"I'm Sorry I'm a Christian"

April 02, 2010 by Timothy Dalrymple

Continued from Page 3

The last negative response I want to mention, a more critical one, feels that you're accepting a caricature of conservative Christians and thereby distancing yourself from those other Christians, over there, who are hateful and judgmental. Are you throwing other Christians under the bus in order to appear to be the better Christian? Why accept the caricature rather than working to challenge that caricature?

No, no, no, no. This is the reason why our faith is the way it is! This is the reason why you even have concerns like this, because our church is broken up. We're not one body. We're a whole bunch of parts, and every part is trying to build its own body. That's not the way we're called to be. We're called to be one body.

I don't write this stuff to distance myself from other Christians. What does that do for me? That's like saying, "I'm Chinese, but I'm not a bad driver." I'm not going to throw my own people under the bus. I love my people. Why would I want to do that? And love is not selective. I'm not loving 15 year-old girls who go through abortions but hating Christians who are standing at the front door screaming at them. I love them all.

I'm sorry if I sound indignant, but the thought that I'm trying to distance myself from other Christians...that's why we're in this mess in the first place. We've broken up the body of Christ into our own little rules and conventions.

Do you see yourself continuing to use your poetry in the service of Christ?

Absolutely. I love to do it. Again, I didn't write and perform this piece with the intention of going viral. I never intended for this to get out and spark debate among the North American church. That was not my intention. But it happened. That's never been my intention, to make myself bigger than I am.

But this is an art for me. I'm good at it. So I do it, I enjoy it, I make good money from it. This is something I will continue to do. And like I said, every part of your being, everything you do should be for one purpose. So if I can continue-if this debate that I've created online is for His glory, then I'll continue to do that. It's not up to me to figure out what He does with what I give.

We look forward to hearing more from Chris Tse in the future. For more articles like this, see Patheos' Evangelical Portal.

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About Timothy Dalrymple

Timothy Dalrymple is the CEO and Chief Creative Officer of Polymath Innovations, a strategic storytelling agency that advances the good with visionary organizations and brands. He leads a unique team of communicators from around North America and across the creative spectrum, serving mission-driven businesses and nonprofits who need a partner to amplify their voice and good works. Once a world-class gymnast whose career ended with a broken neck, Tim channeled his passions for faith and storytelling into his role as VP of Business Development for Patheos, helping to launch and grow the network into the world's largest religion website. He holds a Ph.D. in Religion from Harvard's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Tim blogs at Philosophical Fragments.

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