Stepping outside of the shelter

Posted by admin on Mar 23, 2010 in Featured Articles | 1 comment

Are Christians sheltered? Many “outsiders,” newcomers and even veterans of Christian subculture will answer with a resounding “Yes.” Christian subculture plays a large role in this perception.

Christian subculture: it’s the environment that surrounds and shapes us, a shared identity we create, support and perpetuate. It’s often difficult to pinpoint, especially from within, but many products of this subculture are easily identified – music (Starfield), clothing (Got Jesus?) and language (“We’re so blessed…”), for example. We surround ourselves with Christian media, Christian activities, and other Christians – insulating ourselves from the big bad world outside.
Is this wrong? We are called to be in the world but not of it. So we use our God-given creativity to create a parallel culture within the world with messages that are not of the world.

While I have only the fondest memories of DC Talk, Adventures in Odyssey and VeggieTales, I’ve come to realize this subculture we’ve created can actually cause more harm than good. It’s difficult to see something clearly from within it, yet stepping outside of the shelter and into the rain it looks nothing short
of frightening.

First of all, we harm ourselves by insulating ourselves within a Christian subculture. Having gone through Christian high school, Christian camps and Christian university, I have witnessed a repeating pattern: those who are most insulated crumble first and fall hardest when calamity strikes. The comfortable world of Christian subculture does not prepare us for the uncomfortable world of real life.

Christian subculture tends to shy away from negativity. Christian music can be warmly uplifting and VeggieTales can provide a cute and fun alternative to The Simpsons, with good, Ned Flanders-free Sunday School messages to boot. But the Bible is not always uplifting and cutesy… David, for one, did not hesitate in Psalms to rant and rave against God when he experienced doubt and despair, yet was still a “man after God’s own heart.”

Should we be expected to squelch all feelings of anger and angst? Christian hardcore band Project 86 was far more abstract and angrier sounding than Starfield or the Newsboys. Although Christians, they did not force an explicitly Christian message, but simply created art from experience, and rang more true to experience for many growing disillusioned with the strictly optimistic mainstream messages. There are other Christian media makers out there doing similar things, but like Project 86 they remain relegated to the fringes of the subculture.

Secondly, and probably more seriously, we harm the image of God in the view of “outsiders” (and many disillusioned Christians among us) when we create products of a subculture that are not well thought out.

What do these outsiders and disillusioned insiders see? A car cutting them off in traffic while giving them the finger and donning a Christian fish bumper sticker. A business card with a fish emblem antagonizes bad experiences with a less-than-ethical businessperson. A video game representing a supposedly Christian view of the future, where only men can be handymen and only women can be nurses, and the player runs around converting people while killing those who refuse to convert.

Finally, we sell ourselves short when we create a subculture that is sub-par. Art in the Baroque period, for example, was “Christian” art of the highest quality. Now we’re reduced to a shameful second best, trailing behind and copycatting “secular” media at every turn. Essentially we create cutesy, uplifting baby food when we could be creating meat and potatoes (or, for the vegans among us, some seriously top-notch tofu).

It strikes me that David was not trying to create an Israelite alternative to secular poetry. He was simply expressing himself creatively and excellently, and happened to be an Israelite.

In a similar way, several culture creators today don’t limit themselves to producing explicitly “for us by us” Christian messages, but seek to produce works of art that are excellent and creative. J.R.R. Tolkein is a favourite example of a Christian who did this with his fantasy books, and some video game developers – who happen to be Christians – have created some excellent, best-selling games that have helped diversify the field of video games from the usual blood and gore of the infamous first-person shooter (Sid Meier’s Civilization or Robyn and Rand Miller’s Myst, for example).

The solution to being “in the world and not of the world” is not as clear as building a shelter, surrounding ourselves in Christian subculture. Likewise completely immersing ourselves in the world and just going with the flow is to fail ourselves and our God. The challenge is to exist in the tension between – to navigate the world without hiding from it, to create… excellently.

How do we exist authentically and faithfully in this tension? There are no easy answers to this question, but identifying the need to reflect on our subculture is a good start. Stepping outside the shelter helps us realize how our subculture harms those within it, harms the image of God, and falls far short of excellence. Hopefully this can inspire us to venture into the world outside and make a creative, excellent and lasting impact.