Gandhi, Taylor Swift, and Christians

  “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ” – Gandhi

 The last few days I’ve been chewing on this quite simple quote since I saw it tweeted by a band that I follow on Twitter. It has reminded me greatly about a conversation I had with my mom back in December about Gandhi. She was telling me that he at one point studied Christianity and found that it made sense but then he went to a church and he was treated poorly by the Christians there and rejected the gospel because of the Christians that he saw. *

    Gandhi was a pretty awesome man and he did some amazing things for India. He led a peaceful revolution and was able to bring about change through nonviolent means, which is absolutely great, but the question arises of “what would he have been like as a Christian?” Now Jonathan Acuff had a blog post about how Christians often wish certain celebrities where Christians and seriously, Gandhi would have been the coolest Christian ever! Yet he was repulsed by the scent that Christians where giving off.

    I can understand Gandhi on a personal level because I feel the exact same way about Taylor Swift. I’ll admit it, it’s time to confess this; I like Taylor Swift (this feels so good to get off my chest!). Despite the fact that her songs are mostly just corny love songs, she is still a talented singer/songwriter and she seems very professional in her work. She worked her way gradually to her musical success and she takes responsibility for her own career. She has her say in everything from the guitar solos to how the stage is set up for the tour and I really appreciate that.

    Her fans on the other hand… well, let’s just say that I have a natural skepticism about anyone that has millions of screaming teenage girls adoring them. I mean c’mon! Why do some people feel that they have to be defined by who they are a fan of on places like youtube and twitter? It just gets really, really annoying. Despite the fact I’m not a fan of her fans, I have chosen to put that behind me and just like Taylor’s music.

    I dearly wish that Gandhi would have looked past us imperfect Christians and seen Christ, but more then that, I wish that Christians would live in a manner that would not bring shame to the very God that saved them! Could God have saved Gandhi and is God still Sovereign? Absolutely! But we also have our duty to be the light of Christ and to show His amazing beauty and love to the world. If all we are showing to the world is pride, judgmental attitudes, apathy, and legalism; we are bringing shame to the name of Christ.

    My dad talks about how Christians will give off a scent and we can’t effect the perception of the scent, but we can control the scent. Some people will be repulsed if we give off the scent of Christ and some people will be drawn to the sweet scent of redemption. Some people will also be repulsed by us, but not because we smell of Christ, but because we smell of our flesh. Let’s pray that we stink of Christ, not of sin.

 {*If any part of this story is not accurate, I apologize. I am just speaking from what I remember my mom telling me. }