Secular

Earlier this week, I wrote a post about being a former atheist, and how the Christian walk and the 'moral atheist' lifestyle look way too similar.  Am I actually set apart?  A wise man I know suggests that we don our faith every moment, every day.  This could create a pressure to put on 'the ornaments' of a Christian life: a bookshelf full of publicly-recognized Christian authors, a Jesus fish on my car, all the right Air1 artists on my iPad, Focus on the Family videos on my Facebook page, footprints on the bookmark in my Beth Moore book?

Please know that, even outside of the Church, there are pieces of God everywhere.  There are morsels on the floor for those of us who weren't raised at the Masters table. Growing up 'secular', my first encounters with God were not in a church building, at a retreat or camp.  I have been bestowed with the gift of seeing the Divine in the secular (whether that is a spiritual gift is open for debate).  Those who know me recognize this. Where one person may gaze critically at the stars and shudder at the falsehoods of astrology, I see the unchanging God in the Heavens. Another may recoil at the sin laid bare in the lyrics of Numb, What I've Done, Leave Out all the Rest, or Waiting for the End, but I hear a cry for redemption and deliverance from Linkin Park.  (Bet we won't be singing those choruses in the building Sunday morning!)  I see through the alleged-witchcraft and savor an allegory of Christ in the story of Harry Potter.  I seek the Holy Spirit in the earthly dirt of a run or a hike.  Hence, I cherish the mountains and visit them as often as I can.  They remind me that faith has already moved mountains, by moving me.

So I question:
Why is the Divine-amid-the-secular seen as unacceptable in the church?  Is truth no longer truth when it is tainted with the stuff of earth?  Or do we consume it only when it comes packaged within a Zondervan label?

Do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil.
     -Romans 14:16

Atheist

I am from the secular world.  Granted, it was the moral side of town, but still the secular side of the tracks.  I was unchurched. Let's take a peek back:  maybe it is not as different as you think.

The world was all I knew; I figured I should make the most of it.  If I got only one shot at life on earth, then by golly, I was gonna really live.  Aim high. Live joyously.  Not by means of debauchery, mind you.   I could easily avoid the mistakes of others in my generation by guarding my actions and behaviors.  I knew the love of family, friends, and nature.  Altruism was surprising not as rare as you'd expect for an atheist, but it served no higher purpose than a means to mutual respect.  I discovered deep meaning in literature, science, and mathematics.  I enjoyed the rich resonant beauty in music.  I had a good work ethic, and was overall a good citizen (save a few speeding tickets). I lived comfortably, not extravagantly.  There were no glaring blemishes on my reputation.  I made good choices about my health so that I would see many years to come.  I donated to worthy causes.  I'd like to say I was patriotic, but well, nobody's perfect.  I would plan my life and retire early, then relax and enjoy the fruits of my labor.

But at the end of the day, in the quiet dark of the night while awaiting sleep, I would reflect on my own mortality. When my time came, I would be snuffed out like a candle.  A switch flipped. Lights out.  Cold, black nothing.  The end.  Forever.

You see, as a nonbeliever, as an atheist, my life's purpose revolved around me: my comforts, my dreams, my joys, and my loves.  It was unmistakably hopeless.  I was an unsuspecting passenger on a runaway train barreling toward certain doom, yet all the while I was more concerned about a pleasant journey, rather than how to get off that ride I knew had an end.  If that life plan sounds familiar, then maybe you are living my former dream:  the dream of the common atheist (a.k.a.'the American dream').

Shouldn't salvation impact our lives?  Should the blood of Christ bring more than just the hope of eternity in Heaven with our Creator?  When you think of Peter, do you recall images of a successful peaceful fisherman?  Was Paul's Christian claim-to-fame that he was a model citizen?  Does the wife of noble character in Proverbs 31 spend her days delving into Beth Moore studies?  Similarly, I lived a well-intended, moral, ethical life before I became a follower of Christ.  But it was perfectly self-centered, hell-bound, hopeless, and wholly lost.

Please don't confuse the truth of God with living morally.
And don't forget that you are a sojourner.  Time to get off the train.