Once we faced Lions . . .
Now we’re afraid our neighbors might think we’re weird. A Christian ministry founder says he believes American Christians are not ready for persecution. I wonder what was his first clue? [HT: Dispatches]
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In the introduction to his book What’s God Really Like? S. J. Hill tells the story of a student who announced at the end of a term in a class he taught, that she had discovered that God was cool. I don’t know how you react to that, but the moment I read that line…
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I have mixed feeling about this. I’d like to think that I’m ready to suffer persecution for my faith but who really knows what I’d do in the face of the threat of torture or painful death?
The ‘but….’ to my comment is this: I feel that many Christians cry ‘persecution’ where there is nothing other than a removal of previous privileges or unexamined presuppositions of ‘Christians Good / everyone else evil’
For instance, in the UK, there was an email circulating amongst Christians (I received a few from fellow ministers and was asked to pass it on) saying that our post office was suppressing knowledge of ‘religious’ Christmas stamps so that they could claim in a few years’ time that no one wanted them. An enquiry by another minister friend of mine to the post office received a denial along with a pointer to the post office’s website where they were clearly being marketed along with the ‘secular’ Christmas stamps.
For me, these sorts of ‘false claims of persecution’ are both an offence against truth – which Christians should defend – and they are risk fomenting a sort of ‘habit of persecution’ where none exists.
Not having ‘the upper hand’ is not the same as ‘being persecuted’ as any genuinely persecuted individual will tell you.
I’m in agreement with this and with your whole comment. That was really my point. Christians here in America (I won’t speak for your side of the pond, though it sounds like you’re saying things are similar) are complaining about minor annoyances and about people not liking them. If they complain about that, and call it persecution, what will happen if it gets real?
I grew up overseas with my missionary parents, and I recall once fleeing our home because people were on the way who were threatening to kill us. I still don’t think that was anything like was is going on in Darfur, for example, but it gives me enough perspective to cringe when someone thinks they’re persecuted because their “Merry Christmas” wasn’t appreciated.