When I was in high school, I hung out with some pretty interesting people. I'm going to skip over talking about my Christian friends and just talk about my non-Christian friends. Since I don't using the term "Non-Christian" or "Unbeliever", for the sake of this blog, I'm going to call them "Normies". The author of the book I'm reading calls people that.. I'll get to that in a second, hold on.

So, in my mind when I think of Normies, my mind automatically goes to people in my past. I'm going to try and explain what kinds of images I see when I think of the general "Unbeliever".

In American schools, unless you moved around when you were a kid, you basically grew up with the same people. A lot of the time, the kids you sat next to in kindergarten were the kids you walked across the stage to get your diploma with. This, by the way, is a great concept because it taught you to be friends with the most random people. I had friends with a much different social status, religion, intelligence, etc. that I would have chosen on my own. Anyway, I'd say about 50% of my friends and fairly close acquaintances were Normies. I grew up in a little tiny town in the Bible Belt of the South, so 50% is a very high number. I'm sure if I was in Cali or up North, it would be substantially lower. Ack, off track!

I also have very distinct memories of Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Where I'm from, especially if you're in high school, Franklin Street was the coolest place you could be! I'm serious. It was a strip of MAYBE two blocks of businesses but it was right across the street from the University of Chapel Hill at North Carolina (UNC) which was a fancy school around those parts. People of all kinds would gather there to walk around- the hippies, the yuppies, the goths, the punks, the dorks, everyone. One place I liked going to in particular was on the corner (no...not THAT kind of corner) where the Chapel Hill Court House was. On any given Friday or Saturday night, punks and goths would gather in this open space to just BE.

They'd usually bring some kind of skateboard, alcohol, some form of drugs. They'd look oh-so-cool with their JNCO jeans, mohawks, black clothes and chains and swear loudly so everyone could hear. Usually the yuppies and dorks would walk past this square just a little bit faster than usual, with their eyes to the ground while they whisper to their friends beyond their shoulder sweaters, "Walk quickly, we don't want to get mugged by these freaks!" This was my favorite spot. I'd sit there on the edge of the flower beds (while consciously sticking it to The Man while stepping on the flowers), sipping my coffee, shootin' the stuff with my buddies. Sometimes if I brought my camera, I'd have the courage to take a shot of two of them jumping on their boards.

Another kind of Normie, the most clear in my mind in their hatred for the Gospel, is called "The Waffle House Normie" (aka: The Wa-ho's). The only thing to do in my town past 9 p.m. was to go to Waffle House and order greasy food while drinking the best coffee in town. Hours upon hours were spent with my Wa-ho's talking about religion, society, philosophy and any other inappropriate topic we felt like at the time. The two people I was with on a regular basis during my last few years of high school were a Wiccan and an Atheist. The Wiccan dude really knew his stuff, and really hated Christians too. This is where I learned to stick up for my faith. This kind of person is called in my book, "The Extreme Normie".

Also, all of my 5 siblings are either Normies or Extreme Normies.

I'm sure you're wondering, "Will she just get to the point!?" Okay okay, I'm sorry. I'll stop. But that is the kind of people I think of when I think of unbelievers. I think a lot of young American Christians around my age or younger (especially that grew up in the South) really don't know that there are people out there that HATE YOU. They hate you because you're a Christian. They think Christianity is a load of crap, that you're a load of crap because you've been "force fed and hypnotized". Christian kids are shocked when they get out of their bubble and come into contact with someone or a group of people that hate everything you stand for with all their hearts.

I know I was. Sitting there on those weekend nights at the courthouse or in Waffle House talking to people who hated what I believed, I learned how it hurts. It didn't necessarily hurt because they were attacking my integrity, but they were attacking what I was supposed to love and I didn't know how to defend it. Because I didn't know how to defend it, and I still wanted to be their friends, I said what I could to not let them slander God...but then I let it go. I continued being their friends and loving them.

Okay...now I'm going to put all of that I just said on a back burner for a second. Don't forget those people. Think about Evangelical Christians. What comes to mind? This is what comes to my mind: Psychos on a busy downtown street with signs saying "Turn or Burn", "Hell is hot", or some other ridiculous phrase. I think of charismatic preachers screaming 'Hellfire and Brimstone' from the pulpit. I think of Christians with loathing eyes as they pass a scene like the Chapel Hill Court House, or a homosexual (I'm including my reactions as well), or a homeless guy, an obese person, a Wiccan, a Mexican, an Atheist, anyone else who may not look or act like them. I do the same thing folks.

