Supermarket Christians
Dan Kunz
If you are a Biblical Christian, you may be a vanishing breed, at least in America! Many people today, especially in our country, still profess to be Christians. They may not be regular in their church attendance, or their Bible-reading, or even their prayer life, but they still identify themselves as Christian. Unfortunately, the term Christian has become more and more loosely defined. Having some type of remote relationship or connection with Jesus Christ of Nazareth, seems to be good enough to qualify as “Christian” nowadays. It seems today’s Christian is more easily associated with a supermarket than the Bible.
Most supermarkets in America today are amazing places, with huge square footage, bright and colorful signs, and more choices than you can shake a proverbial stick at! I grew up right across the street from an old-fashioned grocery store. The whole store could probably have fit in an average-sized McDonald’s of today. Three aisles about fifty feet long contained everything. The signs were usually chalkboards (sometimes with colored chalk). Your coffee choices were Hills Brothers or Folgers, your milk choices were white or chocolate, and your candy bar choices were Milky Way or Snickers. I’m being a little overly dramatic, but you get the idea. The supermarket of today could probably hold at least eight or ten of yesterday’s grocery store, if not more. Signage is everywhere, with brightly colored graphics which constantly change. Depending on where in the country it’s located, the supermarket might have twenty or more choices of coffee alone! The fruit and vegetable aisles contain choices which you used to only read about in books. Let’s face it – Americans like to have lots of choices. Everyone is a unique individual, with unique individual tastes, right?
Modern American Christianity is a lot like that. Don’t like the concept of original sin? Babies are too cute and cuddly to be sinful? Lying, cheating, and stealing are learned behaviors? You can find a church body that teaches that. The Old Testament is a collection of myths and legends? The New Testament contains some facts, presented by a group of writers with divergent viewpoints and opinions? You can find a church body that teaches that. Jesus serves as a great example of how to live, but when it comes to saving our souls, he needs our help? You can find a church body that teaches that.
I recently heard a speaker refer to “Genesis to Revelation Christians”. That’s a great way of describing what God wishes for us. He doesn’t literally walk with us the way he did with Adam and Eve, so he wrote an autobiography for us to have, so that we might know him and have the “full story”. Wouldn’t it be silly for people to randomly change someone’s autobiography just because they didn’t like facts it contained or the way it was written? It’s important to remember that the Bible is also our biography. It tells us about God, but it also tells us about ourselves. I may not like everything about my history, but it’s still my history. I can’t go back and change it.
As tempting as it is to pick and choose what aspects of Biblical Christianity you want to believe, that’s not how our Heavenly Father planned things. You can choose to reject his plan, but you can’t alter it. Although sinful man has deluded himself into believing he is in control, he is the captain of his own ship, Genesis to Revelation Christians know that’s not true. Matthew 5:18 “Amen I tell you: Until heaven and earth pass away, not even the smallest letter, or even part of a letter, will in any way pass away from the Law until everything is fulfilled. Isaiah 40:8 “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” Learn it, embrace it, and believe it!