Why “the World” Thinks Something is Wrong with Christians

Introduction

The following article is not meant for Christians. Rather, it is for non-Christians, “outsiders” of the Christian faith. It is an explanation of why Christians, in a secular or non-Christian culture, live the way they do. Ultimately, the way of living for Christians is traced back to or deduced from Jesus, the Founder of Christianity. He says, referring to his followers, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of it” (John 17:16, NIV). Similarly, St. John, following the teachings of his Master, writes, “Do not love the world or anything in the world” (I John 2:15a, NIV).

What "the World" Does Not Mean: A Proper Love of Life

What is meant by “the world?” It is not the creation, the earth, the material globe humans inhabit. Nor is St. John “saying” that Christians cannot love life, the enjoyment of being alive and the good things of life, such as the love of family and friends, laughter, and having nice possessions. The world, then, is not a rejection of life itself; nor, say, the fine or refined aspects of art, culture, theater and music.

What "the World" Means: A Philosophy of Life and a Way of Living

Rather, “the world” is a secular philosophy, a view of life, that excludes and/or is indifferent to God’s will for human beings. In other words, the world is not concerned about God; nor does it care about living according to God’s will. The world consists of human beings thinking as they will, doing what they want, living as they please, even if they are living contrary to the revelation of the will of God for humanity in the Sacred Scriptures. The world lives as though the body were the soul, time were eternity and earth were heaven. The world lives as though there were no life-after-death, as if earth and sky were the only realities.

The world is also a lifestyle or way of life, a morality, which attempts to “draw” Christians away from their faith, to have them live as though they were not Christians, to even oppose, however subtly, God’s moral will for their lives in the Holy Scriptures.

Potential and Actual Conflicts between the World's Morality and Christian Morality

A general rule of life is that like-attracts-like. That is why the world thinks Christian morality is wrong. The world see Christians as the “outsiders” — the “weird," “strange” or “abnormal” people. The world gravitates toward its own people; the ones who think, speak and live as they do. That is why St. John, referring to worldly people, writes,

“They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them” (I John 4:5, NIV).

Of course, by nature, human beings are social creatures, needing to belong to a social unit, group or community. In that sense, there is nothing wrong with wanting “to belong,” “to fit in,” to be accepted and liked by other persons. But Christians may find themselves at odds with “the world,” the morality and philosophy of the culture to which they belong. When that happens, Christians will “stand out” from the crowd, from what other people think is “right” or “normal,” because their notion of right, for Christians, is wrong, being contrary to the Scriptures.

The Worldliness of the Church: Succumbing to the Philosophy and Morality of the World

Now, Christians are members of a spiritual community, where the Scriptures are read and preached, the sacraments are celebrated and God is worshiped. That community is called “the mystical body of Christ” or “the church.” Christians are also "taught" by their Scriptures to have a meaningful influence on the world, applying the word of God, the timeless truths of eternity, to the times in which Christians live. But, admittedly, the world is doing a much better job than the church, shaping the church with non-Christian values.

The church, in the desire to be relevant culturally and respected by people, is “caving in” to the pressure of the world, conforming to its moral standards, rather than the world being transformed by the values of the church. As the apostle Paul writes to the church in Rome,

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Romans 12:2a, ESV).

Ask yourself, based on your observations of today’s church: Is there any difference between the way the world lives and the members of the church? If your answer is “no,” then the church is doing something wrong. That the world is thinking and living a certain way on a particular matter or issue does not mean that the church should always “follow along” with the world.

The Church's Teaching on the Divine Origin of Moral Values

While the world’s values originate in time, by what many or most people are currently thinking and how they are living or behaving, the church’s values originate in eternity, beyond time, by what God has revealed to the church in the Holy Scriptures. Thus, Christians, members of the church, must “stand” for their faith, even if it makes them “unpopular” with the world, “standing out” from it.

Therefore, the best way to view Christianity is not from the “outside,” but from the “inside,” being a follower of Christianity’s Founder, Jesus of Nazareth. Then the outsider, becoming an insider, will have a better understanding of why Christians believe and live as they do. As Jesus himself teaches,

“Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own” (John 7:17, NIV).