The greatest curse on America and possibly the world today is Modern American Christianity (“MAC” from this point on) and the affliction it brings to the masses. MAC seeks to water down the message of the gospel, render ineffective the service of those who love God, seek to incorporate whatever beliefs it can, and all the while make a buck. Let’s look at some of the problems briefly in this short essay:

The Problem of Capitalism:

Now please, do not get me wrong. I have nothing wrong with Capitalism. It encourages growth of the economy, ensures that we have hard workers, and overall is a system that works. Unfortunately we have let capitalism begin to rule Christianity. It seems that MAC has developed its own sub-culture where the latest catch phrases are exploited to no end. We all remember the WWJD craze. While WWJD bracelets/shirts/coffee mugs/books/pants/hats sales went up, so did teen pregnancy, materialism, alcohol consumption, and many other things. Are the WWJD people to be blamed? Of course not. However they exploited something that was actually a good concept, stripped it of truth, and made it a pop culture icon that now churns my stomach. Yet, this isn’t the only example. Remember the prayer of Jabez? Not only was it exploited, but it was the Baptist’s version of “name it claim it”. Pray this prayer and God will give you whatever you want.

So why does it upset me? Isn’t it just people trying to make a living? No harm is actually done, right? Wrong. It gives people a false hope and a false identity. People see others wearing prayer of Jabez or WWJD and begin to accept it, a “bumper sticker theology” if you will. They begin to gain their theology and knowledge of Christ based upon this MAC items than from actually diving into the word.

It’s almost as if though we are prostituting Christ, selling His message of hope and salvation in order to make a buck. Take “The Passion of the Christ” for example. I have the movie and I have the poster. Movie is awesome and I have the poster because I collect posters. Yet, I walked into a Christian book store the other day and was astonished. They had absolutely everything you could think of for “The Passion”. I am honestly surprised that they didn’t have boxers with the picture of our dying Savoir on them. Why? Why do we have to miss the meaning of this? Why must we suck every good thing in Christianity for all its worth?

The Problem of False Persecution:

Oh yes, I’m going here. I am sick and tired of MAC’s saying, “My rights are being violated.” So you can’t pray at a football game over the loudspeaker. While upsetting and a vision of what is to come did anyone shoot them for praying? Did anyone beat them? No? Then they need to shut up. I visited my former high school over the fall break weekend only to enter into a huge controversy that is occurring there. Apparently the Bible club put up some posters and the school decided to take them down. Now yes, the legality of this issue is in favor of the Bible club and they should pursue it. However, I sat there and listened to the president of the club talk about how they were under “immense persecution” and being “directly confronted by Satan”. Is it persecution? Yeah, it’s a form of persecution. Is it really immense? The school told them to take down signs. The school did not hold a gun to their head and demand that they renounce their faith in Christ. The school did not beat them senseless because of their faith. They were not spit on by others with approval of the school because they follow Jesus. They were told to take signs down. Boo-hoo.

We’ve instilled in our minds a victim mindset. We think we’re being persecuted and instead of working under this false pretence of persecution we complain about it and cry about it. Even if we were under drastic persecution (which we’re not) then we should consider it joy. This victim mindset has lead us to be ineffective in our approach to the Gospel in that we’re more concerned with how we’re treated than how it is received.

I finally gained the opportunity to speak after the president (who, btw, would still make a better Chapel speaker than half the people we have speak) and simply told them to praise God if people reject them. That’s all we’re called to do. Stop moaning and complaining and move on.

The Problem of Apathy:

This is the biggest problem and final point I want to make (though there are many other problems). MAC brings about apathy. We get to a point where we just do not care if our neighbor is dying and going to hell. We don’t care, it’s none of our business, and he/she wouldn’t listen anyway. I’ll never forget the moment I realized I was apathetic. I was talking about my friend and how he was lost. My youth pastor asked me if I had witnessed to him. My response (and I’m not kidding), “Well, I would but it’s really not my problem.” What I realize now, is that it is my problem. Whether anyone accepts Christ or not is not my problem, however if I do not share the Gospel with them, then it does become my problem. We’d rather stay inside our safe little spiritual incubator than put ourselves in a difficult situation of witnessing to the lost. Moreover, this apathy destroys our love for other nations and the people there. It destroys our love. If our love is destroyed, christianly speaking, what else do we have?