Why? Don’t get me wrong. I’m not at all ashamed by the subject matter or by the fact that a church is willing to talk about it. I’m embarrassed as a Christian and as a pastor because the gimmicky appeal simply perpetuates the negative stereotype of Christianity that it is a cheap and shallow religion. You see, many people already think that Christianity is an American religion that derived in the last few hundred years, and this kind of ploy only reinforces that perception.

Any student of religion knows that Christianity is certainly not a modern invention of American culture, and it is absolutely not even a Western religion as its origins and foundations are in the ancient Middle East. In fact, its Judaic roots go so far back into history that in its incipient form Christianity can make the claim that it actually predates all the other religions in the world today. But, you wouldn’t know that when you get a mailer or drive by a billboard like that here in the United States, would you?

No, you’d probably think that Christianity is an American invention created by the founders of our country as part of the great American experiment. As Christianity is often presented in our culture today, you might easily get the impression that it is a religion that exists to serve the needs of American citizens and to make their lives better here in this country. But, that is simply not what Christianity is about.

In his book Amusing Ourselves To Death, Neil Postman wrote this: “I believe that I am not mistaken in saying that Christianity is a demanding and serious religion. When it is delivered as easy and amusing, it is another kind of religion altogether.” American Christianity, when it is portrayed as light and entertaining, is not really Christianity at all. It is, as Postman says, “another religion altogether”.

Personally, I’m having a hard time picturing James or Peter back in Jerusalem sticking flyers in the doors of their neighbors inviting them to come hear a series on “How to have great sex” or “How to be successful in your trade”. Had they done so, I’m quite sure more people would have shown up, but those people would probably have gotten the wrong impression about Christianity.

They would likely have drawn the conclusion that Christianity is there to serve their needs and provide them the keys to living a more fulfilling existence. And yet, that isn’t what Jesus offered to his followers during his time on earth. Jesus told his disciples that following him wouldn’t add more friends, it would subtract them. Following him wouldn’t make them more successful, it would likely take it away. And, following him wouldn’t give them a better life, it would probably cost them theirs.

When Jesus preached wherever He went, we see that He deliberately thinned the crowds who had gathered by calling them to count the cost of following after him. People came from all over, perhaps hoping to hear something they liked, but we read in the gospels that many turned away from him when Jesus didn’t tell them what they wanted to hear.

What resulted after this exodus was a gallery of followers who were fewer in number but who also were more sincere and devoted in their faith. This small band of disciples were more than willing to give up their comfort, give away their possessions, and give their very lives for the One who called them. And, it was this band of followers that, as it says in the book of Acts, “turned the world upside down”.

There is a story about the Italian warrior Garibaldi who long ago asked young followers to join his crusade to defend his country. They asked him: “What do you offer us?” His response was: “Offer you? I offer you neither pay nor quarters nor provisions. I offer hunger, thirst, forced marches, battle, and death. Let him know who loves his country in his heart, not with his lips only, follow me.”

This is akin to what Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 10:34-39 when He said: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace (read comfort, pleasure and success) to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

Now, admittedly that is not a very likable message, but it is the true message nonetheless. The call of Jesus upon his followers is to a life of sacrifice and devotion, not a life of comfort and pleasure. That message doesn’t sell too well here in America, but we must make a choice between selling success and telling the truth. And, the truth is that real Christianity isn’t cheap and shallow, it’s costly and challenging.

Hundreds of years ago there was a king named Abu Taber, when threatened by invading forces and visited by an ambassador with terms of peace, he summoned one of his soldiers, handed him a dagger and commanded: “Plunge this into your chest.” Immediately the soldier obeyed and fell dead at his feet. Then, calling another, he ordered: “Leap over that precipice and into the Euphrates.” Without a moment’s hesitation that soldier leaped to his death.

Then, turning to the ambassador, the king said: “Go, tell your master that I have 500 men like that, and that within 24 hours I will have him chained with my dogs.” And, the story is that even against overwhelming odds, Abu Taber and his small but devoted band of followers won that war convincingly.

What is the point of this story? Well, the point is simply that having fewer but more devoted followers is actually preferable to having more but less faithful ones. That is what Jesus chose for himself and intended for those who would follow him, but many wouldn’t know that by the caricatured version of Christianity that they experience so often today.

Rarely do people hear the convicting but truthful message about Christianity in our culture, that it is indeed as Neil Postman said “a demanding and serious religion”. The honest truth is that Christianity isn’t shallow and cheap, and it’s high time that pastors and churches stop presenting it that way.

If you are a pastor, elder or ministry leader of any kind, consider this a plea to stop trivializing our faith by peddling an inauthentic form of Christianity. Please stop the mailers, the flyers and the billboards that embarrass the church and make her look like a cheap tramp when she is the holy and unblemished bride of Jesus Christ.

For those of us that care deeply about preserving not just the message of our faith but also the legacy of our faith, we are asking that church leaders rethink how they sell the gospel in America. The truth is that Christianity is supposed to be a hard sell and many people just won’t be up to the task, so we are not doing them or our faith any favors by selling it on the cheap.

