No doubt this title inspires some sort of emotional response. Love it or hate it, it affects you. You love it because you yourself have been jaded by the corruption within Christian communities. You hate because you feel it is cynical at its best and judgmental at its worst. You love it because it draws you to a pure Christianity that is not hindered by the chains of self-interested humans. You hate it because I use the word bullshit. Is a pastor even allowed to say bullshit?
I purchased a domain with this phrase inspired by a conversation I had at dinner with some cool people. I don’t have a plan for it. I’m not sure what kind of website I should put at such a domain. I think it should be intentional since I believe a lot of people would be drawn to such a website. This brings up the subject of this post.
Yesterday I sent out an update asking for suggestions. While I got a couple good ones I also got a couple jabs at the likes of Benny Hinn and Pat Robertson and a few jabs at those who made or agreed with such sentiments. While these comments all took place on my Facebook status and some have deleted their comments, I wanted to address both of these groups here. I would like to address some, most definitely not all, of the “bullshit” that I see in Christianity and compel us to not get sucked in.
To those who took pokes at specific people who you feel have added “bull” to Christianity.
I completely understand where you are coming from. I have been put off by them and many others. I abhor those who claim Christ but then make a mockery of His gospel. I have been known to refer to TBN as my own special Comedy Central. But I would like to share a quote that I shared earlier by Ed Curry.
“Cynicism is a good thing as long as it’s your vehicle and not your home.”
Healthy cynicism will not allow you to swallow all the garbage that is offered to you by so many who claim to be from Christ. Scripture supports this healthy cynicism. Remember not to remain focused there. Our faith shines as we stay fixed on the Father and not those who defile His Word.
To those who cry foul when someone points out one of these obvious people of concern.
I am so dangerously close to being part of the problem when I live in this constant state of cynicism and I recognize this. I don’t want that any more than you do. But lets not kid ourselves into thinking that Jesus, the Apostles, and the entire Word of God doesn’t call these types of people out for who they are.
We can swing to far on this. We can try so hard to be non-judgmental that any statement of truth can be seen as condemnation. Calling a wolf a wolf is not condemnation, it’s species identification. This does not mean there is no forgiveness, grace or mercy. It simply means that believers are well within their right to sound the alarm when error is found.
We also need to be careful not to take ourselves to seriously. This is part of the problem in Christianity. When we take ourselves and “ministers” to seriously and Christ not seriously enough.
I would like to add that this website, whatever I do with it, will not be used to point the finger at specific people who might blemish the name of Christ. If anything it will be a site that proclaims who He is and that He wants us.
So, what is the real “bull” that has been added to Christianity? What say you?
Leave a comment with one thing per comment. I’ll start…
When giving becomes a way to manipulate God into making us rich instead of caring for those who are in need at Christ’s command.
Hi! My name, as the blog suggests, is James Laws. I'm a Web Designer, Pastor, Husband & Social Media Advocate among many other things. If you would like to learn more about me or would like to send me a message please visit
I struggled with this very thing for some time. I’ve been through a long journey to come to the views that I have now, though I doubt they are complete.
I write for, and am the Editor of, The Insurrectionist. http://theinsurrectionist.wordpress.com/2009/02/16/the-net-church-ispretty-oki-guess/
I guess you could say i’ve made being cynical pretty darned lucrative at times during my life….now, I’m not so sure.
Anyway, thanks for the post. I’m adding your site to the (short) list of Christians that I read.
So what happens when different people disagree about what is bullshit and what isn’t? I can think of things that I believe are bullshit, but other people would wholeheartedly disagree with me.
Rob, thanks for the add. I won’t let this honor go to my head.
Jenny, great question. One that I wanted to address in this post but I’m to impatient of a writer so it didn’t make the cut. I think this does come down to not taking ourselves to seriously. My advice to people who may disagree on what is bullshit and what isn’t would be, Don’t take it personally. So what if you like Benny Hinn and someone else thinks he’s a wacko. Unless your Benny Hinn of course. This happens when we find our identity in a certain person or dogma instead of Christ. We get offended because if someone doesn’t like them we assume that means they don’t like us. We don’t know where their beliefs end and our own truly begins.
There is no perfect answer where imperfect people are involved. Sometimes we’re just going to fight. ;-)
Well, then I’ll go ahead and throw my bullshit contribution in. ;-)
When people build their beliefs on the English translation of scripture and man-made traditions. If a person is going to claim that something is scriptural, they need to look into it and make sure the verses they’re referring to actually mean what they’re saying they mean. It’s helpful to look into the original language and the genre of the book.
A couple of things that I think I’d like to add to the discussion if I may. (And, you left the comments open, so I assume so :)
1.) Today the Church is a lot more forgiving of “heretics” than in the past. While a good old-fashioned “Heretic Stake Burning and BBQ” isn’t as appropriate to modern sensibilities, I don’t think we should allow people to openly warp the truth (particularly for their own gain) and not call them out as charlatans. I love the way that the early church father’s talked heretics. The quote below is from Irenaeus of Lyon, a church father from about 170-190 CE.:
“There are also those who heard from him that John, the disciple of the Lord, going to bathe at Ephesus, and perceiving Cerinthus within, rushed out of the bath-house without bathing, exclaiming, “Let us fly, lest even the bath-house fall down, because Cerinthus, the enemy of the truth, is within.” And Polycarp himself replied to Marcion, who met him on one occasion, and said, “Dost thou know me?” “I do know thee, the first-born of Satan.” Such was the horror which the apostles and their disciples had against holding even verbal communication with any corrupters of the truth” – Irenaeus of Lyon c. 180 CE
Did you catch the references to “enemy of truth” and, my personal favourite, “first-born of Satan”? They didn’t pull any punches when it came to people distorting God’s Word. I like that.
2.) To play devil’s advocate (Does that make me the first-born of Satan? Or just his lawyer?), I think we should be careful that we don’t slip into being crass just because it may appeal to some people. I could probably get a lot of visits to a website called “Christian****Fest.com”, but that doesn’t mean I should. Whether we like it or not, certain types of vulgarities are associated with different types of behaviours, and we should be careful. Again, I don’t think that’s what going on here, but if we don’t watch out, it could be. Not to mention the fact that if you draw people to Christ just because they can be “cool” Christians, how’s that any different from drawing people to Christ so that they can be “rich” Christians? Just a thought.
3.) To me, the bullshit happens when the Church tries to leverage its position as gateway to Jesus. This can be leveraged by taking people’s money fraudulently, forcing them to accept teachings and doctrines without giving them access to God directly or for themselves, creating a false image of what it means to be a Christian, selling indulgences (both the reformation-era type, and the current “Rich Jesus” type) and anything else that the Church does to make sure that you rely on it for your salvation instead of Christ. Sometimes I think we forget that we are the bearers of the New Covenant and not the mediators.
Anyway, that’s my two cents :) (I’ve got more cents if you want them)