You have to understand that this is coming from a guy who started a \u201cmulti-church night of worship\u201d titled \u201cSTAND\u201d that encouraged students to, you guessed it, \u201cSTAND\u201d for Christ. I repent of this.<\/p>\n
I think it\u2019s things and events such as STAND that send the wrong message to Christian students that they are the persecuted<\/i>, that in order to truly \u201cstand<\/em> for Christ\u201d they need to disregard \u201cthe other\u201d. Christian\u2019s we\u2019re\u00a0not<\/b><\/em>\u00a0<\/b>the other, we\u2019re the predominant religion in the states. Yeah denominations are dying, church attendance has dwindled but the power is still there, especially<\/em><\/strong> in southern California [minus LA].<\/p>\n You\u2019re not being \u201cbold\u201d you\u2019re being defiant. For him, there is no<\/em> cost<\/strong>, there\u2019s very little risk, in fact there is more praise in this for him, considering his context, than there would be persecution awaiting him (i.e. the crowd cheering at the end instead of dragging him off stage and stoning him outside the When the religion of power takes the opportunity to\u00a0defy<\/em> \u201cpower,\u201d and then get away with it, that\u2019s arrogant, because now we\u2019re all viewed\u00a0then as a group\u00a0flaunting our power.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Any time someone says, \u201cMay the God of the bible bless each and everyone of you\u2026\u201d \u00a0to an atheist, agnostic, or just someone who does not believe in the \u201cGod of the Bible,\u201d it\u2019s insulting. What many hear is not, \u201cHey I love you and we\u2019re equals\u2026\u201d but, \u201cHey your<\/em> God, heritage, ideological set of beliefs is wrong<\/em><\/strong> [except it\u2019s being said in a passively aggressive manner, so one\u2019s simultaneously\u00a0saying it with a smile].\u201d<\/p>\n What if, by chance, the school asked him not to quote scripture or speak of the \u201cGod of the bible\u201d because there were students and families of various other religions, or from other countries who have had violent or abusive\u00a0experiences with Christianity, and they were within the audience and\u00a0only wanted to see their daughter, son, grandson graduate without being either a) shamed for not believing in the \u201creal<\/em> God\u201d b) reminded of recent trauma incited by \u201cChristians\u201d or c) outright proselytized to, beyond their will.<\/p>\n Most likely \u2013 within a southern California context these \u201cother religions\u201d are the minority, they are the ostracized, they are in fact many times (but of course not all the time) comprised with people that are not of european decent. In short \u2013 they are the exact people whom Jesus would not want to inadvertently<\/strong> slam<\/strong><\/em>, but rather intentionally<\/strong> love<\/strong>.<\/em>\u00a0Not to mention,\u00a0a young brown-haired, suburban, white, male living in beautiful southern California shoving a dominant set of beliefs into the ears of others is\u00a0rude<\/strong>, insensitive, and unwarranted \u2013 with our nations history\u2026 [yes, even if you believe that on the ride home, hypothetically, they could get in a car crash\u2026 blah blah blah].<\/p>\n This is perpetuating a system of hierarchy by taking advantage of students in which lack the inter-religious relationships and socio-political dynamics carrying the weight of historical mishaps incited by Christians over the last 1,500 years or so. This is why I say over and over and over and over again,\u00a0blindly buying into a set of beliefs or ideology you know\u00a0<\/strong>nothing<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0about is one of the most dangerous things anybody can do.<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Looking back at my time in youth ministry I don\u2019t regret telling students to STAND for Christ, I regret not better articulating what STANDing for Christ actually looked like within our context, in this case, I don\u2019t think Christ would \u201cstand\u201d for perpetuating a pseudo-eurocentric\/evangelical \u201cGod of the bible\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n![\"i-am-filled-with-christs-love-saved-mandy-moore-gif\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/604\/2014\/06\/i-am-filled-with-christs-love-saved-mandy-moore-gif.gif\")
<\/p>\ntemple\u2019s gates<\/del> high school\u2019s parking lot.) When Jesus came \u2013 Christianity and His messianic consciousness was not the predominantly accepted belief, hence his death. Contextually speaking, it was a slightly different time.\u00a0I think standing for Christ in this instance would have been the opposite of what this student did.<\/p>\n