This guest post is by Steve Schmidt.
I just had another one of those conversations. The conversation I seem to have a lot these days with my Christian friends, gay and straight, about what it means to be a Christian.
Am I still a “good Christian” if I don’t go to church? Am I a good Christian if I cuss, if I have sex with my girlfriend or boyfriend? And of course, that one question that seems to preoccupy the evangelical world right now: Can I be a good Christian if I’m gay?
Franklin Graham, the hostile son of that epitome of Christian kindness Billy Graham, thinks not. And he’s spouting his morality-driven view of Christianity in all the media. For him, and for many in the church world, Christianity is defined in terms of do’s and don’ts. Rules. Outward behavior.
And ya know, to some extent, I would agree with that. But only to the extent that “behavior” is defined as how we treat other people.
Christianity, at least for most Protestants, is defined by our faith in Jesus, and then how that faith translates into real life. More than simple head-knowledge or just believing that something is true, it is the transformational power of a relationship with the Living God that defines us–proves us–to be true followers of Jesus. That, and that alone, is what makes us “good” Christians.
That’s what I’ve come to conclude–after living my entire life in the church, growing up in a conservative evangelical home, going to an… [Read more…] about Stupid Religion