I think these days, identifying yourself as a "Christian" is almost like saying, "I'm a interracial combination of a black slave and a white supremacist."

You get ridiculed for what you 'say' you stand for, and shamed for being a 'ridiculer'. People automatically assume you judge people, and anytime you have an opinion or a view on an issue (like everyone has), its taken as a judgemental persecution by a hypocritical Christian.

Calling yourself a "Christian" now is almost like aligning youself with a set of rules, prejudices, historical events, current beliefs, and viewpoints. It's like saying your a democrat or a republican. African-American's should understand the logic. When your black, sometimes people have a pre-determined template of what they believe and expect from you. Identifying yourself as a Christian is now almost the same thing.

It seemed back in the 'olden' days, everyone with "good morals" was some kind of Christian or a close affiliate. Everyone felt like they were alright with God if they were a "good person" (whatever that means). Now, people are not so quick to use specific identifiers when it comes to God or things closely related to the Christian faith. Today, I think I understand why...

If your brother becomes a infamous serial killer, whose ended the lives of many people in your town, you become not so friendly, because of your last name. If your mother runs an abortion clinic, your friends are inclined to think you have a secretary position up at the Orkin too. I'm sure Jeffery Dahmer's little sister found lunch time in her school cafeteria hell. People's eyes were probably sittin on the edge of their seats, waiting to see what kind of sandwich she brought. As a Christian you slightly fell the same.

When you make that declaration, you give yourself a certain last name, that welcomes associations that you haven't co-signed. Many of those associations don't have much to do with Christ in the first place.

I rock with Jesus, and I believe in his death and ressurection, and I also believe in the logic behind the things he had to say. However, when you say that "I'm a Christian", you have to make clear distictions between the foolishness that can come along with the last name. The foolishness that other Christians have conjured, and the foolishness that other people have theorized about it.

Sometimes I feel under surveillance when I say the word "Christian". Not that there is anything wrong with it, but social Christianity is something so apart from being a 'follower of Christ'. Your being watched based on what the world believes about Christians and what other Christians feel you should be doing. I feel like my personal relationship with Christ is something that doesn't work under that title. People have done so much damage to the word, that in telling people "I am a C...I am a C H..." i'm not accurately speak toward my relationship with God.

When people ask me if I am a Christian, I feel like I need to explain. Just saying yes doesn't seem enough.

Or maybe I shouldn't give a crap about other Christian's behaviors and other people's perceptions, if It's just Jesus and I right? Right.

05/31/12, 12:52PM PST