Viral

Conforming Jesus to our Own Image, Part 2

facesofjesusEarlier today I posted some thoughts on how some recent surveys indicate that students (and adults, too) conform Jesus to our own image. The prompting came from a book I started reading called The Jesus Gap. The book takes a look at what teens believe about Jesus.

A few hours after writing it, a Facebook friend shared a link to an article that was written somewhat in response to a video posted by BuzzFeed called “I’m a Christian, but I’m not.” I had not yet seen the video (I have watched it since) and there was a link in that article to another blog post talking directly about the video. One particular point in the article echos what was shared in The Jesus Gap.

Mollie Hemingway shared five observations regarding the BuzzFeed video, but her first one was dead on. While the BuzzFeed video may have had some good intentions and helped communicate a message to a particular group of people, it left out one thing – Jesus.

Here’s what Mollie Hemingway wrote:

When you build your faith around what type of Christian you’re not, your faith is not built around Christ. Below is the text and transcription of the viral video. Note the absence of any mention of Jesus.

Text: “BuzzFeed presents, I’m Christian but I’m not…”

I’m Christian but I’m not homophobic;
I’m Christian and I’m definitely not perfect;
I’m Christian but I’m not close-minded;
but I’m not unaccepting;
but I’m not uneducated;
but I am not judgmental;
but I’m not conservative;
I’m not ignorant;
but I don’t place myself on a pedestal;
I’m Christian but I don’t have all the answers.

Text: “What are you?”

but I am accepting;
but I am queer;
I am gay;
but I am a feminist;
I’m a feminist;
definitely am a feminist;
but I do believe in science, in fact I think science makes God look really cool;
I’m not afraid to talk about sex;
I love me some Beyonce;
but I love wine;
I do believe in monogamy before sex but I will give you sex advice if you need it;
but I do go to church on Sundays;
I was a YoungLife camp counselor;
I do listen to Christian music, Christian rock, Christian rap, T-Mac, all the cool kids;
I have friends from all walks of life and different religions, and I love them all.

Text: What do you want people to know about Christianity?

I guess what I’d like people to know about Christianity today is that we’re all kind of not crazy;
We shouldn’t be judged on just the people that you see in the media, or just the people that you’ve met in everyday life. every Christian is different, and we deserve a chance to explain ourselves;
A lot of people think Christianity ruins people, but to me I think it’s people that are ruining Christianity, you never really see the good that happens, you only see the hypocrites, and the people who put themselves on a higher pedestal;
But at its core it’s really about love and acceptance and being a good neighbor;
Just because we prescribe [sic] to a faith that has some really terrible people in it doesn’t make all of us terrible;
I don’t think that Christians should judge people for who they are or what they do, I think everybody is in different part of life on their own path to wherever they’re trying to go. we’re all people and love is the most important thing.
Not a single mention of Jesus, the author and finisher of the Christian faith. In fact, you could easily switch out all references to “Christian” with any other religion or belief system and it would have the same amount of meaning.

I don’t question the intent of the people making the video or their desire to communicate what Christianity is to people, but it is somewhat disturbing that within all of what was said, there was no reference to Jesus. I think this is one example of many that seems to indicate that we can be guilty of conforming Jesus to our own image. Jesus is this or isn’t that based on the fact that I am (or am not) certain things.

In the opening pages of The Jesus Gap, Jen Bradbury shares a story told by Donald Miller in his book, Searching for God Knows What. Miller is teaching a class at a Bible College. He shares the Gospel with his class, but leaves out one element. The class has to determine what he leaves out. He talks for quite a while about sin, repentance, the promise of forgiveness and heaven. After a rather lengthy explanation, he asks the class what was missing. They have no response. The missing element: Jesus.

Miller doesn’t berate the class, but makes the observation that sometimes we get caught up in our own approach to Christianity, that we miss Jesus.

I found it interesting that this the video and subsequent articles came across my news feed on the same day I started to digest the information in The Jesus Gap. Perhaps God is gently nudging me (and obviously others) to make sure Jesus is the center of my faith, life and teaching.

Shia LaBeouf Youth Pastor?

I’ve had the email sitting in my inbox for a couple of weeks now. It is a promo for Student Life camps. I have never attended a Student Life camp, but whoever came up with this video is genius!

If you have haven’t seen Shia LaBeouf’s Intense Motivational Speech, you need to watch it. It only has over 17,659,000 views. He really is intense and it’s fun to watch. In fact, this summer at MOVE Summer Conference, one student did his best Shia LaBeouf impersonation presenting the speech. If you haven’t seen the original, go check out Shia LaBeouf’s Intense Motivational Speech.

Here is how the Student Life used parts of Shia LaBeouf’s speech to promote their camp. Pretty good!

Shia LaBeouf is a Youth Minster from Student Life on Vimeo.

Viral – book review

I’ve had the opportunity to hear Leonard Sweet speak on one or two occasions and have read some of his other writings.  I like his insights and how he sees how the church can impact culture.  I also find myself having to read a paragraph a couple of times to really grasp what it is he is trying to say.  While he is a student of culture, he also brings his love for history and poetry into his writing.  He definitely challenges your thinking.

In Viral, he draws a distinction between two groups of people.  One groups he called “Googlers.” Sweet sees them as natives to the culture of social media. The other group he calls “Gutenbergers,” meaning those who grew up in the culture of the printed word. I found it slightly ironic that his message about a more digital form of media arrived to me in printed (paperback) form.  I think it shows the continued tension that exists as part of our culture has embraced the digital while others cling to printed text.

Sweet uses this acronym in his book:  TGIF.  It doesn’t refer to the well-known phrase many use as they anticipate the weekend.  Instead, he gives it new meaning to highlight the growth of social networking:  Twitter, Google, iPhone, Facebook. In his book, he explains the impact of each of these on our culture.

One of the big distinctions Sweet points to about the Googler versus Gutenberger culture is the idea of connection.  Those who have embraced social media in its many forms are about connecting with others.  While some in the Gutenberger camp see the connections as superficial, for the Googler, they are relational connections.

Sweet encourages the church to take advantage of the desire for connection.  Throughout Viral Sweet looks at ways the church and individual Christ followers can make use of social media to advance the message of Jesus.

Viral would be a good read for both the Googler and Gutenberger.  Social media has and will continue to impact our culture.  Our response will be how we chose to make use of it.