Christian Culture Junkie – A Guest Post

This is a guest post written by Kala, my precious, younger sister-in-Christ.  She blogs at Refo Girl and it’s been an absolute joy to witness her transformation from a Christian culture junkie to a lover of the Word of God.

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Hear me out. I’m exposing myself. This is my confession.

You can call it whatever you want: Christian Culture, Pop Christianity, and so on. It is the world that many self-proclaiming Christians will declare as home base. Let me set the scene for you.

My name is Kala Christian and I’m the youth ministry intern at Grace Hope Missionary Non-denominational Bible Community Church. We have five services every Sunday and have around five million people in attendance. I don’t want to brag, but the music at my church is just phenomenal. We have this awesome band and they play all the latest songs. Sometimes we have big names lead worship for us. That is why I first started going to GHMNBCC. I just loved the music. It is just like being at a rock concert and I love getting chills when I feel the bass drum kick in my chest. It is so worshipful and it totally feels like the presence of God is in the room. I get to stand next to my friends and watch them in amazement as they lift their hands in the air and sing from the depths of their souls. It is amazing to see how even people like them, people who you wouldn’t think were Christians by looking at their lives, really are Christians. It is just a testament to how God loves everyone and wants to be a part of all of our lives, even when our lives are so messy and look completely God-less. God is love!

My job as intern is to hang out with kids in the youth group. Our youth group is called Revolution|180|Edge Ministry. We meet every Wednesday night in our youth building for games, food, and music. The youth minister usually talks for a minute about not doing drugs or not having sex before marriage and sometimes we will watch videos. Those NOOMA videos that Rob Bell has are amazing. Such important lessons to learn about life. We also have small groups, one of which I lead. I usually have about six or seven of the youth meet me at Starbucks where we go through a study book and learn about God. We just started doing ‘The Purpose Driven Life.’ I think the guys are really getting a lot out of it. We will sit and drink coffee for a few minutes, catch up with each others lives and talk about the week. Then we will talk about what we liked from that week’s reading and what we had trouble with. I think it is a great way to hold each other accountable and really get connected in as a group.

I try to dress in a way that shows I put my faith in God. I wear a lot of Christian t-shirts, because that way someone will know I am a Christian without me having to even do anything. It is like free advertisement. I also wear a WWJD bracelet, even though I know it is sort of old and corny! I think it is a great way to remind myself and other people to think about how Jesus would respond in situations that we may find ourselves in. I only listen to Christian music and I go to every Christian concert that comes through town. It is pretty much my dream to be a Christian music artist. I’d love to be able to stand on stage and sing about positive things and maybe impact a few lives. What an amazing way to serve God! I think my main purpose in life is to show people Jesus through my life, by loving and caring about others. I try to find ways to encourage people and show them I care about them. We may be the only bible people ever read, so we should strive to be like Jesus and love others.

I like to share Jesus with people by first building relationships with them. I think it is important to not scare people away from God. It can be a bit much to handle at first, so I try to show them how much better my life is with God, you know…show them how attractive being a Christian can be. I love Jesus with all my heart. Haha, I joke with my friends that Jesus is my husband. He is my first love! And I am so in love with him and I know he loves me. I try to be like him and love others so that they will think, “Man, I want my life to be like Kala’s. What does she have that I don’t?” Then I can tell them about Jesus and they may decide to accept Jesus into their hearts. It is such an awesome thing to be a part of! Speaking of husbands, I believe in waiting for my prince. I wear a purity ring to show people that I am waiting. I know that he will be perfect for me, but to be honest, sometimes I worry that I won’t find him. I see other girls my age who are far more beautiful than me and better Christians, so I sometimes worry that I’m not going to be good enough for one of those princes. I’ve decided that if I’m not married by the time I’m twenty-five, I’ll reconsider what I’m looking for. Jesus is great and everything, but I feel incomplete without a boyfriend. This is my biggest struggle. I just feel like something is missing. I’ve been reading some great books on dating in the Christian world though, so I am excited to see who God will bring into my life so that my life can be made whole.

I share the Gospel all the time with people by my actions and my speech. What is the Gospel? The Gospel is about love. John 3:16! God loved us so much that He sent his son to die for us so that we can live with him forever. Amen!

If you are offended by this, it is probably because you are part of this ’scene.’ What is wrong with it? It lacks the very core of the Christian faith: the Gospel. Romans 1:16 says that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. All of this other stuff is just junk. You may be thinking, who the heck is this girl to make a joke out of this? I am a former Christian Culture junkie. I lived this life. That was my life. That senario is me not even a year ago. I immersed myself into the Christian world because I thought it was the right thing to do. It made me feel like I was doing something good, like my life was headed in the right direction. I thought I was seeking after God, but I never felt like I could find Him. I felt like I just didn’t quite get it, like something was missing from the puzzle so that I couldn’t make sense of things. I was so close, I just needed something to get me there. So I tried different avenues: joining small groups, reading Christian books, eating scripture mints, putting a Jesus fish on my car, and etc. Walk into a Christian bookstore and think of all the possibilities. I’ve tried them all.

Pretending to be something that you are not does not lead to salvation. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV). Playing ‘Christian’ will not redeem you. No matter how many good things you think you are doing, not matter how well you speak Christianese, no matter how many concerts you’ve been to, no matter how many Christian rock stars you’ve met, no matter how much Christian merchandise you own, if you do not believe in God’s one and only Son, you stand condemned. ”Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” (Matthew 7:21-23)

I hope that if my old life sounds a lot like yours, you will heed this warning. Christianity is not a game.