Twitter Updates

First off, I want to say “hats off” to Anderson Cooper, and the fine job of reporting that he does.

There’s a great discussion he’s starting (based on a CNN series this week titled, What is a Christian?). And this is from his blog:

“In the hour, we’ll approach American Christianity through a variety of prisms — evangelicals (and the belief of some that these are the Last Days), capitalist Christians (God wants you to prosper, if not be wealthy), conservative Christians, questioning Christians, gay Christians, fundamentalist Christians. And for those of you who call yourself Christian, you might wonder, just what kind are you?”

These categorizations always fascinate me.

Frankly I personally don’t think I fit in any of those categories. That’s the problem. I think today the public wants to categorize us, which is basically a way of dismissing our validity. That’s understandable. American Christianity has become somewhat of a parody of itself. But we need to think carefully about this question, “just what kind (of Christian) are you?” If we too easily subscribe to any of these categories, I think that’s a warning sign.

We’re talking about Herod’s encounter with John the Baptist this week. John perplexed Herod. I venture the guess that Herod was perplexed because he just couldn’t place John. He couldn’t figure him out. He couldn’t categorize him. Let’s see, he’s not a conservative, nor a liberal because he ranks on the Pharisees AND the Sadducees, he’s not a flaming revolutionary like the Zealots or the Maccabees, nor is he a hermit like the Essenes. What the devil is he???

One thing is for sure, Herod recognized John as a holy man.

That’s the last thing the public expects – “I can’t make heads or tails of him – but one thing is for sure, he is a holy man”. That’s the last thing we’d hear on Anderson Cooper – “this kind of Christian defies all categorization – but one thing is for sure, they are a righteous and holy people”.

I think that’s what we should strive for.

I love what Tim Keller says about this:

“(We must) be more deeply and practically committed to deeds of compassion and social justice than… liberal churches and more deeply and practically committed to evangelism and conversion than… fundamentalist churches. This kind of church is profoundly ‘counter-intuitive’ to American observers. It breaks their ability to categorize (and dismiss) it as liberal or conservative. Only this kind of church has any chance in the non-Christian west.”

Next up: Bush’s response to Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Syria?

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