If you look at the history of the punk rock movement, not the modern drivel, but the real punks you will find that it was a rejection of many things going on at the time: flower power, political idealism, the royal class in England, pop music, and much more. This led to a stated belief in anarchy and a lot of DIY emphasis. Today the movement is pretty much dead. It has gone the way of Christmas and is commercialized and sterilized and packaged for mass consumption and worse yet embracing the same political idealism rejected by the first punks. I don’t even mean the prevailing liberal idealism present in punk but even the right wing punks. Both sides have embraced an idealism that was soundly rejected in the beginning. That’s all the information we need to move forward. While I love the music this isn’t about the state of the punk scene…
So how do I reconcile being a punk with being a Christian? Punk is and was about rebellion. Most people, ministers included, will tell you that rebellion is a bad thing and it’s not very Godly. I say that while rebellion in many circumstances is wrong that those who say it is always wrong are short sighted and have forgotten things like a certain set of theses nailed to certain door. I also firmly believe that all of our emotions are still intact after the fall but they have become corrupted. It is through God’s guidance and wisdom that we use these corrupted emotions for his good. We know, for a fact, that God is a jealous God and yet in most cases while we are still trapped in this mortal coil it is not good for us. I don’t want to get too deep into the theology of emotions but I did feel a need to explain my position before going further. So to sum up: Every emotion we have, rebellion included, was created for a purpose and has a Godly purpose.
I consider myself a punk when it comes to the church. I am not ready to accept the status quo and be a good little pew warmer. In fact I would like to see the status quo torn down and replaced. I am not speaking of any single church specifically but of the visible church as a whole. Denominations dividing us. Preachers spewing hate against other Christians. Congregrants whose entire ability to talk about God consists of bumper sticker witicisms. These things are what the world see of the visible church. I could blame the media because they decide what to show the world but better yet I lay the blame at the feet of the visible church for ever giving these things to show. If we did as we should, if we practiced unity in any real fashion, not the lip service payed to unity today, then the media wouldn’t have the freakshow that they get to choose from today.
So yes I am a Christian Punk. I am rebelling against a church that has allowed the name “Christian” to be drug through the mud. To be slandered by the likes of Fred Phelps. To be shown in the worst possible light. Furthermore I am sickened that around Christmas time we make a big play to “keep Christ in Christmas” and then we allow ourselves to participate in the commercialization of the date chose the celebrate Christ’s birth. This is just the tip of the iceberg. I am no longer content to watch people sit comfortably in the pews on Sunday and go back to their daily lives with no change. If what we believe is true then it changes people. I know there will always be some folks who don’t change but when the majority of people I meet are Christian zombies then something is wrong.
So yeah I am a punk. I am punk in the truest sense of punk. I intend to make a lot noise and make people think. Christianity, by definition, should not be comfortable. The Bible tells us that we will be persecuted for His name and if we aren’t being persecuted, and trust me not getting put up a nativity scene at city hall isn’t persecution, then we may well be doing something wrong. If we are only getting noticed for the crazies and not denouncing them so loud that the media can’t help but pay attention then we are most assuredly doing something wrong. If it takes bikers, who may or may not be Christians, to drown out Fred Phelps at a serviceman’s funeral then my question is WHERE IS THE CHURCH?
So I am not rebelling against God. I am rebelling for God. I am rebelling against a visible church that has become more concerned with feeling God than with saving souls or leading people beyong the initial salvation experience. I am rebelling for God. I am a punk with a purpose. I will be this punk until God wants me to do something different but until then I don’t intend to make to make the church comfortable.
When starting down this path I got to wondering what one man could do. I was answered by history and a look at Martin Luther, John Calvin, Alexander Campbell, Barton Stone, and many others. While I don’t agree with all of the theology those names invoke they were single men with a mission and they affected change for better or worse. I feel the church needs a good shake up. So I am gathering like minded people and am setting out to make it happen.
I pretty much concentrate on the aspects visible to the world in this little piece but the reality is the changes need to start well before the media ever sees anything. There are many essays on those things in my head. They span the denominations, congregations, and so on. There is too much to cover in one article. There may be too much to cover in bookshelf full of books. I only know what I feel God has called me to point out. I am sure there is much more than needs to the brought to light and that others have been and will be called to point those things out. Suffice to say I will be silent no more.
Comments
swart on 01.30.2009
Wow! That’s scary! You could be describing ME.
Hey, maybe I’m a Christian Punk too? Hmmm.
BTW The grammar nerd in me insists that it is ‘effected a change’. Sorry!