family, then cheering for her is a show of solidarity; the same way that I would cheer for my brother if he was on MasterChef. We rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.
1b) no less than a fallen brother (if he's a Christian) should make us mourn at the brokenness and sinfulness of all of humanity. 'On my best behaviour,' said Sufjan, 'am I really just like him?' [i.e. John Wayne Gacy, serial killer]
2) God changes everything. You can be a Christian cook, because God is the one who has made a cornucopia of food, in amazing array and variety and flavours. That's our amazing creator God. To acknowledge that and celebrate that--acknowledging the creative Creator--is to worship. (of course, to leave out God makes food an idol...)
I think there were more thoughts, but they fell out of my head.
well said haoran.
i think my unease is similar to people voting for people because they're a christian.
or that it implies that it's inappropriate to cheer for the guy who came second or the girl who came third (i'm obviously a massive fan!) because they're not.
having said all this, if i knew them and had a church connection (like Justine) i would tell my friends to cheer for her - she's my friend - and did you know she goes to my church! or something like that.
and how good would it be to have an evangelistic event where she could chat about being a christian who delights in cooking as one of God's good gifts!
but that's not the same as saying 'hey christians are awesome - just look at kate who won MC and bear grylls who drinks elephant poo.'
do you get my distinction?
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