{"id":422,"date":"2009-10-08T07:47:00","date_gmt":"2009-10-08T07:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/tonyjones\/2009\/10\/ending-christian-euphemisms-un.html"},"modified":"2009-10-08T07:47:00","modified_gmt":"2009-10-08T07:47:00","slug":"ending-christian-euphemisms-un","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/tonyjones\/2009\/10\/ending-christian-euphemisms-un.html","title":{"rendered":"Ending Christian Euphemisms: Unteachable Spirit"},"content":{"rendered":"

We’re currently battling Christian euphemisms<\/a> here on the blog.<\/p>\n

Here’s a passage from my book, The New Christians<\/b><\/i><\/a>, about my experience with one Christian euphemism while in college:<\/p>\n

Back on campus, I chafed under some of the policies of Campus
\nCrusade. First, a glass ceiling inhibited women from ever achieving the coveted
\nposition of campus director. When I asked about this, I got fuzzy arguments
\nfrom scripture–it turns out that Crusade doesn’t necessarily bar women from top
\nleadership positions, but the general discomfort with women’s leadership is a
\npart of a particular angle on biblical interpretation. This was lost on me at
\nthe time, since I’d grown up at a church with ordained women ministers.<\/p>\n

Second, we were being trained in so-called cold-call evangelism.
\nWhat that meant was, once per month, we left the MnM rally and spread across
\ncampus to evangelize the unbelievers. A partner and I (because Jesus sent out
\nhis followers two by two) went to the dorm we were assigned and began knocking
\non doors. When a door was answered, we’d ask, “Are you willing to take a short
\nsurvey?” to which any undergrad who’d like to avoid homework answered, “Yes.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

Once inside, the next question we were trained to ask was, “Are
\nyou interested in spiritual things?” Again, virtually any eighteen-year-old
\nwill answer this question in the affirmative (hell, if you can fog a mirror,
\nyou’ll answer yes). From there we’d launch into Crusade’s famous evangelistic
\ntract, “The Four Spiritual Laws.” There was no survey; we were not tabulating
\nany results. It was a scam, a classic bait-and-switch. We used the premise of a
\nsurvey to get inside the dorm room, steer the conversation, and get out in
\nunder ten minutes. We had to keep moving; we has a whole dorm to canvas.<\/p>\n

This method of evangelism troubled me deeply. I found it horribly
\nembarrassing to “share the gospel” with someone one night and then find myself
\nsitting next to her in the cafeteria the next day. It was one thing to
\nproselytize my anonymous seatmate on a plane (“God sat you next to that person
\nfor a purpose,” the Crusade staffers told us)–I’d never see that person again.
\nIt was quite another to witness to my college classmates. I hated it, and I
\nquickly refused to do it. Upon our release from MnM out into the front lines of
\nevangelism, I’d quietly steal back to my dorm room, turn out the lights, and
\nnot answer the door.<\/p>\n

The final nail in the coffin, it seems, came when I joined a
\nfraternity during the fall of my sophomore year. Back home, I’d been schooled
\nin what is alternatively called “lifestyle evangelism” or “friendship
\nevangelism.” The basic premise is that how one lives<\/i> makes a more compelling case for Christian faith
\nthan <\/span>what one says<\/i>. Or as Saint
\nFrancis of Assisi purportedly said, “Preach the gospel always, and if
\nnecessary, use words.” With this in mind, it seemed completely natural to join
\na fraternity–if any group of guys could use a Christian in their midst, it was
\nthe Dartmouth hockey players who made up the Heorot House.<\/span><\/p>\n

But when I pledged Heorot, that was the final straw for the
\nCrusade folks. I guess it meant that I had slipped into the dark world of beer
\ndrinking and other nefarious behaviors. In January of my sophomore year, my
\n“discipler” sat me down at a table in Collis Student Center at Dartmouth
\nCollege and proceeded to tell me (I remember it verbatim), “The staff and
\nstudent leaders of Dartmouth Crusade met over the break, and we’ve decided that
\nyou have an unteachable spirit<\/b>.* There’s no room for you in the
\nleadership of Campus Crusade.”<\/p>\n

I sat there, stunned.<\/p>\n

“You can still come to Bible study, though,” he smiled.<\/p>\n

Back in my dorm, I called Jeff Lindsay, my youth pastor back
\nhome, and asked him, “Can someone get kicked out of a Christian group?”<\/p>\n

“I guess so,” he said with sadness in his voice.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Little did I know at the time, but “unteachable spirit” is a popular euphemism used by Christian leaders (particularly conservative ones) when they mete out church “discipline” on those with whom they disagree.
<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’re currently battling Christian euphemisms here on the blog. Here’s a passage from my book, The New Christians, about my experience with one Christian euphemism while in college: Back on campus, I chafed under some of the policies of Campus Crusade. 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