Purpose




Thoughts of a messed up Christian saved by God's grace





Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Edgy Christianity



 My experiences with edgy Christian fiction thus far have not been favorable.
 I read a lot. Most of what I read is Christian fiction, though I try to read non-fiction Christian books also to round my reading out. In my reading of Christian books, I have run across a few books that are almost becoming a sub-genre' of Christian fiction: edgy Christian fiction

  Authors who are trying to be edgy with their books they write under the Christian label, tend to put in some curse words and other iffy words. Their books tend to lean more towards secular than Christian. One author was lauded for putting in some slang terms for body parts such as for breasts. Some of them are more descriptive with sexual inferences and physical descriptions than need be.

 One would gather from my experiences with "edgy" Christian fiction, that it is Christian fiction where the author pushes the boundaries of what is good, proper, and Christian.

  Among the definitions of the word edgy, I found this: Perhaps from the notion of "being on the edge." You know what happens to things on the edge? They tend to fall off of that edge.

  As a person who rarely reads secular fiction, I am disturbed at how many Christian authors and publishers are following this trend of being edgy and allowing more and more content in Christian books that should not be there. What their reasoning is, I have no idea, but they will defend it to the death.

  And as disturbed as I am by edgy Christian fiction, I find the idea of edgy Christianity even more disturbing.

  In today's church world, there is hardly any black and white. Just a lot of grey. Nothing is wrong, it is just what we feel is OK for us to do, what we want to do, what is our "right" to do. We live closer to the world, than to Jesus. Our ideals are of the world, and we are so used to them that most of us don't realize how far from the Word of God we have come.

  There is hardly any difference in the world and Christians anymore. If the world does it, Christians will do it in a few years. Just give us time. We live on the edge.



  I remember traveling in Mexico up some steep mountains. You could look way, way down and see far below you. And believe me, you didn't ride as close to the edge as you could. No, you drove as far from it as you could without crossing the line to other traffic. You would be insane to drive close to the edge.

  But yet we do it in our spiritual lives. Instead of reading God's Word and trying to stay away from what it warns of, we try to get as close to the edge as we can without falling over it. And we wonder why God seems so far away and religion seems like a form. Lot moved his tent close to Sodom, and although we criticize him, we do the same.

 And it isn't all about the outward and modesty. We are too much like the world in all we do, how we think, where we go, how we spend our time, what is important to us. We are edgy Christians. Serving God, yet edging close enough to the world so we won't stick out and they will love us. Saying we don't have to keep any commandments now, since we are under grace.

  We are commanded to be in the world, but not of the world. And yet there is hardly any distinction between Christianity and the world. If we try to follow God's Word, we are scoffed and beaten down, so we just go with the flow.

  Too many of us are more worried about pleasing men, than God.

Edgy Christians say saving yourself for marriage is unreasonable
Edgy Christians say homosexuality is OK with God, that gay marriage is only fair
Edgy Christians say abortion really isn't murder
Edgy Christians show as much of their bodies as they want
Edgy Christians have the "right" to do what they want
Edgy Christians don't need to pray and read their Bible every day
Edgy Christians don't need church
Edgy Christians blend in with the world

 I don't want to be an edgy Christian. I want to be closer to God, than to the world. I want to be more concerned about what God thinks, than what man thinks. In eternity, all that will matter is what we did for God.


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