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.