The world in which we live is definitely not what Christ envisioned it could be. “Revolutionary Christianity” cautions us against the creation of ‘Christian principles’. Such a set of principles is entirely useless anyway, since most who claim to adhere to them only use the rules to justify their own self interests and actions. It is a hard world to keep to Christ in. The gap between traditional American values and what the media engulfs us with is wide enough; one can hardly begin to think of bridging the gap between media’s society and the Christian lifestyle. But if you do think about it, the media’s society, what images it attempts to convince us to emulate, is not necessarily the society that individuals want to live in.
We are told that this is how we are supposed to think and behave, but often the adherence to these images creates strife both within the family home and the individual. Many people having fashioned their lives after the media’s societal image find themselves unable to build healthy, long-lasting relationships, or feel as though something is missing from their life and they just can’t figure it out. When people turn to the material, sexual, alcoholic, and violent construction of our media to find answers it only hurts them more. But how can people know that is the problem when it is all we see?
I have to say that for all Billy Graham and his associates are talking about, I know more people who do not see religion as any help to their daily lives at all. I would say that American society today, as a whole, is averse to acknowledging religion within one’s life outside the church doors. Christianity has been reduced to membership in a church that is valued more for the standing it gives one in the community than for any spiritual benefit. God has been regulated to a corner in many people’s lives. The blame for this rests not only on the conditioning of the media, but also on the churches.
How can we expect people to turn to religion if the leadership of our churches propagates the same materialistic values? I am always taken aback by the wealthy construction of new churches. Gold plated donation boxes and fountains inlaid with gold and pearls? In a place of worship I can only see these things as frivolous. Certainly the money could be put to better use within the community. Until the purpose and mission of churches such as this change, people will continue to believe God only lives in material splendor. The altering of Christianity from the course laid out for it, as seen by today’s materialistic and political churches, can be held liable in large part for the all encompassing reach of the media.
Those of us who call ourselves Christians need to actively demonstrate the viewpoints of Jesus Christ in our daily lives. Our churches need to become active refuges and truly seek to help those in spiritual crises in all areas of their lives. Only by being a real presence that causes everyone who comes into contact to acknowledge it will churches collectively and Christians individually regain their credibility as ministries of Jesus Christ.
That presence of Christ that only a Christian can bring is what people really want in their lives. That is the society I believe people really want to live in. When the presence of Christ is alive, all the differences people would make an issue of do not loom so large. If we could spread Reverend Edwin Sanders II church to include the whole U.S. that might be closer to ideal. But to ever get to that point, I think it is going to take a whole lot of Bonheoffer. It needs to start within the churches, and with the individual revolutions of members who call themselves Christians.
