Why are Christians so…?

Photo by Natalie Dee

You’re probably already familiar with Google’s autosuggest feature (even if you didn’t know what it was called). That’s when you begin typing a phrase in the Google search box, and Google completes it with a number of suggestions.

Because the suggestions are based on the most common searches starting with that phrase, it can also reveal popular opinions and beliefs about a specific topic. The website Blame it on the Voices decided to see how Google’s autofill would complete phrases like:  why are christians so… and  why are muslims so… (You can see the results here.)

They even took it a step further and created a venn diagram to demonstrate what traits people perceive Christians and Muslims as having in common. And here they are...

• Crazy
• Hateful
• Ignorant
• Stupid

I decided to conduct my own experiment with why are christians so... and came up with the following:

If this merely confirms in your mind that we are being “persecuted” for what we believe, think again. When I type in why are atheists so…, I get:

So my own venn diagram shows the traits that we share with non-believers are:

• Stupid
• Mean
• Hateful
• Intolerant
• Annoying

Are you surprised that we seem to have the exact same attitude towards those that disagree with us as non-believers have towards us? And does it bother you that we do?

Maybe Google’s algorithms can answer this: why are christians so unloving?

The Gates of Hell

Photo by divemasterking2000

In Matthew 16, Jesus asks his disciples who the people say he is. Their responses vary: John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah or one of the other prophets. Then he asks, “But who do you say that I am?” to which Peter replies: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Then Jesus makes this statement:

Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. (Matthew 16:17-18, NIV)

The word translated here as overcome in the NIV is rendered in other translations as overpower and prevail. Many commentators say that this conveys the image of hell attacking the church, but that the church will prevail over everything the enemy throws at it.

But here’s my question: Since when do gates attack?

Gates are used for defense, not offense. Gates are a part of a wall and keeps attackers out of one’s fortress. If the picture here is hell attacking the church, why didn’t Jesus say the armies of hell will not overcome it?

In the NIV, the footnote to “overcome” in v.18 offers an alternative translation: not prove stronger than it. So verse 18 could well read: “...on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prove stronger than it.”

The Wycliffe New Testament renders this verse like so:

…upon this stone I shall build my church, and the gates of hell shall not have might, or strength, against it.

Answers In Action blog makes the point that this verse plainly says something much more dramatic than mere assurance that the church will prevail over all adverse circumstances:

The church will overcome anything the Devil may raise in defense against it. In other words, it is not merely that the church will endure, but more positively that it will take over what the Devil seeks to keep from it.

And...

So, if the gates of Hades or hell cannot prevail against the church, that must mean that the church will mount a successful offense against the powers of evil... In other words, when the gates “will not prevail,” that means that the church, in effect, knocks down the gates.

With a fresh perspective, we can go forward confidentially, knowing that we have “authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm [us].” (Luke 10:19)

Whatever You Do, Don’t Run!

Photo by chris.merwe

Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. - 1 Peter 5:8

We think of the lion as an African species, but in ancient times, lions ranged from Greece to India and Persia. By 100 A.D., they had become extinct in Europe, but they survived in considerable numbers in the Middle East until the early 20th century. So New Testament writers like Peter would have been quite familiar with lions and their behavior.

Much has been written by modern Christian authors about how a lion will roar to scare its prey into running the other way... towards a waiting ambush of other lions. I couldn’t find any information confirming that. But I did find one reason they do roar: as a territorial display.

A lion’s roar can carry 5 miles or more. Males roar only when on their own territory. In other words, it’s a display of ownership that is only given by resident lions on their own territory.

Does that put 1 Peter 5:8 in a whole new perspective? Satan is acting like he owns the place, roaring in a lion-like territorial display. But we’re told not to give him any ground (see Ephesians 4:27).

The Safari Guide, a website that provides information to tourists visiting the bush on safari, gives this advice when encountering a lion in the wild:

One thing to remember with lions – whatever you do, don’t run! If you run away from a lion it will regard you as prey and it will chase you.

If you do get charged by a lion, you must stay still and hold your ground. This is easier said than done, but you cannot outrun a lion anyway. Lions often mock charge and break away at the last moment. They do this to show their displeasure, as an act of bravado and to ‘test’ you.

Notice how many times the word stand appears in the well-known Armor of God passage:

Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.

