Why are Christians Known More for What They are Against?

At the risk of being a hypocrite, I wonder when the Christian faith became more about what we are against than what we are for.

Last week there were two times when the Christian community in the United States made the news. One was when a Methodist church defrocked a recently married lesbian woman. The other was when the UCC had a commercial banned for being too controversial.

The week before we had a panel of well-known Christian leaders discussing the tie between faith and politics in America and they put on show attacking one another worthy of the Jerry Springer Show.

Some Christians are anti-abortion, anti-homosexual, anti-Moslem and anti-liberal. On the other end of the spectrum we have Christians who are anti-fundamentalist, anti-conservative, anti-development, and anti-military. Then the world becomes anti-church, pro-party, pro-football, and pro-fun. And we wonder why we see less and less people in worship in our churches on Sunday morning.

Its time we stand for something. For compassion. For serving one another. For Loving God and loving others.

What did the early church have a reputation for? Loving one another. Adopting abandoned children. Forgiveness. Nonviolence. Courage of convictions. And, most important, they were head over heels in love with the Jesus we see in the Gospels. They may not have been perfect, but they stood for something instead of against everything that was different than them.