Tuesday, November 28, 2006

The American Jesus
World Magazine Blog

Here's a fascinating -- and convicting -- essay on the response to American Christianity of atheistic Chinese students studying in the U.S.. It's posted by Michael Spencer, a blogger who goes by the handle "Internet Monk" and says he is "deconstructing and moving past my evangelicalism; rediscovering what it means to be vitally connected to Jesus." Here's a small portion of Spencer's long-but-worth-reading post:

I doubt [these Chinese students] will become Christians because they are seeing American Christianity, and it’s far more American than Christian. They’ve helped me to see my own cultural religion, and it’s been a disturbing revelation.

When they attend chapel, they frequently hear moralistic preaching. Their own Confucian and Maoist culture gives them morals and moralism, and produces a far more moral person than their typical American peer. They hear sermons on being a good person, staying off drugs, not having sex and staying in school. They were doing all this when they came here and will do it when they leave.

They see American Christians without a Bible most of the time. We have few spiritual disciplines and are hungry and thirsty for the things our culture values more than the gifts and callings of Christ. They hear us talk about Jesus, but the Jesus we talk about is not compelling enough to cause us to live truly sacrificial or revolutionary lives...in American Christians they simply see another American, with a slightly different set of consumer interests. Same American. Different t-shirt slogan
.
link

Full essay: Internet Monk: Do Chinese Students Need An American Jesus?

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home