God’s already given you all that you need for the battle, so next time the adversary confronts you, keep in mind that he’s only “like a roaring lion.” He isn’t actually one.

The Devil is Afraid of You

Photo by David Thunander

When I started walking with the Lord again in the late 80’s, it felt like the devil was soooo powerful, and I cowered before him because he was always “attacking” me. But, in reality, I was just acting out my victim mentality. (I can’t do anything because the devil is always hindering me.) It was just an excuse to remain a victim.

There’s a powerful a payoff in being the victim. You always have someone else to blame when you always fail. It’s like No-Fault Insurance – it absolves you of all responsibility for what happens in your life. The payoff can also be sympathy from others. All this may feel completely “normal” if you’ve never known anything different.

But the reality is the devil’s supposed to be fleeing from us, not the other way around:

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7, NIV)

Think about the word “flee.” It’s likened to running away from something dreadful or terrible. Who flees from something they’re not afraid of?

Here’s something else to consider: the devil is more afraid of you than he was of Jesus when he tempted him in the desert.

Do you find that hard to accept? Then take another look at Luke 4:1-13. After Jesus resisted Satan’s three temptations, it says that the devil “left him until an opportune time.” Notice it doesn’t say he fled from him. Quite the opposite… it implies that he would be returning with even more temptations when the time was right.

So how can I claim that Satan is more afraid of you today than he was of Jesus on that day? Because since that day, Jesus died and rose again… and in doing so, he:

…disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. (Colossians 2:15)

You see, we focus on verses that call Satan “the god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4) and that “the whole world is under the control of the evil one” (1 John 5:19). But as far as God is concerned, he is a defeated foe. God is not at war with Satan. Yes, he is our enemy, but the only power he has against the Christian is what we give him. He’s only “like a roaring lion…” (1 Peter 5:8). He isn’t actually one.

So the next time the devil seems so big and God so small, remember that:

…you are of God [you belong to Him] and have [already] defeated and overcome them [the agents of the antichrist], because He Who lives in you is greater (mightier) than he who is in the world. (1 John 4:4 AMP)

“We are not unaware of his schemes...”

When I came back to the Lord in the late 1980’s, I had a couple of “conditions.” First, I didn’t want to go around telling people how Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons really weren’t Christians. Second, I didn’t want to know anything about the end of the world, and in particular, the devil.

Funny… God didn’t honor any of my conditions. One of the first books I read shortly thereafter was Hal Lindsay’s The Late Great Planet Earth. I also ended up teaching a class at church about the Jehovah Witnesses and their beliefs, but that’s another story.

But about the “devil” part…

Now, I’m not the type of Christian that sees a devil behind a hangnail, but at this time in my life, a series of events occurred that was hard to chalk up to coincidence. First of all I needed to move from where I was living into a condo I’d been renting out. My tenant left owing me 3 months rent and an abandoned Volkswagen bus in the garage (minus the engine, which he had apparently tried to rebuild on the living room rug… as evidenced by the large grease stain).

On top of this, going from sharing rent with a roommate to paying the entire amount myself was a financial burden in itself, but then, the company I was working for laid off our entire customer service department to relocate it at the corporate headquarters in Louisiana. Soon afterwards, the transmission on my car went out. I couldn’t get a job without a car and I couldn’t get a car without a job. I felt stuck.

But the clincher was a girl I’d been interested in. Despite having mutual feeling for one another, she had a some issues she was dealing with, so we’d decided to just be friends for the time being. (Although that didn’t diminish my feelings for her.) But soon afterwards, she approached me at a gathering we both happened to be at and began telling me how she could see herself married to me, having children with me and being happy… and I thought to myself: “Yes! See’s finally seeing what I’ve being seeing for months now!”

Then she proceeded to tell me that she had been dating “George” and that she and “George” were moving in together, and that she wanted me to know because she really did care about me.

You can imagine my drive home that night. About halfway there, I was about as low as you could get, and I begin telling God that if this is the life he had for me, that I was better off without him. I started to say that if Satan really wanted me that bad, he could just have me…

But I stopped short of saying the words. It was as if the Holy Spirit rose up in me and I suddenly shut my mouth. Even as low as I was, I recognized that it was Satan, not God, who was orchestrating all of this. It seems I wasn’t going to be able to ignore him, after all.

Incidentally, “George” turned out to be obsessive, possessive, and physically abusive. She eventually moved out and got a restraining order against him.