I’ve written before about the lies that Christians believe, but what about the lies people wrongly believe about Christians? Are all Christians judgmental jerks, out to convert you at the drop of a hat? Maybe, but not most of the ones I know.
Yet we all know there is a long history of people misunderstanding, and flat out not knowing what Christians are really like. I don’t want to pick a fight, but I do want to set the record straight.
Here are the top 5 lies about Christians, starting with our so-called “lack of intelligence…”
1.We are dumb. This one really irks me, I’ll admit. Many people, in my experience, (especially atheists) seem to think that in order to believe in God, somewhere along the line, you had to trade in your brain for a bowl of mush. There is a perpetual misunderstanding, in which people equate faith with a lack of intelligence, logic, or both.
The truth is, almost every Christian I know has not only had to spiritually, and emotionally choose God, but also intellectually reconcile their faith, as well. Christianity does not create brainwashed individuals, but rather individuals who have personally grappled with questions of eternity, moral sin, creation, and the like.
2.We are out to convert them. This one is a long-standing lie. Many people believe that if a Christian is talking to them, being kind to them, offering to hang out with them, they must be trying to convert them. Christians always have ulterior motives and are constantly on the lookout for ways to “win you to Jesus.”
The truth is, at least for myself, I”m ashamed to admit that when I should be looking for spiritual conversations to open up, I’m usually being too self-focused to notice. I often miss the opportunities God places in front of me to share about how awesome He is, because, well, I’m too busy talking about how awesome I am (or chocolate is, or my husband and kids are). “Conversion” is a word not frequently used in Christianity, so much as us genuinely wanting to show love to others.
3. We are always judging others and their actions. This one hits close to home. I have people in my life who I am close with, who assume that I am keeping some kind of list of their sins, and then tallying them up for further evaluation.
Oh, she had a beer. One tally mark. Uh-huh, he just cussed. Three tally-marks. I have actually had people tell me that when I say that I will pray for them, they take that to mean “You are a sinner. I will pray for your eternal soul to be rescued from damnation.” Huh?
The truth is, I’ll pray for you because I care about you, and because, although you don’t know it yet, God cares about you too. Christians, at least most of them, aren’t judging you. If they understand the Bible, and live by it, they know that they are in no place to judge non-Christians. They are specifically told in scripture to not judge others outside of the church. If they are, well then, they are legalistic and plain wrong.
4. We are goodie-goodies. I find this lie rather amusing, only because most of the Christians I know are anything but goodie-goodies. They cuss, drink, smoke–sometimes. Sometimes they actually lie, hurt people’s feelings, or act out of anger. Yes, they sin.
The truth is, however, and the difference is (and should be) that for those who call Christ King, those behaviors are generally the result of them stumbling into sin, not them freely swimming in it. And heck, many Christians have a past, which leads me to…
5. We don’t know what it’s like to not be a Christian. Speaking from personal experience, I can attest to the fact, that I know exactly what’s it’s like to not be a Christian. The assumption here lies in the disbelief that every Christian was raised in a Christian home and converted at age 3, never looking back or questioning their faith.
The truth is, we all have wildly different, and varying stories of how, and when we met Jesus. Some of us suffered in unhealthy, dysfunctional, even dangerous homes. Some of us were raised as nominal Christians, and didn’t make our faith real until later on in life. Some of us chose to follow Jesus, as adults, after years of searching and struggling. No two testimonies are the same, and many believers have known life before God, not just life with Him.
Your turn. What are some of the lies you have heard about Christians? Have you ever believed any of these lies yourself? What is the biggest misconception about Christians?
Number 5 is the one that gets/confuses/frustrates me the most. In my particular situation, we are a smallish student town with its ‘cult’ churches. Those churches everyone warns you to stay away from once you set your foot on campus. In time of course many students give their lives to Christ and join up with the churches. Next thing, those believing different would discuss things as if you were never an outsider to that church. And that ties in with the Christians being dumb thing. The ‘how can you be so dumb to believe in God?’ type comments while they know full well you are enrolled in the same university and course as them, has the same or possibly superior reasoning abilities as them and all this lead you to recognising Christ as truth and joining a church. But I undersatnd full well why they believe and partake in those lies so they will continue to walk in them to the point where they are confronted to give account of believing it – then there is of course no definite reason for the here and now. Referrals are made back to Christian groups who operated long ago in some other place or an experince they once had with the church. There hurt (many times) are of course well soothed by the books they read and the people who teach them to reason in such a way. But that’s life and truth can never be excepted when pride is in the way (true for people of all faiths)
I’m not sure it’s fair to call these “lies”… I know Christians that fit each of these categories to a T. I’m glad that YOU aren’t like this, but the sad truth is, a lot of people who claim our same faith are…
JR, I know Christians that fit into these categories, as well. And while I am not opposed to stereotypes because I do believe generalities exist, I cannot claim these lies to be true for the majority of Christians. In my own personal experience, and that is what I am writing from, I know more Christians who do not fall into these categories than those who might.