I think about Christians' conversations with people that I've heard. I've always thought how unnatural and ineffective it was for Christians to be so...I don't know...annoying when they first meet someone. Because of The Great Commision, Christians feel like it's their duty to save everyone they talk to. Well.. ok, I guess I can't call someone a bad person for that, fine. What I can say, though, is that being the obnoxious Christian who can't have a conversation without asking if the other person is a Christian MAY not be the most affective way to share the Gospel. How often, after you've shared the Gospel in this way, have you followed up with that person? Invited them out with your friends? What have you done after you've made them feel like crap for not being a Christian?

Here's my point to all of this. A lot of people hate Christians. Why? Cause we're a bunch of hypocrites, that's why. We're not doing something right people! Look at the people out there, the Normies and the Extreme Normies. Let's focus on Americans now because that's what I'm most familiar with. Christianity is saturated in America. If you're an American and you can read or hear, you have heard the Gospel...if not, you've been living under a rock. People have heard it a thousand times, in a thousand different ways. Do you really think that a 5 minute conversation about how if they don't turn from their ways they're going to burn in Hell will have a positive affect on them? NO! That is firewood for their reasons to hate Christians. In fact, it's firewood in my heart to dislike Christians when I'm getting hassled by some joker on the street screaming at me to be saved.

Christianity, more specifically, Protestantism has rapidly decreased in the past few decades in the US. Oh, if you wanna know more about this, check out the Barna Group. We study them at work and they have all these cool studies. Anyway, look at the facts: Christianity isn't growing in America, it's getting worse. Wiccans and Atheists are almost the majority....YES the MAJORITY!

I'm reading this book right now called "I'm Okay and You're Not." It talks a lot about what I'm discussing. I'm not copying this dude, because everything I'm saying is what I've been trying to figure out for years since I was in high school, but never knew anyone else agreed with me. He says that maybe we should stop trying to be so annoying and just love on people. The greatest commandments: Love God, then love others. Not "Love God, then tell people they're going to burn in Hell". LOVE THEM. Do you realize how much easier this is than to freak out about telling people to Turn or Burn?! Think about it! If you love them, people notice that. You don't have to hide the fact that you're a Christian, because as the great hymn says, "They will know we are Christians by our Love"!

People, the Extreme Normies hate Christianity because we don't act like Christ. We are often times hateful towards them. We cast them out, we don't listen to them or love like Christ did. We look at them with hateful eyes, we ignore the ones who don't ask for help. We carry the "I'm okay and you're not" mentality on us like a stamp on our foreheads. Don't you think it's about time we stopped communicating that and started to just love people?

Right before I went to Ethiopia for 2 months, an awesome lady to funded most of my trip asked a small group of people after church, "How are we supposed to witness to people who just don't want to hear it?" With my mindset being in Ethiopia around people I could not communicate with, I said to them, "Just love 'em". She dropped her jaw like I just told her where the Holy Grail was. "Wow. I never thought of that..." she said.

Miriam, the ministry leader in Slovakia told me that one of the local Slovaks was so surprised because the people in her ministry ACTUALLY got along. They ACTUALLY acted nice to eachother and loved eachother. This isn't a foreign concept guys, so why have I had such a hard time realizing it?

I know this sounds like a hippie concept, but I don't care. Personally, I feel a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. Before, if I wanted to reach out to someone, I always tried to figure out when during the first few minutes of meeting do I mention that I'm a Christian...and if they're not, well, we just can't be close friends. That's silly. I'm relieved you guys. Think about all the people out there who need a hand. Think of how many Extreme Normies you know, and how just loving them MIGHT soften their hearts towards the Gospel, eventually. I know quite a few, and I think I know how I can help them too. I am praying that God will change my heart towards unbelievers and just shutup and start loving them.

*Please note that when I refer to "Christians" I may not be referring to you per se, but what the world thinks Christians are like.
*Also, I don't think you should stop sharing the Gospel in every day conversations. I hope I didn't communicate that. I just challenge you to think about HOW you're sharing it and how affective it is. Literally think about how Jesus saved people- He loved them, and helped fulfill physical needs too.