Christians are funny, but they also piss me off.

I'm mildly incensed by this, so that's why I'm writing about it.

A friend of mine shared a status update from the C.S. Lewis fan page on Facebook. It was a quotation of Lewis'. In response, I jokingly commented, "C.S. Lewis can't post statuses, he's dead! Obviously an impostor."

This friend had another Facebook friend who is older (I Facebook stalked him, he's about 63) who commented on the status after me: "CSLewis was one of the most profound thinkers and lovers of the Gospel and The Lord Jesus Christ. Max, u need to repent of ur ignorance and see the truth in his writings"

This response highlights three major things which I think Christians tend to do a lot of: 1) assuming things about their audience; 2) changing the subject; and 3) giving unsolicited prescriptions.

First, assumptions. This guy (let's call him "John" [not his real name]) assumed that I was not a Christian, and that I did not know who C.S. Lewis was. John assumed that what I commented was out of disrespect for Lewis' quotation. Because of these assumptions, he could not see past his immediate judgments of who I was, and he called me ignorant and unrepentant.

Second, changing the subject. Disregarding my motivations or intentions in posting the comment, the words that I said did not pass any judgment whatsoever on Lewis' quotation. I was not evaluating it, validating it, or discounting it. Despite this fact, John changed the subject to talk about who Lewis was and how I was an unrepentant, ignorant sinner. He twisted what I said to turn it into a preaching moment (although it felt more condemning). I feel like that's something that I hear about Christians a lot--changing the subject to "you need to repent" rather than just being a normal person to have a conversation with.

Third, giving unsolicited prescriptions. I didn't ask for what I "needed" to do. But John saw fit to tell me so anyway. And apparently, I need to repent of my ignorance and see the truth in Lewis' writings. John made a judgment about where I was spiritually, and he claimed that he had the solution to what I needed to do. Sounds exactly like what we're not supposed to do according to Matthew 7--judge others. And rather than engaging me in further conversation and trying to understand where I was coming from, John cut off any opportunity whatsoever for relationship by immediately telling me what was wrong with me and how I needed to change. Because that is clearly how you make disciples of Jesus.

If I wasn't a Christian, and if I had never spoken to John before, would what John said have led me to Jesus? Not a chance. In fact, I would have been driven further away from Christianity. Jesus said "make disciples," not "tell people what's wrong with them and then walk away." Making disciples requires relationship--a big and scary thing. Sorry, but a rude, judgmental Facebook comment's just not gonna do it.

So now we know another way that doesn't work in making disciples of Jesus.

Ahh, catharsis. I feel a bit better now.




(Side note: your argument has a lot less power when you tell me "u need to repent of ur ignorance." And when you don't end your sentences in periods.)