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August 24th, 2013
08:40 AM ET
Should Christianity be so boring?
(CNN) - No one has ever accused us Christians of being fun. No one has ever said we are a laugh-filled group. No atheist has ever said, “I might not love Jesus, but his followers sure know how to party!” And yet, in my favorite story in the Bible we actually see Jesus paint the opposite picture.
If you’re a Christian, you’ve heard the Parable of the Prodigal Son in the Gospel of Luke referenced in approximately 42 million sermons. If you’ve missed it though, allow me to summarize. A young son said to his dad, who represents God, “I want my inheritance.” This was the cultural equivalent of saying, “I wish you were dead!” The father gives him the money. The son immediately runs off to the Jersey shore and fist pumps the night away with 4 Loko and Skrillex. [Not a direct translation.] After squandering all the money and awakening in a pig pen, the son devises a plan. He will come home, apologize and throw himself at the mercy of the father. His greatest hope is that the father will let him be a servant. He can’t even imagine getting to keep the title “son.” He comes home expecting punishment, but instead something weird happens. The father sees him from a distance and sprints toward him. He runs toward him and embraces him. Before the son can even get his whole apology out, the father has already started planning the last thing he expected. A party. Instead of punishment he gets a party. The idea that God fixes problems with parties is crazy. Who does that? Life doesn’t work that way. Imagine that you messed up at work. Your boss called you in and said, “Johnson you lost our biggest account! You just cost this company more than 3 million dollars. You know what that makes me want to do? Throw you a party!” Or think about this in the context of a marriage. Have you ever had an argument with your spouse? Not a fake argument but one that lands you on the couch overnight. You come into the kitchen and your wife is doing that “mad dishwashing” move we all do when we’re upset. Just power scrubbing pots and pans with a vengeance, mumbling the entire time. You approach her slowly and say, “Heyyyy baby, how do you feel this morning?” Without looking at you, she takes a deep breath and says, “You really hurt my feelings. Last night, you really surprised me by what you did. My mom was right about you. I’m so angry and disappointed. This whole thing makes me want to get an inflatable bounce house and throw a huge celebration in your honor!” That would be ludicrous. Our worst mistakes don’t end in parties, but in this story in the Bible, it did. When given the opportunity to talk to a group of people, the picture Jesus drew of his Father was of a party giver; someone who met sinners with welcome home banners. What if Christians were like that? What if churches became the place where failures found new beginnings? What if we were known for our parties, not for our Pharisees? It all feels a little crazy, but I don’t think it’s impossible. Christians should offer hope in exchange for hurt, new in exchange for old, parties in exchange for pain. Are we there yet? Nope, we’ve got a long way to go. We’ve still got a lot of things to work through, a lot of progress we have to make. But when you think about the prodigal son story, I hope you will remember something. Two people moved. One walked. One ran. And we prodigals are the walkers. We still have a running God. And he is ready to throw a party. Jon Acuff is a keynote speaker and the author of four books including The New York Times best-seller, START. Acuff is also the author of the popular blog, Stuff Christians Like.net. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Jon Acuff |
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Opinion by Jon Acuff, Special to CNN
The only "party" an atheist has is 'reasoning against God party'.
I've been waiting for the "I know you are but what am I" response to this article. Congrats!
Generalization is the mother of all F' ups
Comparing a father forgiving his son and throwing a party to a boss throwing a party for losing the biggest account is absurd. Parent forgive their children all the time (I know mine did...). Easy parental forgiveness is a perk most people get to enjoy and sometimes push to its farthest limits.
CNN please write a story about a different fairy tale, your getting the Christians upset.
* you're, when you mean "you are" (not your)
I care not for grammar Nazis, But thanks anyway. it's a Saturday i'm drinking and smoking.This is not my job or a formal correspondence or an essay or the like. It does not need to be perfect.
If you want to correct people become a teacher we need some good ones.
But your comments might be more readily accepted if they don't appear to be written by a fifth grader.
* Must be the life of the party.
Catholics party with unprotected socks. Makes more Catholic babies for home schooling and no health care
Would like to know how Jon Acuff describes Christians as "boring" while fails to question the "excitement" generated by muslims who strap bombs on mentally handicapped females and send them into a market and blow them up? Who recruit local losers with the promise of getting la id in heaven since they can't seem to do it on earth if they blow themselves up along with innocent civilian? Why not an article about that, Jon?
If you want to see it so badly, write it your own damned self.
"the "excitement" generated by muslims who strap bombs on mentally handicapped females and send them into a market"
I heard your big day as a suicide bomber is a blast. It's da bomb. You make a really big splash. You go all over town. Everybody gets to see what you are like inside.
Okay... I will stop the tasteless jokes if you do...
