Here are some thoughts that have been rolling around my head. They are just thoughts and not even to the opinion stage yet. As such, I hope nobody takes them as criticism. They're not critical, just thoughts.
So I listen to a lot of preachers on the radio. I read a few Christian blogs. I read Christian articles from several sources on a somewhat regular basis. I try to read the Christian books my pastor assigns us for staff development. One thing I've noticed over the past five to ten years, these speakers and authors increasingly use the phrase "follower of Jesus Christ" or "Christ follower" to refer to one who is a Christian. I think that makes me sad.
Don't get me wrong. I don't really have a problem with the phrase. It is similar to the early biblical description of Christians as "followers of the Way". I certainly don't have a problem with people following Christ. I guess its the larger circumstances that bother me.
It seems that over the years the term Christian has taken on negative connotations in America. Although, I'm not really sure why that should bother us, it had negative connotations to many segments of the population in the first century as well. I guess another problem with the term is that many use it simply to indicate that they are neither Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, nor Atheist but not necessarily to mean that they are born again.
That being the case, apparently a bunch of Christian authors and speakers got together somewhere in the middle of the night and decided that they needed a new term to differentiate between "good Christians" and "bad Christians" and between "nominal Christians" and "real Christians". And they decided that "Christ follower" or "follower of Christ" phraseology is the ticket.
Somehow, in my little brain, it doesn't seem to help the situation. According to the Bible, born again people were first called Christians at the church in Antioch (Acts 11:26). We know from history that they got this name because they acted like Jesus. Maybe instead of changing the way we refer to ourselves we should change the way we act? On the other hand, Jesus said that if we acted like him we would have to expect persecution. So maybe its a good thing that "Christian" is sometimes a "bad" word?
I don't really know. It just seems kind of silly to me to stop referring to ourselves as Christians if that is what we are. I mean are we really solving any problems by adopting the trendier terminology? I have to admit that whenever I hear or read the terms "Christ follower" or "follower of Christ" the thought that pops into my head is, "well, for about three years Judas Iscariot was apparently a, 'follower of Christ'."
2 comments:
Sloth, good thoughts. I think you have some great points...especially at the end.
I think "Christ follower" or "followers of Christ" doesn't carry as powerful a connotation as "born again" or even what "Christian" can carry.
However, there is SO much baggage that is associated with the term "Christian" that doesn't really have anything to do with the gospel. It's more of a classification of personal background...i.e. I was raised Christian (meaning raised in a "Christian" society, which usually just means one was born and raised in a western culture).
I find it a bit humorous how often we change how we say something. Sometimes I think it's incredibly effective, other times it comes across (at least to me) as a silly attempt to be "relevant" or to separate ourselves from the big bad "traditional" churches and fundamentalists. :)
I know I've done it.
As far as how we identify ourselves, one that carries a lot of meaning to me is "new creation in Christ." I don't foresee this one picking up momentum though. :)
I'm glad you posted this!
Thanks for the props. I like new creation in Christ too. But, ya, I guess it takes too long to say. Man, wouldn't it be cool, though, if we could all started identifying ourselves that way. It would make it a lot easier for us to remember who we really are.
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