Conservative Christianity is the new punk. Doing drugs, being gay, listening to profanity-laced music, pretending to be another gender, hooking up with strangers and aborting children are all mainstream. Many people do these things and most people support them. It’s the new normal.
Praying out loud in Jesus’ name is more scandalous than dropping an f-bomb. Telling your friends you decided to follow Jesus is way more dangerous than coming out of the closet. You want to get suspended from school? Bring a Bible. You want to start a fight? Tell people homosexuality is a sin. You want to lose your job? Preach the Gospel to your coworkers. The world expects you to have casual sex and get high, and it’s all quite predictable and boring. Following Jesus is edgy and rebellious.
I’m not talking about modern churches, where people sit around and listen to four songs that would be perfect for a middle school dance, hear some announcements, pass around the offering and sit through a recycled message about how God wants to bless you. That’s not Christianity – that’s taking people’s money and telling them what they want to hear. No, I’m talking about people who believe everything the Bible says because it’s God’s Word.
You want to cause outrage? Tell people that Jesus said there are only two genders. You want to freak people out? Tell them Jesus is coming back whether you like it or not. You want to make them uncomfortable? Offer to pray with them.
The world is obsessed with diversity of skin color and diversity of sexual orientation, but they absolutely hate diversity of opinion. We’re called bigots, homophobes and lunatics, among other things, but to be perfectly honest, that’s part of the enjoyment of following Jesus – watching how much it offends everybody.
It’s better to be hated for being on God’s side than beloved because we did what the world told us to do. It’s better to follow Jesus than to conform to this world. The committed follower of Jesus is a holy rebel. We can’t be controlled, brainwashed, tamed, bargained with or bought.
Sure, our unwillingness to compromise creates enemies. With all due respect to the haters, we’re not a part of this world. You can have it. We’re a part of a different Kingdom, one that will soon destroy all forms of human government and remain forever. That’s right; we’re on the winning team.
So, if you haven’t already run off to your safe space or flagged this video as inappropriate content, here’s the takeaway: Conservative Christians are the new punks. We’re the new rebels. We’re the people you love to hate. And we’re not going anywhere. Oh yeah, there’s no participation trophy for watching this video.