Well Said
Thank you very well honest true account of the heart, mind set and motives of not just Islam but from the White House down to the kindergarten classes excluding and mocking their very own creator who has given and blessed them with life an countless blessings in this life but soon enough in time the evil one who they serve now will turn the tables on them and of course then they will cry out for lord who they they betrayed . That's when boring starts and never ends be patient world your almost there!
Kindergarten classes mock god? How?
You've just completed the longest and least meaningful sentence in the history of these moronic "Belief" comments.
Oh no! Another "But what about.....?" post
I made this one up:
We know so little because Adam & Eve ate only a few from the "Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil." If they ate the entire tree, we would know everything!
😆
Is there any question that CNN has set this so-called "Belief Blog" up so that haters can have a platform for their intolerance to all things Christian?
Well done, CNN. True to form.
Free speech is to religion as UV light is mold.
Luke,
agree,man. Thiswas my post:
Would like to know how Jon Acuff describes Christians as "boring" while he fails to question the "excitement" generated by muslims who strap bombs on mentally handicapped females and send them into a market and blow them up? Who recruit local losers with the promise of getting la id in heaven since they can't seem to do it on earth if they blow themselves up along with innocent civilian? Why not an article about that, Jon?
He's one of your own, man.
If you only want to read and hear things that agree with your personal set of delusions, stay in your church pew. This is a public comment section.
Another day, Another anti christian article by CNN.
They still don't understand why they keep losing viewers.
e i e i o.
From the language he uses, he seems to be Christian.
Aw, feeling particularly persecuted today?
If you find Christianity boring then you do not know the Christ.
You do?
Boring I can handle. Falseness and superst.ition I cannot.
The older religions were a lot more fun.
Not knowing something false AND boring sounds like a win-win
Say Colin, this Christ-thing you speak of sounds fascinating. How can I get someone to share the details of your crazy party animal god?
I agree Colin. I have been a Christian since age 9 and I am now 48. I think I have had one of the most exciting lives ever. My life is filled with adventure, good people and happiness. God has given me everything I've ever prayed for and on times he's said "No" to me, He has always given me better. God is very real. The non-believers have been blocked from seeing God so they don't understand (this is biblical). My advice to anyone who doesn't believe in God.......skip being RELIGIOUS and start seeking a RELATIONSHIP.
Tracy G,
"start seeking a RELATIONSHIP."
This is late 20th century psycho-babble. You would have never heard that kind of thing a hundred years ago. "God" was to be worshipped and feared. You have a 'relationship' with your own thoughts - there is no verified evidence for anything else.
God has given me everything I've ever prayed for and on times he's said "No" to me, He has always given me better.
I'd love to hear how you can be so certain it's a sky fairy that "gives" you these things.
Which annointed one are you referring to? There are dozens in the bible...
lol?? Pithiest, YES!!
The genius of your handle is it couldn't possible be more inappropriate relative to your content. Hilarious and well done. Did I win?
No, it was just mud that stuck.
Prayer changes things
Hi Prayer-bot.
Purveyor of Truth
Causes all the misery on Earth.
Atheism is very healthy. Atheism represents recognition and acceptance that reality is more important than fantasy. Atheism is the use of your entire brain, and a shedding of futile belief in things that don't exist, like 2000 year old barbaric desert gods. Atheism is a step forwards for the human race, out of the dark ages of religion and into a brilliant future.
Let me put it this way; atheism is reason, intellect, and forward thinking. What've you got?
Should Christianity be so controlling that it allows cults to exist?
If there is an adjective that most describes Christians, I would say it is "compartmentalizing." Christians generally are functioning members of society who use logic and reason in every aspect of their lives EXCEPT their faith. They would never buy a stock or real estate because their agent or broker had a vision or claimed divine insight; they would never board a plane if they knew the maintenance crew downed their tools and prayed that everything would be ok with the plane; and they would never undergo an outdated, discredited 2,000 year old medical procedure.
But, when it comes to their religion, they will believe in the most absurd of supernatural nonsense – mind reading (or “prayers being heard”) by dead people or a god; in many cases, a 6,000 year old Universe; a dead Jew rising from the dead; etc. based on nothing more than 2,000 year old stories written by people they know nothing about which were compiled into a book by people they know nothing about using criteria they know nothing about.
Amazing. Tell them they are under a duty to believe the unbelievable and they will line up in the millions to obey the command with ovine obsequisness.
I think you've been hanging around some shallow minded Christians. The ones I know are wholly capable of articulating their convictions and their theology squared on nothing BUT reason.
On a side note, be careful not to fall into the trap of blind naturalism.
Then please do! (Oh and what's this "blind naturalism" you speak of?)
Colin, FYI on Christians and their faith.......Christians wouldn't buy stock because their stockbroker had a vision because God would reveal it directly to them. They wouldn't have to rely on a stockbroker's vision. Additionally, would you or any Atheist ever board a plane that wasn't properly maintained. Being a Christian doesn't mean you're foolish. God gave us brains to think with. It means that in times when things don't go as planned, that we as Christians will have faith that God will work it out for good for those who love Him.
