Ignorance In Print: Getting Roasted By Bumperstickers

Bumperstickers are fascinating. Not because they are clever, or because they impact society in any conceivable way, but because the exact opposite is true. Bumperstickers are often stupid. I would argue that, next to anything George Lucas is a part of, bumperstickers are the lowest conceivable form of art (please argue that point below).

Quality art makes a statement in a way that effects those who receive it, it is showing the world from a different perspective than the recipient is accustomed to. Bumperstickers put statements right in everyones' faces without regard for the quality of said statement or its delivery system. In essence they are often brash and lack any sort of creativity.

Art is the film American History X, that comments on the empty hatred and ignorance that comes with racism, fully realizing its futility and consequences. It does so with a two hour running time that leaves the audience often feeling shocked, uncomfortable, and appalled.
A bumpersticker would just say "racism is stupid!" and that would be that.
See the difference?

Today I saw a gorgeous car that perked my interest. I'm not too into cars, I can't afford to have a nice one so I chose not to torture myself by lusting after them. But this one got my interest partly because it was a very slick looking automobile, but mostly because of how it was uglified (new word!) with stickers all over the rear of the car, not just on the bumper but covering the whole back end (rear window, trunk, and bumper). To add to the interest even further each sticker was more hateful towards religion than the last. There was a "Darwin Fish" that said "Evolve" in the middle and a plethora of others. I generally find people who despise what I stand for interesting, for the most part because I believe I am obligated to understand that hatred as a human being; if I'm not willing to hear their side with all respect than they won't hear mine. So I listen to people who attack my faith and me personally. And I try to respect their opinions as I would hope mine would be respected. But these bumperstickers were where I drew the line.

The bumpersticker that took the cake said "The Dark Ages were caused by religion."
Boom! Roasted! I was almost set to ditch my belief system that had impacted my entire life because of this bumpersticker* until I started actually thinking about it (it took all of three seconds.)

If this sticker is meant to just anger religious people than it might be a very bold form of art. But I doubt that this driver has that much knowledge of what it means to be subversive. I think they believe they were actually making a point. Which made me sad.

The writer of this bumpersticker and the person who bought it and decided to permanently fix it to their car were suggesting that religion was dominant during the Dark Ages therefore religion is bad.

This statement can only be really effective if its converse is pointed out too, such as explaining that it was something other than religion that brought the Dark Ages to an end. But it wasn't.
You can say "Tyler, religion is wrong because it was the reason for the Dark Ages." And I can respond "Religion did help in creating the Dark Ages, but religion also helped bring us out of the Dark Ages." You can't have it both ways cynical bumpersticker lover!

The Dark Ages were the result of an unequal class system, a disrespect for learning and education, financial crisis, a plague, and a myriad of other reasons. Certainly religious systems (not religion itself) helped perpetuate this class system that kept people poor, uneducated, and dependent on the upper class. I will concede to that.

[side note: what was happening in the east during all of this? Islam was thriving and having a golden age in philosophy and science. While most of the historical documents were disappearing in Europe many in the east were safely compiling and copying historical documents that came in handy to get us out of the Dark Ages. We wouldn't have any of Aristotle's writings if it wasn't for religious people cataloguing and maintaining them. Certainly I don't agree with Islam, but I have to give credit where credit is due. They saved a lot of literature during a time when Christian Europe was unable to. That in and of itself should debunk the brilliant bumpersticker.]

As there were many causes for the Dark Ages there were an equal number of reasons that it ended. One of them was the rise of the Protestant religion that both perpetuated and was impacted by the advent of the middle class. Protestantism encouraged learning for not only the clergy and elite but for all people. Now normal farmers, blacksmiths, housewives, etc. were learning how to read and write. They were becoming educated. With that the demand for learning increased. Now people were interested in what Plato, Aristotle, St. Augustine, etc. had to say. And it was being brought to them in their own language! That would have never happened if Luther hadn't begun writing in German rather than Latin in his addresses to the Church and the people.

Humanist thinking also helped pull Europe out of the dark ages (hand in hand with Protestantism), and who were the major humanist thinkers? Catholics and Protestants, religious people!

The Renaissance also brought an end to the dark ages with an increase in scientific thought and study, new writings and philosophical ideas, and high art that was accessible to the masses. And who did most of this art, or at least commissioned it? Religious thinkers and religious groups.

Now I don't want to be completely deconstructive. If you wanted to get a bumpersticker like this I don't want to take all the wind out of your sails. So here is the constructive part of this essay. Change the bumpersticker to say this:

"Religion caused the Dark Ages, but it also ended it. So I guess we're pretty much even."

*I hope you can pick up on sarcasm in written form, if you can't let me help you, this was sarcasm.

Christian Cliches That Need to End VI: Romanticizing Persecution

Date: Spring of 2008
Location: random classroom at Moody Bible Institute (the college that gave me a B.A.). Its a Systematic Theology class if that helps (systematic theology is where you study all aspects of theology and attempt to make them cohesive so that they compliment rather than contradict each other, if that helps).
Situation:

1. Presidential elections are gearing up into full swing.
2. Fox News' fear mongering is in full swing.
3. college students at my school attempt to appear informed about said election (often through Fox News information) and discuss it before class begins.
4. I'm bored
5. and tired from staying up late the night before playing milk chugging games (obstacles courses were involved)
6. and drawing pictures of classmates to amuse myself.
7. my professor is asked what he thinks of the election and how it may impact the separation of church and state and the effect that will have on the evangelical community.
8. He gives a thoughtful, if not evasive answer that shows that our ability to understand and explain the complexities of the Trinity might be as (if not more) important than hypothetical assessments of the result of an election of the president that is still over eight months off (I don't think Obama had even won over Clinton at this time, but memory isn't so great with these kinds of things).
9. Speculation about how a democrat in the White House could result in the downfall of all freedom for Christians in the United States continues, apparently my professor was too subtle.

