missing the point

when most of my life was surrounded by Christians, and i hadn't had much time in the regular world, i had the impression that normal people wouldn't understand or be able to relate to my faith. i had this impression because all i really knew of the broader culture was what the media told me. if you watch the news, you get the impression that the rest of the world thinks that Christians are dumb for having faith in God. you think that Christians and conservatives are in the minority - that their opinions are backwards, uneducated, unrealistic. if you watch movies or tv shows, you know that all Christians are really completely unintelligent, socially inept, and judgmental.

so it has come as a great surprise to me that really, people are very open to the fact that i have faith. in some ways, it does separate me from others. my language is different, the music i listen to is different, even my attitude, in some ways, is different. but the amazing thing is that people generally don't judge me for that. in fact, they respect it, especially when i treat them with kindness and respect. it's a topic of conversation occasionally, and when people need something, they generally know that they can count on me.

so it's been interesting for me these last few years, to watch the mainstream media try to grasp the fact that they were lying to themselves. as Bush was put into office, the tragedy of September 11, and other things have occurred, they seem to have suddenly realized there is a whole world out there that they know nothing about, and in fact, completely alienate on a regular basis. Fox News now has the highest news show ratings for their top 5 shows. and they're not just winning by a little bit. they're ahead by millions.

the time that this all seemed clearest to me was right after Bush was re-elected. it was like light-bulbs went off and the mainstream media suddenly realized there was a whole world out there that was not under their influence. there were lots of follow-up specials on evangelicals, Christians, what they believe, who they are, what they do. and it was so interesting to watch the media interviewing these people. because there was still this thinly veiled disgust with the fact that there are still people with faith. there was sort of a horrified interest eminating from the interveiwers. and very few of them were even close to being able to grasp what the people being interviewed were saying.

and i can understand that difficulty, really. if you don't believe there is a being, any being out there who might be called God, then to you, religion is a creed, a philosophy, a way of thinking. and it would make sense that if you could just disprove whatever the basis for those beliefs were, then those beliefs would have to go away. but what every single interviewer failed to grasp was that the center of the Christian's faith is a relationship with a living Being. there is a God who is real, who has personal characteristics, who is knowable. and many of those who claim to follow this God have a relationship with God that is not so different from a relationship with people. in order to understand faith, that's the place that you have to start... you have to meet this Jesus, this God. you have to hear his voice in the stories of the Bible, you have to see his character, and you have to encounter his Spirit in your life and heart. and he has promised that you will find him, if you seek him with all your heart.

and that's what i'd like to say to the media. you're missing the point. it seems like you're trying to tap into a vast amount of people and figure out what makes them tick so that you can use that to market your information. and to some extent, i'm sure that you think you've done that. but at the center of everything, you will never understand where this group of people is coming from until you have met this God that they follow. their motivations and their ambitions will never make sense to you until you know their God.