Get Busy Getting Rejected

"The very stone that the builders rejected

has become the chief cornerstone." - Ps 118:22

We talk about the United States as though it really were a nation "under God", founded on godly principles, and that if we could just get back to our roots, God would bless us now as he did then. I've got news for you. First, it wasn't so "blessed" then either. We largely took what we wanted at the end of a rifle, committing all kinds of atrocities under the aegis of Manifest Destiny. Secondly, the only people who say that are Christians, and most of them don't have any unbelieving friends, don't listen to secular music and know little or nothing of philosophy, physics or secular culture in general. These are all things that are critical to those without a Christian (or even a religious) framework. If everyone you know and everything you're exposed to looks Christian, then of course the whole country will appear Christian to you.

The fact is, Christianity is viewed by the most learned, trusted parts of secular culture as an error in logic at best. It's a misconstrued conclusion that doesn't derive from the facts as they are presented. It's an unwarranted assumption; a non-sequitur. At worst, Christianity is viewed as immoral and dangerous, much more so than the worst parts of secular culture. After all, secular culture has the ideal of secular ethics to rely on, which is itself based on the Socratic Ethical Principle: good is good because it is inherently so; there is no divine basis necessary for morality because good would be good no matter what divinity had to say about it. Christianity, on the other hand, has license to do pretty much whatever it wants because it has manufactured the ultimate moral principle: God. Genocide, war, racism, sexism, bigotry and all other manner of horror and injustice have all been carried out under the Christian banner.

It's a good thing that the reputation of Christianity rests of Christ and not on Christians.

As a social movement, Christianity has a lot to overcome. We believe that Christ, who was rejected religiously and socially in his day, has become the cornerstone of true humanity. He is God's truth, his justice and his love, his rescue plan for us. He was despised and persecuted, hated and abused, but he never fought back. Instead he was God's arms outstretched for a hurting world full of broken, rejected and disenfranchised people. The Church should be the same cornerstone for culture, not just a loud mouth pushing moral reform or an exclusionary social or political agenda.

Love became a man who ran to our rescue and was largely rejected. Why should we be any different?