Tracy G,
"we as Christians will have faith that God will work it out for good for those who love Him."
Yes, it is quite a tidy scenario:
- Bunch of people survive a tornado - "Thank 'God' they are still alive!"
- Several people die in that tornado - "They are happy with 'God' now!"
- Person survives cancer - "God" saved him!
- Person dies of cancer - "They are in a better place with 'God' now!"
I have no idea why believers build sturdy houses and tornado shelters or seek medical treatment when they can so easily go to "the BETTER place" to be with "God".
Anyone who can turn water into wine knows how to party.
Actually, that story almost certainly never happened. It appears only in John's gospel, written about 100 years after Jesus was born and is a common motif in Mediterranean literature of the time. Dionysus was also credited with such a feat.
Actually, the Gospel of John was almost certainly begun in ~65 or 70 A.D., and COMPLETED ~90 A.D. In addition, unlike Mark and Luke, John was an apostle (as was Matthew), so his recollections are likely to be MORE accurate than other gospel writers.
I don't put much stock in your "almost certainly"
Actually most biblical scholars would say that John was not written by an apostle.
We have a fragment of the gospel of John written 80AD-100AD.
"a King I am. For this I have been born and (for this) I have come into the world so that I would testify to the truth.
Everyone who is of the truth hears of me my voice.
"Said to him Pilate, "What is truth?" and this
having said, again he went out unto the Jews
and said to them, "I find not one
fault in him."
When you find fault in this extant copy you are blowing in the wind. Bottom line is you are not of the truth just as The Bible says and thus like the Jews throw out lies while even Pilate said I find not one fault in him.
And of course fred that was written 2nd hand at best
Zombie
Given we cannot even agree upon John as an author what does it matter if its second hand? The knowledge or confidence as to source was much better in 100AD than it was in 400AD and certainly better than yours our mine.
Truth is it fits with what other writings say and the context remains true to this day as with most of what Jesus had to say.
1) Jesus did testify to the truth
2) Those who are of the truth (believers) hear that truth while unbelievers do not.
Anyone can turn water into wine. All it takes is a grapevine and some yeast. Put the water around the grapevine, pick and crush the grapes, throw in the yeast and boom, wine!
But fairy tales are fun, too.
How absurd, the prodigal son parable doesn't emphasize a party – it's a celebration of his son's return, not a "fist pumping, Jersey shore party" (and you forgot the part about the brother getting very upset about not being honored despite his loyalty). The parable also isn't a literal story about a party thrown in someones honor – Mark 4 tells us that parables are told as metaphor for a lesson; in the case of the prodigal son it's that the father always seeks to reunite with his sons. This whole article is pandering, and extremely lame.
No, mental illness CAN be fun.
Profit Pour
This shaggy dog was prowling the bar and spattin’ out pussy hair like sunflower seeds.
I have taken that walk with him.
He never said much…that you could remember anyway. Not much difference in the pour either.
"It is impossible , I say, not to believe that there is in all this, design, cause and effect, up to an ultimate cause, a Fabricator of all things" - Thomas Jefferson
And who fabricated the fabricator. If you say "noboby"you have just broken the very rule you used to posit its existence.
He is the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omga
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Yes, indeed, T J said it well : But THAT is far and away from our present commercialized concept of an anthropomorphic "God".
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There certainly was / is an agency of some sort behind all this - But It showed / shows little compassion for man nor beast !
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We have been pretty much dumped off at the station - One NOT necessarily of our choice, either !
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Yes, with a brain, but one unfortunately few have fathomed how to PRODUCTIVELY use.
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Shake off all fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God, because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear.
First, no matter what parents do, sometimes children find them boring because their idea of partying is not necessarily the same.
If you're not eluding to the rules and ethics getting in the way, you're just plain hanging out in the wrong churches and congregations. The joy of Christian music has spawned more great musicians than you probably know of. The happy dancing joyful churches must be eluding your experience. People are smiling, hugging and helping each all through the week in congregations I belong to.
However, CNN doesn't run positive spin articles on Christianity so most likely there's a larger issue here.
Good parties involve se.x and/or booze and drugs.
Rock n Roll ,smoke a bowl!
Quit following me I got no more to give you people I got no more to give so no coffee... I'm done. Done.
But I wasn’t done. I was only pouring foundation. That is when it happened. Yeah I guess it is like a cell. It has dark spots, corners. There is a lighted area but the bulb flickers on and off more than it used too. Strange to be a rabid animal in a cage you built yourself and when they try to save you….bite them…then ask them to come back.
to eat a steak, politely rest your butter knife through a perfectly cooked filet that melts in your mouth like warm, fresh spoiled tuna.