A Good People

Today I was riding in a car with a friend listening to a Christian radio station, when a song came on that I had not heard in a long while. It was Audio Adrenaline's Good People. The song brought back a lot of memories from my teenage years when I bought their first album and would rock out to their music. I still like their cover of Free Ride.

As I listened to the lyrics talk about how Christians from all over were unique in the fact that everyone knew they were good people from the way they lived, I started to wonder whether or not that was actually true. Christians like to pride themselves by saying that their different from everybody else and that they are kind and loving. However, from what I gather, society sees a group of hypocritical, judgmental people that gather in their churches and only relate with other Christians.

I guess most of my dissatisfaction with the modern church is that these perceptions are largely true. While I detest using the word hypocritical to describe Christians (the word can be used for any group of people as there is no one who is perfect), I do see churchgoers acting very judgmental toward non-Christians and fellow Christians alike. I also see a lot of churches planning events and fun nights primarily for their congregations with the hope that new people will suddenly decide to come in and be converted. This makes the church look more like a secret society that shelters and separates their congregation from the real world while also regulating how a person must act and talk in order to be a Christian.

All ranting aside, I know that the church has done a lot of good and that there are many, many churches that are doing awesome things for their congregations and their communities. But I think it is important that we as Christians examine ourselves and see if, in our quest to be God's people, we are failing in our mission to rescue the lost. Do we appear to be a good people, or are we just society's prime example of a good thing gone bad?