"Velvet Elvis"-DAY EIGHT

Today, we finish Chapter 3.

While reading the section of Chapter 3 titled "Labels", I could identify with the things Bell was saying, because I've experienced what happens when people turn the word "christian" from a noun to an adjective. Bell's definition of "christian" as a noun says "A person who follows Jesus. A person living in tune with ultimate reality, God. A way of life centered around a person who lives."

It's very dangerous to turn the word "christian" into an adjective because of all the limitations that come with it. Let me give you a few examples I thought of while reading.

-When I attended Indiana Wesleyan University, I worked at the college radio station. I think it would be safe to say most of the student body like the more popular CCM music (Steven Curtis Chapman, Newsboys, etc). However, there were people out there who liked the "louder" stuff (MXPX, Stavesacre, etc). So, when I was the program director and general manager of the station, I did my best to include all styles of music. Unfortunately, we would get calls from people who didn't like the louder stuff and questioned how "christian" it was based ONLY on the style of the music!!!

-When I was in my first band, I was trying to get a show at my church. I had to get it approved, of course, so I went to the church business meeting and stated my case. We had already played there once before, so I thought it would just be a formality...how wrong I was!! One woman kept interrogating me on how "christian" and "spiritual" we were. I felt like I was in an episode of "Law and Order" and I was in one of those tiny interrogation rooms with one light hanging over my head. Think about that for a minute...just because my band didn't call themselves a "christian" band, some people were suspicious of us (despite the fact that I was the Preacher's kid and the youth leader at the time).

Read what Bell says:

"This happens in all sorts of areas. It is possible for music to be labeled Christian and be terrible music. It could lack creativity and inspiration. The lyrics could be recycled cliches. That 'Christian' band could actually be giving Jesus a bad name because they aren't a great band. It is possible for a movie to be a 'Christian' movie and to be a terrible movie. It may actually desecrate the art form in its quality and storytelling and craft. Just because it is a Christian book by a Christian author and it was purchased in a Christian bookstore doesn't mean it is all true or good or beautiful. A Christian political group puts me in an awkward position: What if I disagree with them? Am I less of a Christian? What if I am convinced the 'christian' thing to do is to vote the exact opposite? Christian is a great noun and a poor adjective."

Bell says (and I believe it) that even if something is labeled "christian", we can't just blindly accept it. We have to do what Peter says in I Peter 5:8 (be alert) and what Paul says in I Thessalonians 5:21 (test everything and hold on to the good). Bell even asks people to do that to his book!!

"Do that to this book. Don't swallow it uncritically. Think about it. Wrestle with it. Just because I'm a Christian and I'm trying to articulate a Christian worldview doesn't mean I've got it nailed. I'm contributing to the discussion. God has spoken, and the rest is commentary, right?"

Just like there are things out there labeled "christian" that aren't true, there are things out there that are true but not "christian". Bell explains how this works by talking about how Paul would quote Cretan prophets and Greek poets. He would read them, study them, analyze them, separate the light from the dark, and use what was true to point people to Jesus.

Bell says, "It is as if Paul is a spiritual tour guide and is taking his readers through their world, pointing out the true and the good wherever he sees it."

As christians, we need to be spiritual tour guides...looking for ways to point out the existence of God in places where people say they can't find it.

Bell: "Have you ever heard missionaries say they were going to 'take Jesus' to a certain place? What they meant, I assume, was that they had Jesus and they were going to take him to a place like China or India or Chicago where people apparently didn't have him. I would ask them if people in China and India and Chicago are eating and laughing and enjoying things and generally being held together? Because if they are, then Jesus, in a way that is difficult to fully articulate, is already present there. So the issue isn't so much taking Jesus to people who don't have him, but going to a place and pointing out to the people there the creative, live-giving God who is already present in their midst."

It reminds me of something my dad says a lot in his prayers...we don't need to ask God to be with us...because He's ALREADY with us!!!