From the different churches I have attended (house church, charismatic church, conservative church, Bible church), to the different denominations, socioeconomic backgrounds, cultural differences, and places of origin including the U.S. and abroad, most Christians I have met cannot be shoved into these 5 lies.
Therefore, I have no hesitation in calling them “lies.” What’s more, while I acknowledge that there certainly are Christians out there who fall into one or more of these categories, many people (again in my experience) who believe these lies to be true of Christians have never actually met a Christian. Or they have met the minority of Christians who unfortunately are jerks and assume that all believers must be the same.
Sadly, Christians aren’t often given a second chance to make a first impression. I think lies about believers are perpetuated easier and faster because we are held to a higher standard, as well we should be. So when we mess up, it is harder to shake that persona, but again I just can’t say in good conscience that most believers I have known are judgmental, dumb, close-minded, goodie-two-shoes out to convert the world…thankfully.
That we’re all part of a vast right wing conspiracy. My music leader and I could not be more opposite in our politics, yet we arrive at our conclusions starting with our faith.
Matt, ooh that’s a good one. I laugh at the Christian right wing coalition conspiracy theories. I mean, I laugh because these fools don’t realize that the right wing really is going to take over the world {insert maniacal evil laugh here}…
Lie # 6 Christians are more concerned with conservative politics and the culture wars then they are with people. At least I hope this one is a lie.
Tom, it’s funny that you used the phrase “culture wars” because you are so right–people believe we are fighting that war, whatever it is.
As for conservative politics, sadly I do think this is true for far too many Christians. They are busier pushing a Republican agenda than spreading the Gospel. Americans think of Christians as Republicans or conservatives first and followers of Christ somewhere else down the line. This is a post I’ve been thinking of writing for some time in fact.
Matt beat me by seconds, good get.
Or I should scroll to the bottom before posting
You know, I know that these things are true of some Christians and not true of other Christians. Yet, it is this exact list of issues that causes even me to shy away from Christians. For instance, I’ve been perusing an on-line dating site recently, and I find myself tending to avoid women who have things like “godly woman looking for godly man” in their profile. I just instantly get a red flag that this is a judgmental woman, who has a “standard” that I won’t possibly ever be able to live up to. So, in instances when I do have some sort of contact with women like that, I probably come off as a bit surly, and as if I’m trying to push their buttons right away in order to prove that they are what I suspect them to be. That’s really messed up, isn’t it? Sigh.
Lie: That Christians are irrelevant and must live super boring lives because we follow ‘Gods rules’. I remember telling a friend once that yea I might not get trashed and sleep around but you should spend some time with my buddies and I. I bet we laugh and have fun more than you could ever imagine.
And yes some of us do come off as irrelevant sometimes but the gospel… oh man, there’s absolutely nothing irrelevant about it. And if you’d just read the bible, you’d be surprised at how relevant it is, even the Old Testament.
Sex? Alcohol? Epic battles? Stupid decisions? Underdog stories? Betrayal? Depression? Suicide? Anger? Romance? Love?
Yea, the bible’s got them all a plenty. Real life stuff.
Great post Nicole. Really good read. Thanks!
This is the one I have the most issues with! I’ve seen people say things to Christians (indirectly) telling them to “stop living in the 10th century” and that we’re stupid enough to try to apply the Bible to today’s society. I used to think these things too (before I was a Christian) until I actually read the thing.
Loved the post Nicole!
Of course all stereotypes are based on a hint of truth, sad to say. I’ve definitely met a few science-hating, Reagan-worshiping*, self-righteous Fundamentalists in my life time.
(*Not to say that there’s anything wrong with admiring Reagan; it’s just the worshiping part that disturbs me.)
One stereotype I get a lot is that all Christians hate gays, which is simply not true. There are a lot of open and affirming Christians out there (including me).
I think that non-Christians are confused about the difference between religious-Christians and genuine-Christians. Before I became a Christian, I viewed all Christians in the religious-Christian category. I was incredibly skeptical. There are people that have no idea who God really is and call themselves Christians…the ones that diligently go to church and “look” good on the outside and paint themselves with phoniness, yet live in non-repentative sin and judge and backstab everybody. Then, there are the ones I would call genuine. They know they are no better than the sinner on the street. They know we are all liers and thieves destroying the peace and their desire is that other people who don’t know who Christ is will find Him too.
Nicole you kill by how good you write. You just took around the last 2-3 weeks of my post topics, cut out the garbage and made the 3 sentences I had left sound coherent. I wish I could get to the point like that but if I did I would have to have many more post ideas to fill the gap.
