{"id":3363,"date":"2010-08-05T09:17:57","date_gmt":"2010-08-05T15:17:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jesusneedsnewpr.net\/?p=3363"},"modified":"2011-05-03T16:23:36","modified_gmt":"2011-05-03T16:23:36","slug":"how-not-to-win-the-best-christian-attitude-award-by-rachelheldevans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr\/2010\/08\/how-not-to-win-the-best-christian-attitude-award-by-rachelheldevans.html","title":{"rendered":"How NOT to Win the Best Christian Attitude Award by @RachelHeldEvans"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
This post is written by my friend Rachel Held Evans<\/a>. (She’s amazing–great writer, thinker, and storyteller!) Rachel’s first book–Evolving in Monkey Town: How A Girl Who Knew All the Answers Learned to Ask Questions<\/a><\/em>–released last month, and it is wonderful. Rachel’s writing tone in Monkey Town<\/em><\/a> is delightful and unique, and her subject matter, controversial yet heartfelt. I highly recommend this book. Please go out and buy Monkey Town<\/em>, or get it at Amazon.com!<\/a> Oh, and I highly recommend you follow Rachel on Twitter<\/a><\/div>\n
Now for Rachel’s post…<\/div>\n
****<\/div>\n

When I was nine years old, I raised my hand in Sunday school and asked my teacher why God would drown all those innocent animals in Noah\u2019s flood when it wasn\u2019t their fault that people were sinful. \u00a0The look on Miss Linda\u2019s face told me that this was not a question that little girls were supposed to ask in Sunday school\u2026.especially if they expected to win the Best Christian Attitude Award again.<\/p>\n

The Best Christian Attitude Award was the raison d’\u00eatre of my preadolescence existence. Presented annually to a boy and girl from each class at my private Christian elementary school, it was the highest accolade that a kid with severe eczema and off-brand shoes could expect to receive. So I did my best to bring it home each year, even if it meant kissing up to teachers, sharing my lunch with classmates, and tattling on the competition. I was pretty ruthless in my pursuit of Christlikeness.<\/p>\n

I won the Best Christian Attitude four years in a row and probably would have won it again if I hadn\u2019t transferred to a public school in eighth grade, where its existence would violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment. But even there I found ways to win it in theory. I witnessed to my classmates, organized See You at the Pole, and served as a student leader in youth group. \u00a0After high school, I attended a Christian college, where I studied Christian apologetics, listened to Christian music, and won awards for Christian influence.<\/p>\n

I was great at being a Christian, and everyone knew it.<\/p>\n

\u2026That is until I started asking questions again.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

They were questions that had been floating around my mind for years, but didn\u2019t take shape until my early twenties. They were questions like: What happens to people who have never been exposed to the gospel when they die? Does God punish them for being born at the wrong place and the wrong time? Did he predestine it? Why is there so much scientific evidence in support of an old earth and evolutionary theory? What does it mean for the Bible to be inerrant? How are we supposed to respond to passages of Scripture that seem to condone genocide and the oppression of women? Why do people refer to new cars and scholarships and kitchen appliances as \u201cGod things\u201d when 30,000 children die every day from preventable disease? If God intervenes in order to get someone the three-bedroom-two-bathroom house of their dreams, then why doesn\u2019t he intervene and fix that?<\/p>\n

When I started asking these questions out loud, Christians didn\u2019t like it.<\/p>\n

They told me to have more faith. They told me to rely on God\u2019s mysterious ways. They told me to stop sticking my nose where it doesn\u2019t belong. Questions like these, they said, are questions that atheists and agnostics ask, not questions that good Christians ask. Questions like these would send me sliding down the \u201cslippery slope\u201d to unbelief.<\/p>\n

It seems you don\u2019t win any Best Christian Attitude Awards by voluntarily checking books about evolution out of the library or writing a guest post for Jon Acuff about secretly being liberal.<\/p>\n

(http:\/\/stuffchristianslike.net\/2010\/07\/secretly-being-liberal\/<\/a>)\u00a0You don\u2019t win any Best Christian Attitude Awards by admitting you don\u2019t understand why God allows so much injustice in the world or by confessing that sometimes this frightens you. You don\u2019t win any Best Christian Attitude Awards by being honest about your questions and doubts.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019m beginning to think that you gain something else.<\/p>\n

Knowing that I\u2019m not going to win any Best Christian Attitude Awards has freed me to be more honest with myself and with other people. As a result, my faith has grown stronger and my friendships have broadened.<\/p>\n

My faith has grown stronger because it has been tested and proven strong enough to survive. \u00a0I haven\u2019t found answers to all of my questions, but I\u2019ve encountered a God who is big enough to handle them and who does not condemn his children for asking. \u00a0My friendships have broadened because the people who used to avoid me\u2014atheists, agnostics, doubters, artists, gays and lesbians, democrats, men\u2014feel more comfortable talking with me now that we both approach the conversation assuming we have something to learn.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m just as scared and insecure as the next person, so there are days when I wish I could get the Best Christian Attitude Award back. But something tells me I couldn\u2019t win it if I tried.<\/p>\n

