Make Me a Christian

This morning in Church the vicar preaching made regular reference to the recent Channel 4 reality show "Make me a Christian". If he will forgive me I will make reference to a few of his own comments about the show and collaborate them with my own ideas.

His immediate response, with which I agree entirely, was to the title: "Make me a Christian". Immediately the antennae of the sceptic will be aroused by this phrase, one which implies that becoming a Christian, or indeed a believer in any faith, involves coercion and passivity rather than making an active, conscious decision entirely of one's own accord. 1-0 to the secularist sceptic.

Next the producers cleverly chose four religious leaders who behaved more like Victorian schoolmasters. So the view of Christianity as being about coercion is thus edified; the Christian life according to the image created by the programme involves a constant monitoring of one's activities (with, yet again, a particular emphasis on sex: does no-one care about lying, hatred or violence any more?). 2-0 to the secularist sceptic.

The show then proceeded to show the Christian attitude towards anyone who questions the faith. In a meeting a particularly vocal sceptic of the faith raised questions about the authenticity of the Bible; a fair, if not age-old, issue. And how did the Christian minister in charge of the meeting respond? By effectively telling him to put his hand down, be quiet and do as he was told. What a fantastic testimony to the Christian faith, because after all, all Christians avoid and refuse to answer questions or engage in healthy debate, don't we? We are all ignorant, arrogant and bigoted. (Note the sarcasm). And, guess what, it's 3-0 to the secularist sceptic.

So it's not looking good so far. The image of the Christian life and faith is one of ignorance, arrogance, harsh rules, non-flexibility, bullying, judgement and a judgemental attitude, and coercion.

I may as well give up now...

But HOLD ON A MINUTE...there is a glimmer of hope. This glimmer came in a clip that lasted literally about 2 minutes, but that 2 minutes reflected for me what the entire series should have been like, and summarised for me what Christianity truly is. It was a moment when the otherwise bullying vicar questioned one of the female contestants about her life. And as he began to refer to the words Jesus spoke over 2000 years ago, there was a poignant moment in which the viewers could clearly see the change as the girl gradually become more and more tearful, and the messages and the issues addressed really hit home, and hit personal troubles, experiences and issues in this girl's life.

And THAT is what Christianity, indeed any faith, is about. It's not about rule-making or enforcing, or passing judgement, or coercion. It's about taking a person who is vulnerable (and, let's face it, we're all vulnerable at times), and showing them that the issues in their life can be addressed in a way that surpasses all Earthly methods.

For these methods call upon a force than which nothing greater exists: almighty God.