Proving there is nothing new under the sun that entrepreneurial Christians won’t want to slap a “Jesus fish” on, today marks the emergence of www.ChristianChirp.com, a social media site that is to Twitter what Fireproof is to Citizen Kane.
Yes, “chirping” is annoying. Yes, it’s pretty silly. Yes, it’s beyond a joke how ghetto-ized evangelicals prefer to be. (GodTube, anyone?)
And yet, the only thing lamer than Christians aping the world (poorly) is Christians who think this is the cardinal sin. I wouldn’t have known about ChristianChirp until someone mentioned it on Twitter. I thought its creation rather amusing in its predictability. Then someone else mentioned it. Then several people mentioned it all. dang. day.
My sympathies were transferred. I no longer thought ChristianChirp was so bad. Instead I flashed back to those church-produced Mac vs. PC parodies that posited differences between a “Christian” and a “Christ follower.” The difference of course is that the Christian listened to CCM and wore a tie, while the Christ-follower wore jeans and listened to U2. Don’t you get it, people? There are Christians, and then there are cool Christians, and the regular Christians are ruining it for everyone. Testamints are ruining Christianity!
Ahem.
My friend Bill Roberts, my fellow blogger at the RC Cola of Christian group blogs, The Thinklings, calls this phenomenon I Have Identified the Problem, and It is You.
It reminds me of a great post by a former fellow of the Boar’s Head Tavern blog, A Toast to the Low-Minded Christian by Judson Heartsill (archived at Thinklings, as well).
A good number of the cool kids have effectively said, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” and “I have no need of you.” All of us, however, ought to have love for all the saints, even the dorky ones.
Look, it’s possible Jesus needs new PR, but I seriously doubt those who’ve accepted Jesus in their snark are the ones who should be providing it.
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November 3rd, 2009 | 12:44 am | #1
You’ve spoken my mind exactly. A lot of Christian marketing does make me uncomfortable, but the cooler-than-thou crowd bothers me even more. It’s ok…sometimes even preferable…to make a fool of oneself.
And if I may recontextualize an old Bible saying, God raises up the nerds to humble the cool people.
Testamints, though? I never understood that one.
November 3rd, 2009 | 12:49 am | #2
Yeah, I think they’re stupid.
But the way people rag on them makes me want to buy lots and lots of them out of spite. :-)
My own pride to repent of, I’m sure.
November 3rd, 2009 | 2:08 am | #3
Thanks for the post. I actually think the Christian chirp is laughable, and even close to ridiculous. But, not worthy of investing a good rant of snark for. That goes the way of most other things Christendom adopts to mirror the world as well. None of it is worth the snark.
Then again, what other way could we possibly have to publicly declare to others how much better at being Christians than they are we have ourselves become?
November 3rd, 2009 | 7:52 am | #4
I think the problem is that we often confuse being ’simple Christians’ with being ’simplistic Christians’ — and the ‘cool Christian’ is really a simplistic guy for being neo-antinomian in the same way the fish-slapper is a simplistic guy for being neo-theonomic/reconstructionist.
Both are frustrating, but the big win here would be to see ourselves in that frustration — especially in the context of a local church. How do we overcome our frustrations and love people — since obviously we expect them to do the same for us?
November 3rd, 2009 | 8:53 am | #5
I am glad that us Reformed types don’t buy into this sort of silliness, like hoodies emblazoned with the Five Solas. Oh wait…
November 3rd, 2009 | 10:51 am | #6
Baby needs a new pair of shoes, Art.
November 3rd, 2009 | 11:06 am | #7
For Christmas this year I would like a custom-designed t-shirt with TULIP emblazoned on the front.
November 3rd, 2009 | 11:07 am | #8
Or perhaps we could market a special Reformed yule log known as the Decalog.
November 3rd, 2009 | 2:04 pm | #9
And we can purchase advertising in The Shepherd’s Guide!
November 3rd, 2009 | 2:08 pm | #10
There should be a link to the post about Reformation/Arbor Day…
And does this mean tha I can confront my husband about his sinful desire to steal a lady at church’s Precious Moments figurine collection (and special limited edition display cabinet) and use it for target practice?
November 3rd, 2009 | 2:35 pm | #11
I would comment, but I’m late for my YoGod class.
November 3rd, 2009 | 4:34 pm | #12
I remember the look of horror when I said to one young worship leader, “Just wait, in 30 years, Matt Redman and Chris Tomlin will be hosting Homecoming concerts like the Gaithers. . .”
November 3rd, 2009 | 6:26 pm | #13
On Facebook, a friend just commented about this article:
My response:
This article is prompted by overdone snarky mocking of kitsch, not by reasoned critique of kitsch and discussion of how it negatively impacts Christianity in America.
There’s room for criticizing kitsch. There’s even room for some good-natured ribbing of kitsch. But let’s not over-do it with the mockery. (And let’s not exaggerate how much of a negative impact it has.)
And especially, let’s love the kitscher even if we hate the kitsch.
November 3rd, 2009 | 7:21 pm | #14
I know I’m swimming against the current, but I have a rather low view of the necessity of Twitter to begin with; and a somewhat equal disdain for the aforementioned “Jesus fish” form of innovation.
Does that mean, in this case, the two wrongs make a right?
November 3rd, 2009 | 7:42 pm | #15
Jugulum, I’m with ya.
The problem is not critique or even sarcasm. It’s obsession.
November 3rd, 2009 | 11:16 pm | #16
I read a paragraph from D.A. Carson’s A Call to Spiritual Reformation today that reminded me of this post:
I think it’s important to realize both sides of this. Sometimes the criticism is really a form of idolatrous, selfish perfectionism, even about matters that in themselves are worth being concerned about. Sometimes it’s because of a passion for Christ’s church. It’s worth pondering what our own motivations really are when we’re tempted in this direction, and it’s worth issuing warnings like this post toward those who may well be motivated in the first way.
November 4th, 2009 | 8:12 am | #17
[...] Z posts exerpts and comments on a blog by Jared Wilson entitled In Praise Of Low Minded Christians which expresses some thoughts inspired by the advent of Christian Chirp, ‘The Christian [...]
November 4th, 2009 | 11:43 am | #18
[...] chirp?’ — is just too easy. He’s got a fresh perspective here, though I wish this post was twice as [...]
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