No wonder they think we are nuts

As I was waiting to get a haircut today, I scanned the magazines in the rack, looking for something to read. There was a copy of Rolling Stone magazine there, and the cover promised an article inside by Matt Taibbi. I thought, "hey, the guy from NBC News," so I picked it up. I was wrong, however: Matt is the political commentator for RS; his father, Mike Taibbi, is a political contributor to NBC News.

Anyways, the article was titled "Jesus Made Me Puke," and was an excerpt from Matt's soon-to-be-published book The Great Derangement. In that excerpt, Matt, who is a non-believer, tells a story about attending a weekend long spiritual retreat conducted by a well-know mega-church in Texas (I won't tell you which one; you need to read the article). Matt poses as a new believer, and experiences both touchy-feely integrationist pop psychology sessions and a deliverance ceremony to cast out the demons of various sins. What he doesn't experience in any form is anything approaching discipleship.

I interact with non-believers about Biblical issues on a regular basis, and Matt's article highlights items #2 & #3 of the 4 items on my list of Typical Accusations Made Against Christians, which are #2 Christians are Gullible and #3 Christians Do Not Know The Tenets of Their Faith (items #1 & #4 are Christians Are Hypocrites). For the most part, they seem to be fair assessments of American Christianity. The two highlighted in the article I believe are closely linked. Understandably, the claims made in Scripture are fantastic, even to someone that subscribes to a historical-grammatical hermeneutic. But the vast majority of Christians are not well versed (I love puns!) in doctrine, and so have not been able to integrate the truth contained in Scripture into their thinking. They cannot formulate a rational, logical defense of their faith, because they know little of their faith. And the little they do know is typically misapplied within their lives. No wonder non-believers look at us like we have some sort of mental defect.

Why that name?

First thing I want to get out of the way is explain why I chose to name my blog The Perfect Demo.

I'm a motorcyclist. I love riding bikes. I enjoy every aspect of motorcycling. The ride. Planning for the ride. Talking about rides I've taken. Wrenching on my bike. Shopping for farkles. Spending time with other people who share my same passion for motorcycles.

I even became a motorcycle safety instructor. I became a Motorcycle Safety Foundation certified Instructor in May 1996, and taught for the ABATE of Alaska-sponsored Rider Education Program through August 2000.

When teaching students out on the range, instructors will read directions for the exercise they will be conducting, and one of the instructors will demonstrate the exercise by riding it. This way the students will know which way to go and how to perform the exercise.

Instructors are competitive. They are also show offs. At least my crew was. The standard was to demonstrate the exercise without mistakes. Unofficially, we wanted to be flawless. We practiced hard so that we could conduct the smoothest demonstration possible, smoothly, like a machine. We wanted to do "the perfect demo" each and every time.

I wish I could say that I had attained the perfect demo in my spiritual life. As a disciple of Christ, I know that I am being conformed to the image of my Savior. I'm striving for that perfection, knowing I'll never attain it in this life, but I'm still working towards that Perfect Demo.