What I’m genuinely concerned about is that by peddling gimmicky Christianity we are not only filling our churches with insincere, halfhearted consumers but that we are also jeopardizing the legitimacy of our faith by encouraging it. This kind of selling doesn’t accomplish the mission that Jesus began and it even imperils the reputation of the Church in the world.

I believe, therefore, that the best thing we can do both for people and for our faith is to be up front and honest about the serious demands of Christianity so that we won’t defraud the people who come to our churches looking for genuine Christianity and so that we won’t defile the reputation of our churches in front of those who don’t.

So, what kind of religion would Christianity be if it is presented as easy and amusing? I think his point is that the American persuasion of Christianity fits that description well. By his observation, the American Christian on average is a different breed of Christian than the historical kind. In the book Postman argues that we are, as a nation, the most misinformed people in the world, and that applies as well to the knowledge and application of our so-called faith.

American Christianity has become to the world something of a caricature of its historic self. In other words, the Church in America today has been qualified as a lightweight version of a heavyweight institution because for the bulk of its history, the Church has leaned hard on its people and demanded much from them whereas today very little is asked or demanded of people by their Christian faith at all.

Yes, we hear sermons about taking up our crosses by being willing to suffer or even die, but almost none of us will ever be called upon to do so. We also hear about hating our mothers and fathers in comparison to loving Jesus, and still very few of us will ever really choose to do that. And, we are told that we should forsake the world in exchange for eternal glory, and yet only a small segment of us will be serious enough about our commitment to follow through with it.

The simple truth is that we are the most comfortable, self-centered and affluent generation living in the most protected, egocentric and excessive nation in all the world, and we have chosen a version of Christianity that fits our paradigm perfectly. Our persuasion of the Christian faith is very much a reflection of ourselves and our culture, and one of the distinctives of that reflection is a relatively easy and amusing Christianity.

Even Neil Postman is cynical about how Christianity is sold and exchanged in our country as a form of shallow entertainment and dedicated a whole chapter in his book to the embarrassing subject. His conclusion is that we have created this brand of Christianity by treating the church like we treat listeners or viewers on radio or television, as demographically monitored consumers to be studied and marketed to. In other words, Christians in the pews are not so much soldiers of faith or servants of righteousness but clients with felt needs as well as thick wallets and open calendars.

The suggestion is that we are responsible for creating this thimble deep Christian consumer culture because we do try to give people not what they need but rather what they want. And, as Postman pointed out, that is not what religion is for. As he rightly said, no recognized worldwide religion in history has offered people what they want, only what they need. And, what people need is not more forms of entertainment but answers to real problems, which aren’t losing weight, making money or having a happier marriage, by the way. No, real problems are personal corruption because of sin, self destruction because of immoral choices and self consumption because of poor stewardship.

Postman rightly observes that Christianity is actually a very demanding and serious religion, but one wouldn’t necessarily get that from a cursory overview of the average church experience. Nor would they get that from the average sermon or book or television simulcast. Though there are obvious exceptions, the usual message sent across pulpits, through pages and over the airwaves is usually a non-offensive user friendly message intended to appeal to and offer something positive to the masses.

Now, it’s not that there isn’t something very positive in the message of the gospel, which is that there is genuine forgiveness, life and purpose for all who believe in Jesus Christ, but that promise is often attached to personal sacrifice, societal rejection and even global persecution. Jesus never offered his followers promises of or keys to prosperity and health but rather guarantees of and invitations to suffering and death. Admittedly, that message doesn’t sell very well to an opulent, egocentric culture, and one can understand why the message has been softened and translated the way that it has today.

However, understanding why and how the message has been changed doesn’t make that aberration acceptable or even tolerable. In fact, accepting and even tolerating that message is precisely the reason why we are in the dilemma we are facing now. Perhaps if we had followed historical precedent and carried on the tradition of keeping the message pure, then we would be in a very different place in the world than we are today.

Postman’s assessment that the message of Christian faith is largely easy and amusing today is primarily why the Church is so large in America in comparison to the Church elsewhere in the world. America has long billed itself as the Christian nation of the world, and it is still perhaps true to make that statement only in the sense that more people call themselves Christian in America per capita than any other country in the world. Now, that number would absolutely plummet to the point of being realistically on par with other nations around the world if we dropped the label and counted genuine disciples of Jesus rather than professing cultural Christians.

I, for one, am convinced that the Church in American is probably nothing close to the size that we boast. And, though I am admittedly skeptical by nature, I feel in my spirit that there are a great many people who fill churches around this nation who neither know Christ or His Word in any sort of personal way. Though they may squeeze attending church into their public life as part of their American social portfolio, the truth of the matter is that likely nothing seismic has occurred in their hearts that would call them to genuine radical and sacrificial faith.

I’m convinced that if we started to call people to make a choice between the two, then the Church would start to take its real form and begin to function as it should. At the same time, I believe that if we did this, then Christians would have to get used to the realization that we are and have probably always been among the religious minority in our country. The truth is that the public face of our nation has always been Christian, but the private practice of our people has really always been something different.

So, perhaps what we need to do is take another look at ourselves in an honest mirror and see what we really look like. Though, we should be forewarned and prepared for the fact that we might not look like we thought we did and might not actually like what we see. But that, after all, may be just the kind of motivation that we need.