Once you\u2019ve told yourself the truth, it\u2019s hard to get away with a lie.<\/p>\n

What questions are you asking at the risk of losing the Best Christian Attitude Award in your life?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rachel Held Evans is the author of “Evolving in Monkey Town: How a Girl Who Knew All the Answers Learned to Ask the Questions” which released in July. She blogs at www.RachelHeldEvans.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post is written by my friend Rachel Held Evans. (She’s amazing–great writer, thinker, and storyteller!) Rachel’s first book–Evolving in Monkey Town: How A Girl Who Knew All the Answers Learned to Ask Questions–released last month, and it is wonderful. Rachel’s writing tone in Monkey Town is delightful and unique, and her subject matter, controversial…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":412,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100,12,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-author","category-books","category-church"],"yoast_head":"\nHow NOT to Win the Best Christian Attitude Award by @RachelHeldEvans - Jesus Needs New PR<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr\/2010\/08\/how-not-to-win-the-best-christian-attitude-award-by-rachelheldevans.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How NOT to Win the Best Christian Attitude Award by @RachelHeldEvans - Jesus Needs New PR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This post is written by my friend Rachel Held Evans. (She’s amazing–great writer, thinker, and storyteller!) Rachel’s first book–Evolving in Monkey Town: How A Girl Who Knew All the Answers Learned to Ask Questions–released last month, and it is wonderful. Rachel’s writing tone in Monkey Town is delightful and unique, and her subject matter, controversial…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr\/2010\/08\/how-not-to-win-the-best-christian-attitude-award-by-rachelheldevans.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Needs New PR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-08-05T15:17:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-05-03T16:23:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.jesusneedsnewpr.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/3654728020_31cc4f5fb4_z.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Matthew Paul Turner\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How NOT to Win the Best Christian Attitude Award by @RachelHeldEvans - Jesus Needs New PR","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr\/2010\/08\/how-not-to-win-the-best-christian-attitude-award-by-rachelheldevans.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How NOT to Win the Best Christian Attitude Award by @RachelHeldEvans - Jesus Needs New PR","og_description":"This post is written by my friend Rachel Held Evans. (She’s amazing–great writer, thinker, and storyteller!) Rachel’s first book–Evolving in Monkey Town: How A Girl Who Knew All the Answers Learned to Ask Questions–released last month, and it is wonderful. Rachel’s writing tone in Monkey Town is delightful and unique, and her subject matter, controversial…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr\/2010\/08\/how-not-to-win-the-best-christian-attitude-award-by-rachelheldevans.html","og_site_name":"Jesus Needs New PR","article_published_time":"2010-08-05T15:17:57+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-05-03T16:23:36+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.jesusneedsnewpr.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/3654728020_31cc4f5fb4_z.jpg"}],"author":"Matthew Paul Turner","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr\/2010\/08\/how-not-to-win-the-best-christian-attitude-award-by-rachelheldevans.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr\/2010\/08\/how-not-to-win-the-best-christian-attitude-award-by-rachelheldevans.html","name":"How NOT to Win the Best Christian Attitude Award by @RachelHeldEvans - Jesus Needs New PR","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr\/2010\/08\/how-not-to-win-the-best-christian-attitude-award-by-rachelheldevans.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr\/2010\/08\/how-not-to-win-the-best-christian-attitude-award-by-rachelheldevans.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.jesusneedsnewpr.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/3654728020_31cc4f5fb4_z.jpg","datePublished":"2010-08-05T15:17:57+00:00","dateModified":"2011-05-03T16:23:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr\/#\/schema\/person\/76db64a6819f8f63a896a0e0a5a6aaf6"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr\/2010\/08\/how-not-to-win-the-best-christian-attitude-award-by-rachelheldevans.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr\/2010\/08\/how-not-to-win-the-best-christian-attitude-award-by-rachelheldevans.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr\/2010\/08\/how-not-to-win-the-best-christian-attitude-award-by-rachelheldevans.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.jesusneedsnewpr.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/3654728020_31cc4f5fb4_z.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.jesusneedsnewpr.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/3654728020_31cc4f5fb4_z.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr\/2010\/08\/how-not-to-win-the-best-christian-attitude-award-by-rachelheldevans.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How NOT to Win the Best Christian Attitude Award by @RachelHeldEvans"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr\/","name":"Jesus Needs New PR","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Matthew Paul Turner","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr\/#\/schema\/person\/76db64a6819f8f63a896a0e0a5a6aaf6","name":"Matthew Paul Turner","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/8e9\/8e908220acd7221e2b6f851e31b19923x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/8e9\/8e908220acd7221e2b6f851e31b19923x96.jpg","caption":"Matthew Paul Turner"},"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr\/author\/mturner"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/412"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3363"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3363\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60649,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3363\/revisions\/60649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}