I was waiting in line to see Thor and there was a group of nerds ahead of me. I was eavesdropping on their conversation and heard them talking about WOW and leveling up all of their different characters. Even without hearing their conversation, though, I could tell that they were nerds. One had a dragon t-shirt on, another had really bad facial fair and there was a dearth of wedding rings among this group of grown men.
Standing next to them I wondered if that was how people perceived me.
I’m proud to be a nerd but sometimes I don’t like all the stigmas that come along with the label. I love Star Trek, Star Wars and video games but I’m also aware that there is much more to life than my pet nerdclinations. I like being a nerd but sometimes I don’t feel like I match up to others’ definitions of a nerd.
I feel the same way about being a Christian.
A lot of people have a very negative view of Christians. The Barna group researched how people viewed Christians and the results weren’t very encouraging. Most people view Christians as anti-gay, judgmental and hypocritical. That isn’t very flattering. As a Christian I don’t want people to think that I’m anti-gay, judgmental and hypocritical.
I don’t want a lot of negative nerd connotations. But I really don’t want a lot of negative Christian connotations.
I’m sure a lot of the people who think Christians are anti-gay, judgmental and hypocritical have met Christians who exemplify those characteristics. The only problem is that Jesus didn’t exemplify any of those characteristics. He was loving, compassionate, accepting and genuine. If everyone who had a negative view of Christians could spend some time with Jesus, then maybe they’d change their definition.
But no one is going to get that kind of face time with Jesus so it’s up to Christians to live like Jesus and change others’ definitions. If we can live like Jesus and respond to others like he did, then there’s a good chance we can start changing some definitions.
If we all work at it together, it may even be easier than convincing people that Star Trek isn’t nerdy.
How do you like to change others’ definitions of a Christian?
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