Mar
31
2008
Too Christian, Too Pagan
As I continue to work on my next book entitled Unfashionable (slotted for release in April 2009), I’ve been buying and reading some excellent books that will stimulate my thinking and provide me with some help. One of the books that I am currently reading is a provocative book by Dick Staub entitled “Too Christian, Too Pagan” (Zondervan 2000). His thesis is that if you truly follow Jesus you will seem “too pagan for your Christian friends and “too Christian for your pagan friends.” Here are two quotes from the book that I read last night which I thought were excellent:
Most of us want to make a difference in our circle of influence, yet we feel woefuly inadequate to take Jesus into our world. There are two equal and opposite reasons for this. In my observation most Christians are either too Christian or too pagan. The Christians who are “too Christian” are very comfortable within the Christian sub-culture but are ill at ease when in the world. On the other hand, Christians who are too pagan are at ease with the world but fail to integrate their faith into their everyday life.
The Christian who is too Christian doesn’t love the world enough to enter fully into it, and the Christian who is too pagan doesn’t love Jesus enough to make a difference while there. Yet as disciples we are supposed to live out our calling in the world because Jesus commanded us to go into the world as a loving and transforming presence.