Crazy Orange Juice

Last year Bill Maher, renowned atheist and comedian released a documentary entitled Religulous. It's premise is simple: if you believe in God enough to order your behavior around your beliefs, then you are ridiculous. Perhaps you are even quite mad.

This of course is why we want individuals like the Fort Hood shooter, Major Nidal Hasan, to be crazy. It would be much easier to point toward mental instability than to think that his convictions led him to act in such a violent and atrocious fashion.

For Christians, then, the question is quite simple: are we crazy?

Maher certainly thinks so. If you believe in a God-man that died, came back to life, ascended into Heaven, and now is the guiding principle for your life, how could that be anything other than crazy?

Could it be, though, that the reason we are believed to be crazy is not what we believe, but what we do?

What if our beliefs led us to stand up for the hungry and the hurting? What if we became vocal emissaries for peace? What if Christians were consistently the most compassionate people in the world?

What if our faith in Jesus led us to do things that were radically generous and good and kind?

If you want credibility, you must possess authenticity.

People are tired of pious gas-bags blowing hard about convictions and faith and then acting as if their lives are no different.

Living in obedience, that's refreshing. I remember what Slavoj Zizek said after reading a true work of Christian thought. He described it as "fresh squeezed orange juice after having a chemical orange drink."

The difference between authentic and knock-off may not matter much to those without thought, but eventually people want to see if Jesus is real. And if He isn't, then Christians do more harm than good.

My prayer?

May we be crazy, but crazy in our dedication to live Jesus-lives.

I think that sort of life would make Maher desire to make a different film.