1. Faith is cerebral. You must be able to mentally process a life with Christ.
2. Truth is you won’t here Christians say this for the reasons you listed. We don’t think about others enough.
3. Last week I wrote about blacklisting people, as type of judging.
4. Today’s post dovetails with this, Authentic is the New Plastic.
5. I just discussed how my Christian upbringing hampered my vision of Christ, Church and the Bible. I like the fact I didn’t have “as much” family dysfunction and that we had a God to lean on.
As for the question, Christians are bigots. Christians are arrogant.
The one that really drives me nuts is that Christians believe only followers of their own particular faction of Christianity are saved. Not true at all. Even Revelations talks about 7 churches. It’s not about your church, it’s about accepting Christ. The other one that I got one time just makes me laugh is that Christians are “crazy” because they don’t believe dinosaurs ever existed ( I promptly told him he needed to go get the book “the Genesis Theory”)
they think that we got it all figured out!!!…and that it’s always rainbows and beautiful gardens 24/7!
LIE!
This life is a struggle…it’s satisfying..but it’s a struggle. It’s hard. We have to deny ourselves take up our cross and follow Jesus…it’s tough…
Nicole, this is a great article! I love seeing Christian stereotypes busted, and you’ve approached this in a really refreshing way. Thanks!
Another one I run into, which is probably closely related to #2, #3 AND #4, is that we have no interest in being friends with the non-Christian crowd. Like those who aren’t card-carrying members of our exclusive club are sub-par, so they shouldn’t even bother sending us a friend request on facebook. Like the only reason we’d hang with THEM is to subconsciously plant evangelism bombs in the form of backmasked southern gospel music in their iPods. Sure, I’d love to see the whole world in Heaven, but if you choose not to go, I’d still love to be your pal….
I really enjoyed this post Nicole, especially since I’ve been sharing Jesus on Twitter and have been accused of being a whole bunch of these. One of the more recent ones that I got was, “Christians are believers in fairy tales?” Why? “Because the Bible is made up and has over 400 contradictions.”
Even though I was able to answer this atheist’s questions, he was still blinded. Its true that unless the Holy Spirit unblinds the spiritual eyes of a non-believr and convicts him or her, then they will never be converted.
Peter, man it can be so hard to defend the Gospel and its Truth while realizing that to many people it will sound like gibberish. Just as you pointed out, unless the Spirit opens their ears to hear and their eyes to see, it can be a waste of breath.
I see stereotypes everyday. In fact, in my Anthropology and Sociology class we covered stereotypes in the first week. As humans, we stereotype. We are equal opportunity stereotypers.
I love the article!
I believe if you look at most stereotypes you will discover that stereotypes are simply a human way of simplifying our world. Sometimes as humans, we inherit stereotypes from others, and sometimes they are based on past experiences.
It would be like me as a Christian, classifying all Muslims as terrorists that hate the U.S. This is far from true. Yet, some believe it because it makes their lives easier.
I believe that as Christians, we must be authentic to all people, loving them as Christ loves them and showing them who we really are. Sometimes that means going the extra mile to show nonChristians that we do not live up to the stereotypes. Great article!
3. Judging Others
You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. http://bible.us/Matt7.5.NIV84
I believe that we fail to see are our own sin because we tend to overlook our own shortcomings. Next time you feel the urge the judge, pray and ask God to show you something in your life. Ask God, what do I need to start/stop/ or continue?
Once you have dealt with the sin in your own life, then help your friend. It also helps when approaching that friend to explain what God has shown you in your own life before trying to change that person. Plus, if you do this, you can help your friend to discover their own “plank” through self-discovery instead of telling them where they are wrong. Self-discovery is much more powerful and less confrontational. Your friend will be more likely to want to change.
Another lie about Christians is that we’re all “fundamentalists;” with a my-way-or-the-highway attitude. The sad things is, while not all who call Christ King are Christian Fundamentalists, there are enough extreme ones out there to make most of us look bad.
I was ‘disfellowshiped’ by a group, which I later learned were fundamentalists. We worked in two separate ministries that shared the similar vision of outreach evangelism to members of the Masonic Order. They didn’t want me helping to witness to Masons unless I categorically believed like them; that Masons who claim to be Christian yet refuse to resign from the Lodge after being shown the biblical incompatibility of Freemasonry are going straight to hell.
I will always gladly walk away from Christians who claim the authority of God to pronounce so emphatically who is going to heaven and who is not. Besides, their witness was not in love; it was harsh and mean, and I trust not many men have left the Lodge under such coercion.
Unfortunately, much of American Christendom conspires to give credence to each one of these ostensibly untrue criticisms.
I mean, have you ever spent much time in a private Christian school? Or among politically active Christians advocating for conservative community values?
