Christianity has an image problem. Exclusivist claims are a turn-off, “puritanical” morality is behind-the-times, and we have some “crazy” beliefs about how humankind came into being. Further, the Church is saddled with all sorts of (true and false) baggage for reprehensible (and unbiblical) crimes committed under her banner. Finally, hawkeyed media outlets and others who glory in any hint of Christian buffoonery from a few, never miss the opportunity to proclaim it such that the reproach is universally shared. Who can blame them when some of us act in a manner to make parody superfluous?
It would seem major swaths of “Christians” have indeed hired PR consultants and have distanced themselves from presently distasteful stances by compromising with the world on creation, salvation, and morality (necessarily severing ties with much of the Bible in the process). “Get with it,” you might hear them say while their denominations race to conform. Their churches shrink with the contrast they now lack, and the spiritual food they serve is water soup to a starving world.
Others have used America’s one home-grown philosophy, pragmatism, and made Christianity more temporally useful than eternally crucial. With Christianity, you can “Have Your Best Life Now,” or take “8 Steps to Create the Life You Want.” Money, stress, health, drugs, marriage, raising children – every one of your problems can be “fixed” by this Christianity. Prosperity preachers preach, “You can have whatever you want,” with the escape clause, “if you have enough faith.” Otherwise orthodox pastors’ pulpit messages master in missing the point when they concentrate almost entirely on fixing the felt needs of the congregation over proclaiming the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Even biblical Christians can suffer this tendency to a small degree. When’s the last time you heard someone’s testimony that didn’t focus on how much better their life is since coming to Jesus? “I used to be ‘this,’ and now I’m ‘THIS!’” What about hearing from someone who grew up in church, always believed and never rebelled, but still understands deeply their need for a Savior? This is how it should be for our kids, but we discourage that when we celebrate the sensational. Besides, Tony Robbins or a juice cleanse may be just as likely to “fix” you.
So, if aping culture and offering practical/fantastical solutions to life’s problems isn’t the answer to our PR problem, what is?
Well, avoid joining the ranks of the thin-skinned “reactivists” with a featherweight chip on weak shoulders. Real, dangerous persecution happens overseas all too much for American Christians to complain. Did biblical laws inform our forefathers as they laid the foundation of this country? Of course and in many ways there is marked erosion, but this has never been a “Christian nation,” and as pluralism increases, liberties we once assumed can be assumed no longer. Sans paranoia, we can offer a calm and civil response when there are real changes to the freedom of speech or religious liberties intended by law.
So, is there a “war on Christmas” and on Christianity in general? Yes! There has been for two thousand years! Jesus said, “You will be hated by everyone because of me…” (Matthew 10:22a) He said it to his apostles in a specific context, but there is so much more biblical weight promising a hard road (cross-bearing, trials, persecution) for all who love and follow Christ.
Faithful, biblical churches will never solve their PR problem. We should be intentional in love, winsome in manner, but unyielding in truth. The cross is its own offense. It needs not our help.