The Gospel According to BuzzFeed

In Colossians 3, Paul lays out some standards of Biblical morality, and gives us the key to behaving
in a manner consistent with the character of Christ.
9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds,
10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,
11 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

We have been made new, recreated in the image of Christ.  Jesus lives in our hearts because we have chosen to make Him the Lord and Savior of our lives.  We have to make sure that we are not claiming Christ but then living according to the ways of the world.  If we surrender to Him and allow Him to transform us, then we will know Him better and see the fruit of the Spirit produced through our behavior.   We cannot be good on our own; we cannot live the Christian life in our human strength.

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The Bible says that we have been redeemed by God and that we are new creations in Christ Jesus -
consider the words of 2nd Corinthians chapter 5:
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,
19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

I don't know if you've had very much exposure to the website, BuzzFeed.com, but it posted a video recently that attempts to provide a unique, albeit unbiblical view of what Christianity is and what Christians believe.   I'll share some tidbits from a recent commentary about it coming up, but first a little background.

According to a Business Insider piece, BuzzFeed posted to their website in 2010 that, "We have a big audacious goal of helping creative people launch and spread their ideas across the web. We have been thinking for years about how media spreads on the web, and our technology provides a unique way to launch, track, and accelerate viral content."

By their own admission, they inject editorial into the process, saying, "Our team of editors monitors all triggering content, post its own content, and experiments with idea."

What sort of "idea"?  Mollie Hemingway over at The Federalist website points out that after the Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage:

BuzzFeed celebrated the ruling with wild abandon, and its editor Ben Smith told one media watchdog there weren’t “two sides” on the issue. Radio host Hugh Hewitt interviewed Smith about that, during which they discussed that Smith doesn’t believe in God. Hewitt wondered if BuzzFeed could do a good job of covering believers and whether there were any evangelicals on staff. Smith responded:

BS: We do have, yes, but I also think, second, that newsroom diversity is like you know, it’s really important in having people of faith and particularly religious Christians in newsroom is important, yes, and we do. And I think that’s an important perspective… I mean, you know, I think good reporters are very good at least trying to understand the people they cover, and I think we have people who have all sorts of different beliefs here, so…but that’s important.

Hemingway contends that this video called, "I'm a Christian, But I'm Not..." treats Christianity with disdain.  She has included the text of the video - the opening lines include these words:

• I'm Christian but I’m not homophobic;
• I’m Christian and I’m definitely not perfect;
• I’m Christian but I’m not close-minded;
• but I’m not unaccepting;
• but I’m not uneducated;
• but I am not judgmental;
• but I’m not conservative;
• I’m not ignorant;

You get the picture - same old attempt to introduce some new, "enlightened," form of Christianity that tolerates everyone and everything, that implies that those who want to live according to the Bible, to the teachings of the Christ of Christianity are somehow "close-minded" or "judgmental."

And who are these people?  Hemingway relates that:

BuzzFeed featured six people who identify as Christians. At least 33 percent of those interviewed are LGBT (roughly 10 times the national average) and at least 50 percent are feminist (only 18 percent of of Americans actually identify as feminist). You have to wonder where they were looking for them. BuzzFeed didn’t include Christians who don’t share these half-dozen millennials’ hangups on the sexual doctrines that differentiate Christianity from the dogma of BuzzFeed and most other American newsrooms. Or Christians who don’t think the most recent trends denying distinctions between the sexes are all that helpful to relationships.

Oh, and by the way - there is no mention of Jesus in this video!  Surprise, surprise, right?

The commentator likens the video to the prayer of the Pharisee in Luke 18.  In this series of verses, we find a Pharisee, who was devoted to the religious law, thanking God that he wasn't like all those sinners around him. But, there was a tax collector who, by contrast, cried out to God for mercy, for He was a sinner.  Jesus concluded the parable by saying that those who exalt themselves would be humbled, and the humble would be exalted.

So how would you fill in the blank?  "I'm a Christian, but I'm not..."  Perhaps in the spirit of the parable, I might use the word, "worthy," or "undeserving."  You probably should not say, "prideful," lest you be thought of in that way.  The use of the word "but" might imply that there is a higher form of Christianity that is on a higher level than the run-of-the-mill Christianity that those (we) intolerant, judgmental church folks practice.

We have to agree that there are numerous attempts to define or redefine Christianity in the context of our culture.  And, certainly we are to be compassionate toward others and don't come across with "holier than thou" attitude.  But, we are to strive to be holy, and that is a premise that seems to be lost in our relativistic culture.

And, I think it can be instructive and affirming to let the world know who we are as Christians, rather than who we are not.  For instance, instead of "I'm a Christian, BUT," you could say, "I'm a Christian, AND," or "I'm a Christian (period)," then make a bold, faith statement - for instance:

I'm a Christian and I'm FREE
I'm a Christian and I'm FORGIVEN
I'm a Christian.  I am LOVED BY GOD.
I'm a Christian.  I am a CHILD OF GOD.
I'm a Christian and I'm VICTORIOUS.

You get the picture...

The definition of a Christian is not determined by the culture, but by what Christ has done in our hearts and the declarations about His work that we find in the Scripture.  When we recognize that we are new creations in Christ and are intent in living in that way, we make a powerful statement to the culture about who Jesus is.