{"id":4726,"date":"2010-11-05T11:25:41","date_gmt":"2010-11-05T17:25:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jesusneedsnewpr.net\/?p=4726"},"modified":"2011-05-03T16:59:39","modified_gmt":"2011-05-03T16:59:39","slug":"a-guest-post-unfree-in-christ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr\/2010\/11\/a-guest-post-unfree-in-christ.html","title":{"rendered":"A GUEST POST: Unfree in Christ…"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\u201cI think [Christians] are called to candor, to being honest about our own confusion.\u201d<\/p>\n

This line, delivered off the cuff by author David Dark<\/a> (The Sacredness of Questioning Everything<\/em>) in a poorly lit interview with some no-name Toronto journalist, sent me to the floor. Sometimes the line that you need just reaches out of a YouTube clip and slaps you in the face.<\/p>\n

In the first seven words, Dark illuminates the criticism I have of the church\u2014all church\u2014after 31 years (and nine months) of attendance: we are afraid of our own humanity. And in that fear, we dishonor the God that calls us\u2014created us\u2014to be truly and honestly human.<\/p>\n

In the small private school where I\u2019ve spent the last ten years of my life, I\u2019ve dealt with parental concern over many of the texts I teach: murder by flamethrower in Fahrenheit 451, Willy Loman\u2019s foul mouth in Death of a Salesman, false gods in Edith Hamilton\u2019s Mythology, Juliet\u2019s tightly clad, heaving bosoms in Franco Zeffirelli\u2019s film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, these concerns aren\u2019t related simply to the content itself\u2014the violence, or the language, or the boobs. I know this, because the students and parents constantly consume media that contain similar (if not more extreme) versions of the stated offenses. Rather, the concern comes somehow from the simple fact that the content is being delivered in class. The problem seems to be that music, movies, and television are meaningless entertainment, whereas schoolwork\u2014novels and poems and plays\u2014are meaningful.<\/p>\n

It appears that parents are fine with their children consuming media full of sex and language, because they expect that of their entertainment. But trying to teach young people about life and humanity and God through the vehicle of a novel containing sex and language somehow muddies the water–even though sex and language are normal components of life. It erases the line between the meaningless entertainment out there and the deep, serious meaning in here.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s where we like to keep our meaning in our churches (and our private schools): in here. In here, where we\u2019re pious. In here, where we tithe. In here, where we\u2019re righteously certain of our own righteousness. In here, where God is a clearly-defined being, and his actions are clearly labeled, explicable and comprehensible.<\/p>\n

But the notion that something from out there could somehow have something to say about what goes on in here\u2026that\u2019s insane. Because the corollary would then be that the stuff that happens in here is somehow supposed to connect to what\u2019s out there. It\u2019s supposed to alter our existence in a real world, concretely full of sex and language and false gods. And that is really, really going to cramp our style.<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

I have a recurring fantasy in which I sing Derek Webb<\/a>\u2019s \u201cWedding Dress\u201d onstage during my church\u2019s regularly scheduled Sunday morning service. I call it a fantasy, because, as my friend James tells me, \u201cYou can\u2019t sing \u2018whore\u2019 and \u2018bastard\u2019 in church.\u201d I am frustrated by this. James is frustrated by this. Both of us are increasingly disgusted by the line we draw between our lives and our petty services. But, sadly, we both also know you can\u2019t sing \u2018whore\u2019 and \u2018bastard\u2019 in church, even if the song makes a necessary and damning critique of the way we approach God.<\/p>\n

All of this culminates in one of the most meaningful passages in the Bible for me. It\u2019s the short, simple line, where Paul tells us \u201cIt is for freedom that Christ died to set us free.\u201d<\/p>\n

So here\u2019s to freedom. Here\u2019s to David Dark, reminding us that God calls us to be honest. To be candid. To be confused. Here\u2019s to Derek Webb, who reminds us that, at some point, we\u2019re all the whores that left God and the bastard children he inexplicably cares for. Here\u2019s to every author who writes about humanity in all its glorious, shameful, stupidity. Here\u2019s to Christ, who calls us to freedom.<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s to any church that finds a way to knock down our self-imposed fences and embrace that kind of freedom. My prayer is that my church can become that kind of church one day soon.<\/p>\n

Your thoughts?<\/em><\/p>\n

Jay Adams is the dean of Cornerstone Christian School. You can read his blog here<\/a>. Or follow him on Twitter here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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