Christians, it’s ok to be a little weird

Kirsten Powers, a Fox News contributor, self-described liberal, and former atheist recently made public her conversion several years ago to evangelical Christianity. She explains how her boyfriend at the time asked her point-blank if she believed Jesus was her savior. She goes on to say that this “creeped her out” and she thought, “Who says stuff like that?” But later after going to church with him, investigating Scripture for herself, and being unable to shake the feeling that God was pursuing her, she surrendered her life to Christ.

What a freak her boyfriend must have been. He actually came out and asked her if she was saved(!) Can’t think of anything more corny, naive, unsophisticated – or effective? This was convicting to me as an apologist to just sometimes have the guts to ask the question rather than believing I must first anticipate all the objections and mount an argument. Yes, sometimes we need to engage arguments and answer questions, but let’s not assume that the conversation will start there.

Being weird didn’t stop Ezekiel either. After he publicly carries out the bizarre symbolic acts that God tells him to do such as build a miniature siege of Jerusalem, lie on one side for 390 days, divide his shaved hair into thirds, act out an escape through the city wall plus many other things, the people finally ask him, “What are you doing?”

If our Christianity doesn’t come across as a little weird, who will ask why we’re doing it?

(This is a side issue, but shouldn’t our churches come across as a little weird too? Do all of them need to look like shopping malls and coffee shops? Does everyone need to dress conspicuously casual as if dressing up might offend someone? What if our churches looked like …churches?? Nah, people today would just think that’s weird.)

Go be an Ezekiel.