Suddenly I'm awoken from my artistically (and milk chugging) induced stupor to hear this from a very pretty blond (who looks more like a Precious Moments doll than anything else) girl say this (and I quote exactly):

"Maybe Christians will start being persecuted now!" With a smile on her face. Yes! you read that right:

WITH A SMILE ON HER FACE!

WITH!

A!

SMILE!

ON!

HER!

FACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now I understand what her thought process was. I get it. Tertullian (the third century theologian who came up with the term Trinity who you shouldn't feel bad you've never heard of, after all he doesn't wear horn-rimmed glasses or have bleached hair or write in easily digestible pros that are designed to look more profound than they really are... he doesn't even write in English, who needs that headache?!) said that "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church." If anyone knows about this kind of thing it would be a Christian who was living and writing in the time of some of the worst persecution in the history of the Church. What he is saying is that it is a historically provable fact that when the Church undergoes persecution its numbers grow.

This idea is what prompted the Precious Moment to get excited about the idea of persecution. In her mind its a positive because of the result. Christians often do this. They hope for persecution with (what I sincerely believe and hope is) good intentions. But they are missing the point of Tertullians famous quote.

Tertullian is NOT saying that martyrdom or persecution is glamorous. It isn't something to hope for or be excited about. He is giving an encouragement to those already in persecution, not an endorsement of it.

The intent of persecution is the destruction of the belief system of which you're persecuting against, or at least to render them ineffective in their ability to recruit or have any impact on society.

The way this has been done in the past is through fear, torture, and death. The result of which was in fact the opposite of what was intended (as Tertullian pointed out), instead of people being scared of becoming Christians they converted to Christianity despite the dangers. This was NOT because those who converted thought that persecution or immediate danger to their persons, families, livelihoods, etc. was cool. They converted because in the face of persecution the Church became aware of their need for the Holy Spirit to protect, guide, and comfort them, and for their need for the support of the Church, like they never knew in the times when their lives were not in danger. This is what attracts people to the Christ: the Church's dependence on God, and their unwavering love and devotion to Him in the face of certain death. When the Church is persecuted it becomes aware of its need for Christ and acts in right relationship with Him. People who are concerned that they might die that day are no longer concerned with how much money they have, or how big their house is, or what car they drive (or I guess what chariot in the case of Tertullian's time), or whats happening in pop culture, or how attractive they are, or how attractive their spouse is, or if they are up to date on the latest technology or fashion. They are more concerned with surviving and (more than that) sharing the hope that is inside of them, and remaining faithful to the One who saved them. In essence they stop looking like the world and start looking like Christians. That is what attracts people to Christ and the Church: people being transformed by and dependent on the Holy Spirit! And that is what persecution has provided.

News flash: We don't need persecution to make that happen! We can be dependent on the Holy Spirit for everything if we are just willing to block out the distractions of the world now! If we could only be more concerned about the Gospel of Christ and the hope that brings to us than who Jennifer Aniston is dating, or why Britney Spears shaved her head, or how cool our cars look, or how much money we have in the bank, or what college we went to (or are going to, or what that college says about us or our dreams or our futures), or what movie we went and saw last weekend, or that our steak was slightly more pink than I would prefer, or how much gas costs, or how many pairs of shoes are in our closets, or the fact that the dress your mom bought for you is so last fall, or if Red Dead Redemption is the best video game to ever exist on the face of the planet, or how many comments we get on facebook a day, or what a tweet is, or that we don't make enough money, or whats happening on The Hills, or how popular we are, or who is taking us to prom, or how bad the last episode of Lost was, or whatever else occupies our days, then we can have that same impact on the world as the persecuted Church has had for nearly two thousand years. We can start living for Christ now. If we only want to. And if the present state of things is any indication that is a big if.

Here is another thought that at least I find interesting (because I thought of it), if the goal of persecution I gave earlier is accurate (and I believe it is) then its working in the United States right now. We are under severe persecution and we don't even know it. We're being eaten up from the inside without realizing it because everything looks nice on the outside. We are under persecution right now. But the persecution isn't right in our faces declaring war against us. Rather than the world opposing Christians and punishing them and intimidating them the world is seducing Christians into being just like the world. So what that they aren't putting us in jails and torturing us, they are getting the intended result without us even realizing it. Christians are compromising their faith, not sharing the hope that is inside of them, and discouraging people who aren't Christians from joining them. Not because they fear the cost of being a Christian, but because they don't see any difference between Christians and themselves. Instead of being threatened with pain and suffering we're being lulled into laziness, complacency, and compromise. And we're smiling the whole time! Because we have our nice cars, cultural savvy, 401ks, five year plans, good looks, etc. We feel as though we don't need Christ because we have everything the world has to offer. And we're wrong!

We need Christ now as much (if not more) as we ever have to help us think rightly about the world around us. But it is certain that the intended result of violent persecution is coming to pass in the United States. We are scaring off people from coming to a relationship with Christ because they don't believe Christ is real because they don't see Him in our lives and we're not sharing the hope that is inside of us. We look just like the world that we're supposed to stand against.

If we can't stand against that form of persecution than I don't see why we should think we can stand against the other. We need to be dependant on the Holy Spirit now, we need to find joy in Christ now, and not wait for some magic catalyst to come tomorrow.