Christian = Stupid?

In a letter to the editor of our local newspaper, a man wrote that creationists, "to be credible and true to their non-belief in science," should stop driving, seeking medical attention, using phones...etc.

In a movie I was watching with my husband, the only Christian character turned out to be a pompous, stupid, and hypocritical jerk that I would've liked to punch in the head myself.

It makes me wince, tho, that we, as Christians, are seen as stupid and backwards.

Being seen in that light definitely doesn't make any good news we want to tell the world relevant, does it?

I am a "creationist." I do believe in a God who created the world. I do not know His definition of a day, tho I do believe in a sequential creation. I do believe He may have used evolution as a tool, but I do not believe we descended from apes. Sorry.

I can act like a jerk sometimes. Fortunately, I believe in grace. Because I believe in a God of grace, I also try to be gracious to others. If I ever become a hypocritical jerk Christian, I hope someone punches me in the head and knocks some sense into me.

I am not stupid.

I work in science.

I also find letters to the editor dull and prejudiced.

Being "real" is the only way I know to be relevant. I may not believe the world came about the same, but I know the God behind it all. I am not be perfect, but I won't expect you to be either.

The good news is relevant. I think the bigger question is, "Are we, as Christians, relevant?"

Comments

Anne Lang Bundy said…
The strength of our relevance lies in being guided by the Lord's Spirit to know when and what to speak, and to know when we're only "casting pearls before swine" who will trample first the pearls and then us.

I always shake my head at those who see any conflict between science and creationism. Science is about observable facts, while both creationism and evolution are explanations of history. Creationism relies on written records and is fully supported by science, but evolution relies on theories which prove unsupportable by science with increasingly frequency. Unless they come to the table in an honest search for truth, we have little hope to be relevant to evolutionists who are as dedicated to their belief as we are to our faith.

And as Buckminster Fuller said: "Faith is much better than belief. Belief is when someone else does the thinking."
October 28, 2009 at 3:36 PM
WKen said…
The letter plays to a stereotype. I don't know any genuinely anti-science Christians, and so the letter you're describing sounds like it's pretty well nuking a straw man.
October 28, 2009 at 10:41 PM
Me said…
I know it is all based on goofy stereotypes. I have just been thinking a lot about how the Bible is perceived by others...even fellow Christians...

Like this question a fellow blogger brought up:

“In the pre-fall Garden of Eden did the Zebra have stripes and did a lion have sharp teeth and a very short intestine designed for flushing out enormous amounts of cholesterol earned by swallowing a lot of flesh?”
October 29, 2009 at 5:53 AM
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