I am religious. (There, I said it, and I stand by that statement.) And my faith in Jesus and love for His Church are at the core of my life. Jesus-centered religion that is all about relationship is awesome. So, in that way, I am very religious and not ashamed to say so. However, I struggle with overtly religious people who tend to make others think that being a Christian will make a person weird.
- Weird is not the goal of our faith.
- Weird is not the measure of our holiness.
- Weird is not what attracts people to Christ.
- Weird is just weird, and let’s admit it, sometimes hyper religious people are just plain weird.
Why I Struggle With Overtly Religious People
Where I live, there is a guy most refer to as the “bullhorn preacher.” Admittedly, I don’t know anything about him or his life, but I do know this, it’s viewed as weird to stand on a corner and preach at passing cars and the occasional pedestrian.
RELATED: Street Preaching
- Bullhorn Preacher isn’t building relationships.
- Bullhorn Man isn’t serving the needy.
- Bullhorn Guy isn’t doing any signs and wonders that might actually bless someone.
- Bullhorn Buddy isn’t asking people, “Where are you hurting most right now? How can I pray for you? Where do you need God to show up in your life?”
He’s just shouting at cars and people. (And how much truth can anyone hear in that environment anyhow?) I am sure he means well. Maybe your second-cousin-once-removed found Jesus through a street preacher like him, but that’s rare, very rare. Most of the peeps where I live who don’t know Jesus don’t want anything to do with Bullhorn’s Jesus, and I don’t blame them for their reluctance.
What About Us? Are WE Overtly Religious?
However, before we point fingers at others, a lot of us do some other hyper religious things that make people shake their heads and wonder what’s wrong with us:
- We use weird phrases and language that don’t connect with real humans. Fact is, we Christians speak Christianese too often. “Bless the Lord, oh my soul! Did you get a witness? And do you feel the glory of Jehovah among us, brother? Praise the Lord!”
- We can’t eat a meal at a restaurant without bowing our heads, closing our eyes, taking off our hat, and holding hands with the people seated with us to “say a blessing” using King James English.
- We expect the plumber or mechanic who wears casual clothes all week to show up in his “Sunday best” (meaning a suit and clip-on tie for church).
- We communicate directly or indirectly that Jesus was a Republican. We reason, “Religion, righteousness, and Republican all start with R, and the Devil starts with D! Duh. Of course, Jesus would always vote Republican.”
