Survive This!

This video has been pretty popular on the various web and radio outlets that I'm commonly checking out. I don't watch Survivor, specifically because I hate a show that glorifies the human condition and our ability to take advantage of any given situation that might give us a personal benefit. (/end sermon)

However, it seems that a bit of Christianity crept into the show recently in this new season. Check out this video:



The video is long, so if you're thinking "Ehh... no thanks, tl/dr." (That's "too long/didn't read" for you folks playing at home), let me summarize; Two contestants on the show were open about their faith and one of them had a Bible. She lost the competition and gave the Bible to the other guy who was also a Christian.

Most people are talking about the amazing fact that CBS didn't cut the religious portions out of the episode. Everyone's like "Wow - I can't believe they left that in there!"

As my youngest son would say... "Why come?"

Please don't get me wrong - I watched the whole video and really appreciated seeing two people who were willing to speak out about their faith, even in a situation where that faith would be wildly unpopular. I was Especially touched by the loser giving her Bible away and the appreciation that you could see on the guy's whole body. That's good stuff.

But what happened to us as a people that makes this issue so surprising? I could, perhaps, be seeing an issue where there isn't really one in the first place, but it just seems so heartbreaking to me that a TV show that actually showed Christians openly would be considered a "wow" type thing.

I'd like to submit the following as a reason why; Because we (the Church) let it happen.

God's been on my case a great deal, recently, on the importance of being a disciple and the cost that comes along with that. In fact, in my preaching class Monday I preached on discipleship, and so did the other 3 guys that preached. We could have preached ANYTHING from any of the four Gospels, yet we all preached discipleship? Tell me that's random... you can't.

What has bothered me the most is a reference Paul made to the Corinthian believers. Look:

Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ. 1 Corinthians 11:1

I think things like this Survivor deal highlight the fact that we, the Church, have failed to imitate Christ. And, in turn, the world imitated what they saw - a limp-wristed faith that would rather shrug and say "oh well," than actually getting dirty and taking care of business. So, you then might say - "Hold up preacher boy... the world doesn't even pay attention to the Christian Church, so they didn't imitate us - they are just nasty, dirty sinners!"

We need to realize that the Devil never took any ground that we did not first surrender to him.

In a survivor sort of mood - I wonder how the church survives with any sort of relevance as we go into the future. Christianity, if it hasn't been already, is about to be "voted off the island" in the hearts and minds of a lot of people... and that's my fault. That's your fault Sister Christian. You too, Brother - we did this.

But, we can undo it too. We can reclaim the beauty of the Gospel and start living like the disciples we have been called to be. We can really live the life we've been called to live and take back what we so foolishly turned over to the Devil.

Cause even the gates of Hell can't prevail against us.