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I am behind on our culture, primarily because I have not been a big fan of Christian vampire novels. I know . . . I know . . . I will work harder at being more diverse in my reading in the future. So that is my defense for not having a blog about Anne Rice (Former-Christian and vampire novelist) until someone in my church brought her to my attention. Apparently, sometime in July she came out and walked away from her Christian faith. That kind of thing happens, and it is not something that is regularly worthy of a blog. But her comments should be educational for us, from two perspectives. She shows us some of the weaknesses of the church today . . . but she also shows us something of our culture's misunderstandings of the Christian faith.
The following are two quotes from Anne Rice that she posted on Facebook late in July.
First, she wrote, "For those who care, and I understand if you don't: Today I quit being a Christian. I'm out. I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being "Christian" or to being part of Christianity. It's simply impossible for me to "belong" to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten years, I've tried. I've failed. I'm an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else."
My first thought was to be disputatious . . . maybe a little quarrelsome, but not really hostile . . . :) But honestly, as an author, Anne Rice knows that words mean something . . . and the word Christian just simply means, "one committed to Christ." So in a very real sense, someone cannot stay committed to Christ and cease to be a Christian unless they want to define Christian as something other that what is should be. Fortunately, Anne Rice remains consistent and actually does redefine what it means to be a follower of Christ. To her it MEANS, to be quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and she defines the church by its infamy.
This is the place where I begin to hurt for her and cease to disagree. I hate that we are broken people. Christ hates that we are broken people. It is so unfortunate that we sin and forgive ourselves, but others sin and we label them and judge them with impunity. So many people shipwreck their faith by looking to the followers of Christ rather than to Christ Himself. If Anne Rice genuinely keeps her eyes on Christ and places Him as her focus, then the humility that grows within her, will slowly eat away at her OWN judgmentalism of others (as exhibited by her desire to call them hostile, quarrelsome and infamous) and eventually I believe she will fall back in love with the Church . . . the Church that extends grace to all of US SINNERS. The Church that Christ loves. The Church that He died for . . .
But Anne Rice takes things a step further in her definition of the church and she turns downright hostile herself . . . she decides to stereotype Christians by painting with very dark and ominous brush strokes of anger. Later on her Facebook she posted the following . . .
"As I said below, I quit being a Christian. I'm out. In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen."
We as a church must start by asking ourselves what are we against? How do we convey what we are against? And in asking this we can learn something from the anger of Anne Rice. But I would love to sit down and talk with her and suggest to her that she is being a little unfair and maybe even a little "disputatious". I am not against homosexuals, I am not against feminists, I am not against birth-control. I am not against Democrats. I am not against secular-humanists. Science was my favorite subject in high school. And I don't even know what Anne means when she accuses me of being anti-life!? I am against SIN. And in all honesty and humility I strive everyday to start with God and His work in my life! He has forgiven me of a truckload of sins and I am so grateful that He is in the business of provided a fresh start every day.
I hope Anne Rice is being honest that she is staying committed to Christ. If that is true, He will eventually soften her and show her how much He is in love with His bride: the church. I love the church, because I look around and I see people just like me. People who are broken mirrors, poorly reflecting God's glory, trusting in His forgiveness, and longing for the day when all the pieces will be put back together and the church will accurately reflect our glorious Savior and King!
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