7 signs you're doing Christianity wrong

It's hard to be a Christian sometimes in this aggravating world that sometimes spits in the face of what you believe. I get that. I struggle, too, with how to live and love God in the best way that I can. I also read what other Christians write, listen to what other Christians say, and reflect on my own presuppositions about the faith, which has led me to this: there are some terrible ways to show your Christian faith and the internet has basically blown all of them up for the world to see.

So, here it is: a non-definitive list of signs that you're not doing this whole "being a Christian" thing very well. I hope it helps.

Seven signs you're doing Christianity wrong

1. You spend the majority of your time discrediting other Christians

We spend far too much time and energy debasing, slandering, and outright mocking other faith traditions who still claim Jesus Christ as Lord. I understand the desire to follow right doctrine, and frankly I think you should fully embrace the theological traditions that make you who you are, but just because you think you have a perfect faith tradition is absolutely no reason to ridicule others. That's just a sign of insecurity, and it's the kind of thing that the Pharisees of Jesus' time just loved. Hint: That's not a good thing.

2. You consider pride a virtue and humility a vice

It's great to believe strongly in what you hold dear. In fact, I don't think it's a vice to have some pride in those things that matter dearly to you, as long as it is a kind of selfless pride in a thing outside of yourself. But it really is a problem if you talk as if humility is a sign of weakness, because Jesus demonstrated that humility is in fact the one certain trait by which we can emulate him, taking up the cross and humbling ourselves unto death (cf. Philippians 2:8). If you talk as if pride is more important than humility then something has gone awry.

3. You have God all figured out

If you honestly believe that your little brain understands everything there is to know about the God who knitted you together in your mother's womb (cf. Psalm 139) then you should probably find a more complicated God. Those who Jesus runs into who need to be right (the lawyers of his day), always go away disappointed. You aren't always right. Get over it. You have a Savior who takes you as you are.

4. You think the Bible is not the Word of God (or, conversely, you think that the Bible is the only Word of God)

There are two sides to this and both are troublesome. If you treat the Bible only as a nice book from long ago that was written by some well-meaning people about something they thought to be the God of the universe, then I don't understand what rationale you could possibly use to claim the Christian faith, because Christianity is rooted in history that stretches back to Jesus (obviously) but also much further into the Old Testament.

However, if you think that God only speaks to us through Scripture, then I struggle to see how you can be a post-Nicene Christian, since we claim all these things that the Holy Spirit does and is doing here today as authentically Christian. That doesn't mean that the Holy Spirit is going to contradict things in the Bible, but it also doesn't mean it won't. Scripture is sometimes timeless and sometimes temporal. Arguing over which is which is far less important than trusting that scripture holds Christ, but it is not God. Too many of us fall into either fallacy--or sometimes both.

5. You get hung up on the "issues"

No matter your political leanings there will be issues of ethical consideration for any person, least of all any Christian, to consider. Whether it's abortion, or war, or cloning, or human sexuality, or you name it, you can pretty well count on disagreeing not just with non-Christians but also with other people within your own faith. Let's be clear: your faith should inform what you believe on social and ethical issues. The issue is not what you believe or how you believe, but what importance you put on those beliefs and how you treat your neighbor who disagrees with you. People believe all sorts of things that seem, on the surface, contrary to their faiths, but that doesn't mean they haven't spent a good deal of time in thought and prayer to come to that conclusion. The greater wrong in dealing with social issues is that we make them a stumbling block to hearing the Gospel. After all, even Jesus (who had a tremendous amount of concern for the poor by all accounts) told his disciples that they would always have the poor among them but they would not always have him (Mt. 26:11, Mk 14:7, Jn 12:8). However you feel on the "issues," you should not let the issues trump your identity as Christians.

6. You don't pray

This might be the most important point, because it tends to color all the others. A pastor friend of mine talks about a man who recently wrote a book on contemplative prayer and who openly admitted that he didn't practice any of the prayer techniques himself. This is very American; it's also a terrible way to be a Christian. A lot of people talk about prayer cheaply. They say "I'm praying for you" when, honestly, they're not. At best they might actually be saying, or thinking, a person's name night after night, which is fine (it's better than the majority of those who say they're praying for you, I would guess), but it's not actually honoring the fact that prayer is open communication with God. If your idea of prayer is only reciting a few words and moving on with your day, then it's not so much conversation with God as it is you demanding of God several things which you hope, by some luck, God will grant you.

Authentic prayer is time consuming and it's hard. Honestly, I struggle with it. Sitting in silence for ten or twenty minutes is not going to get you followers on Twitter like attacking a popular Christian writer or pastor, but those minutes or hours are where the rubber meets the road for the Christian faith, because prayer is about both being honest with God and lifting up our concerns, and then (perhaps primarily) it is about listening to God and discovering our rightful place in the universe (which is, I'm sorry to say, pretty small). You may have a great grasp of what the Christian faith means academically, but if you do not spend time in prayer on a regular basis you are not actually being Christian. That may sound harsh, but I think it's true.

7. You write blog posts like this

This whole thing is at least a little tongue-in-cheek because this is certainly not building up as much as it is tearing down the body of Christ. I realize it's under the guise of helpful advice, but I almost didn't write this at all because it violates several of the points I'm trying to make. For that I confess my failings. I'm sorry if you take offense. It's tough business these days to not be hypocritical and say anything at all. So, if you take away anything from this maybe it should be that we are all the same--sinners in need of redeeming. We need a God who can cut through all our crap. This might not help, or it might. Take the better path than I am doing. Be better at this Christianity thing than I am.