What's offensive about Christianity these days?

Hello Tablers!

I had occasion this week to do some business on Wednesday, which (in
case you’ve been under the proverbial rock) was Halloween. One of the
businesses I was in had really thrown themselves into the spirit of
the day; dripping plastic blood marked the sill of each window, smiley
little skulls roosted upon the large logo sign behind the desk, the
requisite bowl of solid sugar disguised as confections sat on the
counter, and (of course!) all the staff were in costume. The manager
was dressed as a baseball player, complete with the black shadowing
under her eyes, used by athletes to counteract the brightness of
either game day sunshine of night game glare from lighting.

She was a bright, jovial personality, and we were joking about the
costumes and the decor. I made some comment about her wisdom in
choosing not to write anything culturally offensive in her eye-black,
not mentioning that I was thinking of the much reported story about
Blue Jays shortstop Yunel Escobar writing a Spanish anti-gay slur in
his eye-black this past September 15th. She responded, with that same
bright and open smile, “Oh, you mean like John 3:16 or something?”

Interesting company John 3:16 is keeping in our culture these days,
wouldn’t you say? I can’t help but wonder if Escobar would have had to
pay fines, miss games, or go for sensitivity training if he had
inscribed a biblical reference under his eyes.

At any rate, that whole exchange got me thinking about just what it is
that is potentially offensive about Christianity these days, why
certain kinds of religious statements seem to really push peoples
buttons, and what might be a useful intersection between faith and
culture in our times. It’s not a topic we’ll exhaust this week, but
perhaps we can begin a conversation that flows out from the Frame into
everyday life in some ways that carry the unique hope and light of
Jesus in ways that can be received by others.

I look forward to being with you all.

Peace,

Tim Plett