It's not what you call yourself, it's how you live your life

“The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today, is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, and walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”

-- dcTalk
"What If I Stumble"
Jesus Freak, 1995

Being a “red state radical” to me doesn’t mean that I’m a conservative zealot or a left-wing lunatic; rather, it means that I don’t see myself as someone who doesn’t quite fit in a nice, neat, old media stereotype.

It means that I’m tired of having to people attempt to lazily peg others with these labels so they can go on and not think about what they are saying. This goes both ways – conservative and liberal. Its not about debunking one ideology or lifestyle, its about listening and learning that we (though smart and clever) are not necessarily the end-all, be-all that we think we are.

I’m beginning to see it more often (purplethink.com), but then I get whacked with stupid articles like this tired, hard-to-believe Charlie Sheen interview. Its not that I’m not confident about what I believe, I just get worn out by having to think that the “other side” is ALWAYS WRONG.

Enough feel-good preaching.

Was walking into church this past Sunday (lifechurch.tv), and the music playing was something that amazed me. Not for the lyrics or the music itself, but rather that it wasn’t a canned-music Christian song. No, it was “Why Georgia” by John Mayer. Reminded me of the music before the message last year during the Easter experience – all U2 songs! Amazing.

This is a group of “Christ-followers” who understand that playing church just won’t do it anymore. It’s all about living what Jesus taught, not a social club that is the Christian’s replacement for the local pub or fraternal order of whatever animal you want to name.

When I was pursuing my college degree at the university of the human trinity (fellow alumni, you know what I’m talking about), I was blessed to spend four years living with the Christian college equivalent to a fraternity – Am Herratz. (Am Herratz is a bad Hebrew translation of what we thought meant “scum of the earth;” we reveled in being called “Ratzers.” )

Ratzers are a bunch of guys who shared a dorm wing and followed Jesus. We knew how to kick butt on the playing fields, and the dating arena, but we absolutely weren’t afraid of being known as Christians. We knew, and understood to our core, that being a follower of Christ meant living as Jesus lived, not simply parroting with our mouths what we had learned through years of being in church.

And that’s what I’m trying to do. Live as Jesus lived. Act out the love of God. I screw up, frequently. I’ve failed many times. But that doesn’t mean my faith is weak, or that I am destined “to live in a smaller mansion in heaven.” It just means that I’m human.

Red state radical. That’s what I am; a frustrated conservative who isn’t afraid to agree with liberals when it makes sense. Finding the middle ground isn’t compromising my beliefs. Its actually reinforcing them.


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Red states
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am herratz