http://www.stuffchristianculturelikes.com/
I happened upon this site recently, and was compelled to click through the 80 or so pages — there are now 234 posts, and only three posts per page, with no easy way to skim or search through all of them, except by clicking backwards page by page. It’s been posted since 2008.
The author says she is “a preacher’s kid and I’m also married to a preacher’s kid” but she writes now like an outsider, rather like an anthropologist. Her tone is occasionally wry, but not snarky.
I was fascinated by this site mostly because I have family living in Tennessee who are part of a Christian community. In fact, several posts on this site rung bells considering my family’s Facebook posts. Such as these, here with comments by the blogger.
Bible verse as Facebook status
When Facebook asks “What’s on your mind?” the Christian’s answer is often a verse. And just as often, dozens of people (presumably also Christians) click that they “like” it, no matter how obscure the reference. It begs the question, if their pastor or his wife made Ezekiel 23:20 their status, would everyone still be compelled to like it? Unfortunately we will probably never know.
Christian culture sure does like Africa. It is their continent of choice for missions work. If you grow up in American Christian culture you hear so much about Africa that you have a strong suspicion that God will make you a missionary there when you grow up. You learn in Sunday school that Amy Carmichael prayed for blue eyes every day and then she grew up to be a missionary in India and thus her brown eyes help her blend in better and that’s why God didn’t give her blue eyes. You are pretty sure God will do something like that to you even though your eyes are blue, but he’ll probably send you to Africa and not India like Amy.
Taking pictures with poor foreign children on missions trips
Knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt
Evangelicals like to invoke the shadow of doubt whilst discussing God’s existence and his will. Being certain feels awesome. But Christian culture’s very favorite thing to know beyond a shadow of a doubt is where one will spend eternity. Where will you spend eternity? That person happens to know beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Studies show that homeschooling is preferred two to one amongst Christian culture families. They often cite a reason for homeschooling is a way to protect their kids from the world.
There are many other posts that I would expect in this context.
Saying “Love the sinner, hate the sin”
When pressed, a person in Christian culture will often concede that it’s okay to be gay as long as you don’t act on said gayness. You know, because of Leviticus. And they won’t think twice about saying this to you over shellfish after working on Saturday while wearing clothes with two types of fibers and after cutting the hair on the sides of their heads. Then after all this they might remind you that they love that sinner but sure hate that sin. If you choose this moment to tell them they’re quoting a Hindu, expect them to be defiant, or at the very least confused. They may be just as baffled by another of his quotes: “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ.”
Christian culture sees persecution in all sorts of things and they often say they’re under attack. The institution of marriage is under attack, the right to life is under attack, free speech is under attack and on top of all that, the liberal media tries to make them look dumb. Although they say free speech is under attack, they have no use for the ACLU. Some of them call it the Anti-Christian Liberals Union or Anti-Christian Litigation Unit.
Christian culture is deeply afraid of some sort of indoctrination by homosexuals. At this website they say “Gay activists realize that if they can capture the hearts and minds of the next generation, they will, for all practical purposes, have won the culture war.” There’s that culture war again. The fact that Christian culture is so invested in the idea of a culture war is interesting because the Jesus they claim to follow didn’t promote a culture, but rather a consuming love that casts out all fear. The fact that Christian culture is so frightened makes you wonder what their motivation is.
With the overturning of Prop 8, Christian culture is certain the end times* are upon us.
*The “end times” are the eschatological writings which depict a time of tribulation that precedes the return of the Messiah, i.e., what the Left Behind series was about.
Mike Huckabee’s stance on gay marriage
The possibility of donkey marriage becoming legal is terrifying to people who hold moral conventions close to their hearts. But Jesus did not endorse morals or politics. Jesus endorsed love and relationship. In particular, he endorsed showing unmerited favor (i.e., grace) to members of society whom the Pharisees deemed unsavory (i.e., tax collectors and prostitutes. Do homosexuals fall in this category?). Making same-sex marriage legal would mean Christians would have to relinquish some political and moral control and trust the issue to God. It is quite a conundrum for the Christian culture, indeed.
Christian culture is adamant about Biblical inerrancy. Sometimes it’s better to not get them started.
Not healthcare reform [a post from 2009]
Christian culture is rather unhappy about the proposals for healthcare reform. They’d threaten to move to Canada like they did when Obama won, but Canada has socialized medicine, so they’re up a creek on this one.
With Barack Obama as president, Christian culture is certain the end times are upon us.
Beliving that America is a Christian nation
and of course,
Fox News
and of course,
Being Politically Conservative
At the same time, there are many posts about things I’ve never heard of at all — or would never have suspected were essential to Christian culture, or am surprised to see, such as this first one.
In an event of staggering rarity, Christian culture and non-Christians currently agree on something. Almost everyone seems to think that Pat Robertson is certifiably insane.
Worship leaders saying the lines before they are sung
Getting rid of their secular music
But enough! I’ve spent another hour accumulating these links. (Why? See comment to previous post.)