I have. I grew up in a fundamentalist home, spent 12 years being indoctrinated in a conservative, private Christian school. I’ve managed to emerge with a vibrant faith that rejects American conservative fundamentalism, but embraces whole-heartedly an orthodox theological formulation. I’m evangelical in belief, but find myself incredibly alienated by “Big E” Evangelicals.
Here’s my thoughts on each of these propositions.
1. We aren’t dumb.
Well, maybe. We are, at the very least, anti-intellectual. By holding fervently to a literal 6 day creation, by demonizing the entire scientific community and disbelieving a century of biological scientific knowledge and 40 years of peer-reviewed climatology, we isolate ourselves from a wide swath of knowledge about God’s world. We seem to revel in anti-intellectualism and we arm our kids with facile, strawman arguments that can only provide even the barest protection if we keep them hermetically sealed off from the “real world.” As a result, our smartest kids are either artificially stunted, having been sheltered from the best thinking of our day, or they’ve left the faith completely, unable to make the binary, black-and-white distinction between what their parents have declared “God’s truth” and “what godless, atheist scientists claim.”
2. We are out to convert them.
Well, yes we are. And I don’t think that’s a bad thing entirely. But most evangelicals feel a great deal of pressure to “share their faith” in the old, Evangelism Explosion/Four Spiritual Laws sense. To never enter openly into a real friendship with a non-believer, only a tactical one designed to get the person to the “point of decision.”
I had one of my conservative Evangelical friends ask me about my neighbors, “So, have you had a chance to share the gospel with them?” I answered, “Just about every day.”
Have I ever sat down and said, “Tom, if you were to die today, do you know if you’d go to heaven or hell?” No. But I have given sacrificially to them, I’ve prayed for them and with them when their parents were sick, and I’ve lived my relationship with Christ out in the open for them to see. They know a lot about what I believe, but not much about my soteriology. The Holy Spirit will provide that opportunity; I’m not going to force it. And I welcome the idea that it might not come from me at all, but from another brother or sister.
But to many in the church in which I grew up, I would have failed to evangelize them. They see each interaction with a non-believer as basically transactional: “Can I convert this person?” If not, move on. Or at least they’re often encouraged to do so. In reality, their evangelism is hampered by numbers 3, 4 and 5 below.
3. We are always judging people.
Just open your eyes and listen to the word “evangelical” in any of the political discourse related to this year’s presidential campaign. Or do a web search with terms like “Christian” “Evangelical” “Morality” “Values” and you’ll find that many of us see judging people as a top-priority. How many Christian boycott groups are there? How many Christian churches spend energy decrying from their platform the so-called “gay agenda” or the “stealth jihad?” If it’s not Tinky-Winky’s sexual orientation, it’s the threat to our faith posed by Walgreen’s employees wishing us “Happy Holiday” or Home Depot’s refusal to deny gay employees spousal benefits.
If you define “we” as “the most vocal representations of Christianity in America,” we most certainly ARE judging people. All the time. How many Christian non-profits would immediately cease to exist if we simply followed Paul’s admonition: “What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church”
4. We are goodie-goodies.
Well, you list drinking as a result of falling into sin, and list it among lying and acting out of anger. That pretty much makes any argument I’d pose here redundant.
They called Jesus a drunk, too.
5. We don’t know what it’s like to not be a christian.
Well, for many of us who grew up in the church, that is definitely the case. In fact, we were taught implicitly — and sometimes even explicitly — that the quality of our “relationship with Jesus” is inversely proportionate to the number of non-Christian friends we have. In other words, As you mature as a Christian, you will have fewer and fewer unbelieving friends.
And not only friends, but activities and entertainment options as well. We have Christian music (because we shouldn’t listen to the other kind), Christian cartoons, Christian t-shirts, Christian housewares, Christian phone books and Christian diet plans. We put our kids in Christian basketball leagues, and participate in Christian antique car rallies. Of course we want them to go to Christian schools.
I grew up badly judging and stereotyping my non-Christian neighbors. I was even told by teachers at school, “No one can really experience love if they don’t know Jesus.” My unsaved neighbor’s love for his child? It was inferior to — something of a different category from — MY parent’s love for me. Because WE’RE Christians. My aunt’s marriage? It’s really a sham of sorts, because she and my uncle CAN’T really know what love means.
And when people come to faith as adults, we seem to want to fast-track them into these activities as quickly as possible. “Ohhh. You play in a band in a bar? Hmmm. That won’t do. But you can play on our worship team…”
—
Look. I love Jesus. I love the church (well, there are some segments that I have trouble loving, but isn’t that just like any family?), but I can completely see why people would believe each of these supposed lies.
In fact, most of them ring very, very true to me. May God continue to release his people from anti-intellectualism, un-godly judgment, surface-level spirituality and feelings of superiority. May God truly make all of these statements lies.
And may God bless us all during the new year.