My thoughts on life, relationships, and everything else!

Thursday, February 10, 2005

Hiding Jesus: Why peer pressure is a huge factor

This man was beaten half to death, thorns were crushed into his head, was nailed to piece of wood by his hands and feet, tortured and left hung to die to pay for things that WE have done, not him. But then many of us cant even bear to say his name in public or admit that he is our savior....Unless it's cool at the moment. The most obvious examples are in the celebrity world, especially at awards shows. At the appropriate moment, some may thank God and Make some sort of spirituality apparent, but then, comes the afterparty. I'm not saying they have no morals or don't believe in God or Jesus as our savior, but they spend the night drinking, partying and having sex with random people....Spend awhile wearing overly revealing clothing, cussing like sailors...Maybe write a few songs about killing and then having sex with more random people... Spend a couple days preaching how they are good, God-fearing people...To me, that isn't the lifestyle of someone who truly wants to follow God, But celebrities are not alone.
The commercial world is far worse! This past Christmas is a prime example. Most larger corporations and retailers tried to ban saying "merry Christmas" because it may offend someone. I think it should be up to the person what they say, and if a customer is offended by someone saying "Merry Christmas" to them, they need to get over it. I have been to stores before where people wished me a Happy Hanukkah and I just replied "happy Hanukkah and a merry Christmas ". I wasn't offended, It just showed me the sales clerk was feeling the spirit of her holiday. There is nothing wrong with telling your customers "happy holidays" to be all inclusive holiday wise, but its a little far to ban the word Christmas, especially since they didn't try to ban Hanukkah, kwanzaa, or any other winter holiday. This was a really tacky ban, but some good came of it. A lot of the store owners in my town made their thoughts of it apparent on signs in the windows and on their marquee boards. Everywhere you went you were greeted by a sign occasionally stating "come on in and we will wish you a merry Christmas" or "if you have a problem with the phrase 'merry Christmas', we will be ending our holiday season Jan. 2nd". But then, I live in one of the very few towns that still have an actual Christmas parade and are allowed to sing songs about God in Choir.
Many Christians (yes Christians) have a problem with the God factor. It's not that they live a sinful life, or that they don't want to follow God's word, but they only want to admit they are Christians when it is cool. One good example is the classic high school "look at the nerdy bible thumper" example. When placed in a crowd full of people picking on the kid in the hall carrying a bible, most people won't try to stop it...Why? Not only would you have to stand up to friends, but you maybe called out yourself. Then there is the "you go to church where?" thing. I have actually had guys dump me and lost friends over where I went to church! My denom was weird, or my church was small, thus "uncool". Fellowship is one thing, but last time I checked, going to church was about worshipping God, not to be seen at "the cool church". Another thing is churches are trying to get people,especially youth, to witness to people and get them to go to church with them. When I in youth and my youth pastor told me to ask people to go to church with me, I looked at him like he grew a second head! Just walking up to people and asking them to go to church is super uncool in high school. After a few of my friends asking me to go with them, I saw that it didn't have to be social suicide. You can work things like personal and religious beliefs, advice, and even an invitation to church into a normal conversation without forcing it! There is nothing socially suicidal about being someone people can talk to .