1. Julie D says:

    Sometimes it feels like there’s nothing better out there, though. If standard pop culture is a cheese tray and Christian pop culture is a fruit tray, but all the fruit is small or not ripe or just off (like someone putting apples next to oranges, ugh), then I’m gonna still complain if I wanted a desert bar…
    man that’s a weird image but I’m going for it anyway.

  2. Lisa says:

    I dislike much of the Christian sub-culture, but I do hear what you are saying. Sometimes I think that those who rail against the tacky Christian culture are doing it because it’s just not “cool”…but somehow I don’t think that Jesus meant us to be “cool”. Something about “if the world hated me it’s going to hate you too.” I’m not just pointing the finger outwards, it’s pointing back at me, too. I have to fight against that desire to “fit in” and be accepted. But bottom line is that Christianity IS weird to popular culture, and if it isn’t, we’re just not doing it right. I just wish we could be “weird” for all the right reasons.

    • ionaofavalon says:

      Amen to that. I grew up in the heyday of Christian Pop Culture and while I loved some parts of it (Odyssey, Veggietales, Early Bibleman) I was never crazy about the rest. I could never put my finger on why a lot of Christian stuff drove me nuts, but it’s as you and Julie said: something was off (sometimes it was theology related, though). I can’t stand a lot of Christian kids media in particular, for the reason that I feel like our kids deserve better than what scholcky, cheesey, badly animated fare is available today and in the past. I am not maligning the creators, though. I know they are doing their best, but I feel like something is missing. No, Jesus didn’t put us here to be “cool” but he did put us here to tell his story. And sometimes that story is obscured by the fact that everyone wants “quality Christian entertainment” but nobody’s willing to put the time, love, care, and money into doing it. My brother and I and some of our friends are trying to change that. We’re just a bunch of kids, but I know we can kick things into high gear eventually.

  3. Tim Akers says:

    I appreciate the blog criticizing the critics. I also appreciate one distinction that you make. The idea of a lifestyle that glorifies God as opposed evangelism as a work (I do hope I haven’t misconstrued your article). Taking the good news of the Gospel of Christ to the world is not a suggestion, it is a command, but using guilt to goad people into action is never good. Evangelism is the natural outcome of putting the goodness of God on display for anyone that is interested to see.

  4. Zack Russell says:

    Jon Acuff, I believe, had on his “Stuff Christians Like” list this sad truth: “Christians like to throw other Christians under the bus.” That Buzzfeed video last year was the epitome of this: “I’m a Christian, but not…” I’ve certainly been guilty of this. It all goes back to Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector. We’re so desperate at times to reach culture that we think we have to apologize for everyone or everything else in Christian culture that doesn’t meet our standards. Whether that’s a standard of excellence, particular theology, moral codes, social sensitivity, I think the rut we get stuck in is thinking there’s only one way to engage and reach people.

    There was a great interview with Alex Kendrick where he said, “I don’t know that we’ll be able to hit every target audience,” and explained how Sherwood Pictures primarily focuses on a churched audience vs. a secular audience. Importantly, he owned their style without criticizing that of other Christian filmmakers. I’m reminded of Jesus’ disciples, who in Mark 9 told of their encounter with a different kind of follower: “We told him to stop, because he was not one of us.” And so Jesus sets the record straight: “Whoever is not against us is for us.”

What do you think?