Thursday 17 April 2014

Call yourself a Christian!

I wasn't going to post again before Easter,  but something a fellow blogger wrote made me think again.

I am a Christian. There. I've said it.

Time was when it was fine to admit to being a Christian. Not any more. Things have changed, and if you tell people you're a Christian, they seem to see you in a different light altogether.  They also tell you how much the church has to answer for, from wars to child abuse, and so it's easier in some ways to keep quiet.

They also make assumptions.

Some time ago a friend of mine, who was angry with me, suddenly shouted at me "call yourself a Christian!" I was very taken aback, because apart for the fact that she knows I sing in the church choir, I had never, to her, "called myself a Christian". But she had made the connection, and a judgement, and I was condemned. Because of course Christians are supposed to behave so much better than everyone else, even (and especially) by those who have no faith at all.

But...I am a Christian. Not a good one; not a particularly prayerful one; certainly not a preachy one. I rarely mention it, and I have a long way to go. And I have lots of doubts. But basically, it seems to make sense. I make no judgements about those of different faiths or none; I don't know whether I am "saved" (whatever that means). I certainly don't deserve to be. But there it is.

I recently read a wonderful book: "Unapologetic", by Francis Spufford. It is a very readable
exposition of why he's a believer. And no. He's not preachy either. He's not even a paid-up theologian; just a (very good) writer. In fact, the book is full of the F word, and very down to earth. But just in case, at this Eastertide, anyone reading this might be interested, I do commend it. If nothing else, it makes for very entertaining reading.

Happy Easter (again)!

23 comments:

  1. Hmm...touchy subject, indeed.
    Expecting a "Christian" to automatically behave perfectly is a bit like assuming all French people have impeccable taste. They're raised with the tools to get there, but don't always apply what might have been learned.
    My creed is "Be kind and Do as you would be Done by"
    I also have impeccable taste:)

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  2. If asked, I say I have to go to church because I'm so much more badly behaved than anyone else, I have more sins to be forgiven.

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  3. There are a lot of people who make it difficult for the rest of us. I was raised in the United Church of Canada, which is a little to the left of Anglican. When I finished high school, the nearest college was one started by an evangelical-style church. I was a good student and a nice person, though rather shy. Just imagine my surprise when another student, hearing me say "United Church" said, "Well, then, you're not a Christian!" That kind of attitude certainly wasn't going to convert me to her faith any time soon.
    K

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    1. Kay, I agree. There are certain branches of the Christian church which make me want to run screaming to the hills.

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  4. I like to think that I'm a nice, kind, and caring person, but I'm certainly not a 'Christian', or believer in any other spooks. Christians do NOT have a monopoly in being 'good', in fact in my experience it's been the total opposite.

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    1. The people I would call Christian are under no illusion about being better than others. Rather the opposite. But I had a feeling you would fell like this! Happy Easter, whatever you decide to do. (Feel rather than fell, but iPad refuses to cooperate!)

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    2. Frances please remind me to tell you how to sort the iPad problem if the following doesn't work. When you make a mistake and it won't alter it try closing the keyboard with the symbol in the bottom left and then re-opening it. Carol in Cairns told me how to do it and I think that was it. If not I'll look it up for you.

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    3. Thanks, GB. I'll give it a try.

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  5. Religion is a fascinating subject. I don't belong to any organized religion anymore, but grew up protestant, which is what most people in this part of Germany are. My parents were not very religious, but there were occasional church visits, and I loved singing in the church choir during my teens.

    I have met Christians who'd never call themselves "good" Christians, but are very good people I hold in very high esteem, and I have met others who verbally claim to be good Christians but have attitudes and views certainly not in harmony with the teachings of the kindest man who ever lived.

    If asked whether I see myself as Christian, the answer is that I do believe in God (and pray quite a lot) but am sceptical towards organized religion and doctrine, no matter what colour.
    Thank you for recommending the book, it sounds like an interesting read.

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    1. Do try the book, Meike. It was fun as well as inspirational. He's very down to earth.

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  6. I had a feeling you were, Frances - so it comes across (to me anyway) in just being you. I do agree how much it's all changed these days. Like the sound of that book!

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    1. Thank you, Rosemary (I think!). But I do hope I don't come across as prudish...? Perish the thought...

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    2. Absolutely not - far from it.

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  7. It's 23.45. I need to go to bed before dawn. So I shall not start writing something I shall be unable to stop. I shall tell you a very short tale from my time on the wards over half a century ago. Patients were not allowed to be 'Christian'. If you did not declare your religion or said that you didn't have one (no-one I ever came across even thought of being atheist then) you automatically had a red sticker on your nameplate over your bed indicating that you were Non-Conformist. There were only three colours: Blue = CoE, Green = RC and Red = N-C. Life was so simple. But then it was Liverpool.

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    1. In that case, I'm kind of green, but have been semi-evicted for marrying a divorced man. Living in sin; that's what I am. According to the greens, anyway. Oh well...

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  8. I think I was excommunicated too when I married in a registry office having been brought up a Catholic. I class myself as agnostic, because I really don't know. It's a bit like trying to fathom the universe. Impossible to know the truth, so I remain trying to do the best I can.

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    1. Maggie I do recommend Spufford's book. It's an entertaining read, even if the reader doesn't find it helpful.

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  9. Interesting post, Frances. Looking back, I think I've met similar kinds of reactions ever since my teens though (which was when I first started 'calling' myself a Christian). Sometimes you suddenly find yourself sorted into someone else's definition of of it, which may totally crash with your own! I guess I probably often made/make the same kind of mistake myself though - like assuming that if I do say I'm a Christian, everyone will know what I mean by that. (By now one might think I should know better. But on the other hand, it gets awfully complicated if one has to deliver a complete theological thesis every time one happens to come anywhere close to the topic.)

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    1. DT, I agree. In fact, I hate telling people I go to church because of the reaction I get. I'd never make an evengelical!

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  10. PS. This reminds me, I still have one of your books left to read...

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