When Celebrity Christians Leave The Faith

by Caleb Moore | Jul 30, 2019

A few days ago a popular Christian writer and pastor left the Christian faith. This happened just days after he announced his divorce. Speculation of course has begun to run rampant. Christians are quick to create theories as to why he left while atheist bloggers claim victory.

Joshua Harris had written several books on dating and courtship the Christian way. Despite what seemed like a healthy level of knowledge on relationships and how to make them work, his stopped working. His relationship with his wife and with his God no longer worked the way in which he wanted them, so he ended both relationships.

Let me be clear, I do not know him at all. I have never met the man, and I’ve never even read one of his books. I was never a fan of the idea that dating was some kind of moral wrong, and years after writing his book, he changed his mind on that as well.

I’ve never listened to one of his sermons either. So, in all regards, I’m a stranger to who he is and the journey he has been on. I say this because I don’t want to speculate as to why he left the faith. However, I do want to point out two things that might be helpful in thinking through these types of events.

First, making a celebrity out of any Christian is dangerous business. There is only one star in this show, and that’s God. The Christian culture often lifts certain people up and puts them on display to be a model for us all. We do this outside of the context of community where none of us actually know who the person is.

We may know the person they present themselves to be, but not who they truly are.  This is like betting on a popular horse in a race unaware they injured their leg weeks ago. 

When someone leaves their faith tradition, this does not invalidate the truth claims of their particular faith. When popular atheist Anthony Flew stopped being an atheist, his community claimed that he was old and crazy while theists pointed to his conversion as a sign of their intellectual victory.

Truth does not ride some pop culture wave nor is it decided by the popularity of one person. People are complicated and inconsistent, and until their life is over, we only get a glimpse of who they are at that particular moment. The strength of a Christian is not found in who he is now but who he is over the span of his life. Unless they run the whole race well we should wait before we run victory laps with them.

Second, truth is what decides what is true. It doesn’t matter who leaves or joins the faith; what matters is deciding if the core claims of Jesus and Scripture are true or not.

Did Jesus come back from the dead? To me this is THE question. We could speculate about God all day, but if Jesus did come back from the dead, then it validates His claims and His teachings.

Truth is not just some vague idea floating around, unable to be grasped by anyone. Though we live in a postmodern world full of hyper skeptics, the evidence points to Jesus.

I am not a Christian because someone else who talks well and looks cool is a believer; I’m a Christian because Jesus came back from the dead like He said He would.

Male stereotypes & the church

by Caleb Moore | Jul 18, 2019

I want to address one stereotype that has emerged amid our culture wars, one group that rarely gets talked about. It’s a serious problem that is crippling many young men in the church. We are unknowingly killing the ministry of a certain group of men. Specifically I am thinking about ones who are stereotyped as effeminate.

I don’t like the label “effeminate man” because it sounds like certain characteristics are more masculine than others and leads to confusion. I am concerned we have tended toward a worldly understanding of what makes a man and not a biblical one.

A love of muscle cars and action movies doesn’t make someone manlier than others. Likewise, a love of sewing and musicals doesn’t make a guy less manly. Many stereotypes find their way into the church but some of the Godliest men I know have effeminate tendencies. They may talk with a little bit of a lisp, express emotions very freely and have mannerisms that differ from the way typical guys acts.

All of this can be okay and has no negative impact on their ability to be mighty men of God. After all, King David was tough, but he also wrote poems and played the harp. Personally, I can’t think of a less masculine instrument than a tiny little harp.

A common tendency when meeting a man who seems effeminate is to wonder, “Maybe they are gay?” That’s a thought that pops into the head of many people when they are at a store or church and meet a man who doesn’t seem to fit the typical masculine expectations.

This is where we enter into dangerous ground. The world has suggested that if you are effeminate then you are most likely a homosexual. I’ve seen this happen with a teenager who is trying to find their identity, notices that, according to worldly standards, the only place for effeminate men is within the LGBTQ lifestyle.

The church should be a place that recognizes that God did not create all men to fit into one personality mold. We need to let those who feel like they don’t fit into the traditional categories know that they can love God and be themselves without having to buy into a sinful worldview.

We benefit when we have the full spectrum of personalities within our church. Most importantly, do not shame those who seem different, because, in doing so, we push them away from the Church and into a world that is ready to tell them who they are.

A central verse when it comes to understanding biblical manhood is found in the sixth chapter of Micah. It reads, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.”

This incredible blueprint tells us so much. Some men are warriors, ready to carry out justice; some men are sensitive and full of mercy. Neither of these attributes makes a person more or less of a man. According to Scripture, we must have a combination of both. But the most definitive attribute of what makes someone a man is that he walks humbly with God.

God is a God of great compassion and sensitivity, but He is also a God of justice and thunder. It’s no surprise then that we find highly compassionate men and highly thunderous men in our world.

The godly man understands that he is not defined by either of these traits but by the very Word of God. My hope is that we can stop seeing sensitivity as a weakness and realize it takes a very strong guy to show compassion and be sympathetic.

Perhaps we could stop thinking of them as feminine altogether and bring the idea of manhood back under the authority of Scripture. 

What I say in this blog will get me fired!

by Caleb Moore | Jun 26, 2019

Okay, so you probably clicked on this title expecting me to say something crazy. Just to let you know upfront, the title is total clickbait.

“Clickbait” is a term created for crazy headlines that are so dramatic or crazy that you find yourself clicking on it just to see if it can promise what the title claims. There are some very common titles used for this. Lines like, “What happens next will surprise you.” Or “This one food could save your life.” One study showed that almost 20 percent of headlines are click bait.

This type of hyped branding works on some of our most basic instincts. We want to be shocked and moved out of our routine, and we are fans of certain types of drama.

Men and women respond very differently to click bait. Men are more likely to watch someone get hurt in a comedic or even serious way while women are more interested in fitness and food trends.

Oxford Dictionary defines clickbait as “content whose main purpose is to attract attention to a particular website.

This means that the goal of these types of titles is not to actually educate you on the topic promised but to simply increase the amount of traffic to their site. The more traffic they have, the more money they make from advertisers.

In order to compete with each other, websites have had to create more and more outrageous titles. I once saw one that said, “Man tries to hug a wild lion, you won’t believe what happens next!”

The popularity of clickbait titles tells us that we currently value entertainment more than content. It’s not as though nobody knows the intention these titles; most of you can automatically tell what is and what isn’t clickbait.

Yet, we still slide our mouse over the title and press the button. We have become so entertainment driven and so used to things being devoid of good solid content that it has found its way into the church.

I know it’s possible because I have seen it happen. A pastor creates a sermon series with a crazy title and then delivers content that could just as easily be found in a self-help book. There may be a Bible verse scattered here and there, but the main result isn’t godliness; it’s people being entertained by music and funny stories for an hour.

I have nothing against self-help speakers, well-crafted music or catchy titles, but I do think we suffer from a lack of solid biblical content in many churches.

The upcoming generation of believers is going to need more than catchy slogans. They will need to be able to articulate their beliefs in schools and universities that are hostile to Christianity. They will need to be able to contrast their beliefs against other faiths to show the truthfulness of Christianity.

All of this can be accomplished simply by teaching biblical truths at a deeper level. We must help the next generation understand Scripture in a fuller way than we currently do, or we will be enticed by clickbait churches who are more about entertainment than truth.