Donald Miller and Cool Christianity

I've noticed a lot of people believe Donald Miller is trying to make Christianity cool and popular, something attractive and hip. I don't think he's trying to do this at all. He doesn't believe Christianity is cool and he doesn't try to make it cool. Read this:

"Even our beliefs have become trend statements. We don't even believe things because we believe them anymore. We only believe things becasue they are cool things to believe. The problem with Christian belief...is that it is not a fashionable thing to believe."

That's on page 107 of Blue Like Jazz. Now read this from page 111:

"[A friend of mine] says the [postmodern] church will be different from the old one, that we will be relevant to culture and the human struggle. I don't think any church has ever been relevant to culture, to the human struggle, unless it believed in Jesus and the power of His gospel. If the supposed new church believes in trendy music and cool Web pages, then it is not relevant to culture either. It is just another tool of Satan to get people to be passionate about nothing."

On the same page:

"Living for something extends beyond fashion."

Remember Trendy Writer? Miller was disgusted with his attempt to make spirituality cool. He talks about how Trendy Writer was mixing elements of "cool" religions in with Chrisitanity. "Trendy Writer was sending out Muhammed and Jesus, asking them to hold hands so nobody would have to feel wrong or, rather, so he could have something fashionable to believe."

I can't think of anywhere in Blue Like Jazz where Miller tries to make Christianity cool. In some places he portrays it as the opposite. Take the confession booth. At Reed college Christianity was not cool. But here are Miller and his friends, dressed up like monks and living out their faith. Take Donald Miller himself. He's not really a very cool person. He falls in love with Emily Dickenson, scrubs toilets when he's upset, and hangs out with hippies -uncool people. Miller is not very cool and he's a Christian.

Another thing I've noticed people believe is that Miller believes Christianity is all about 'feelings', that he thinks Christianity is only as real as it "feels". I don't believe he thinks this - that being a Christian is all about feeling good.

In the last chapter, Miller writes: "I think loving Jesus is something you feel." Notice he doesn't say that loving Jesus is only something you feel. He is saying that you can feel it. And isn't this true? Isn't God's love and God's presence something that can be felt? I've felt it. Miller isn't saying there isn't a rational and logical approach to Christianity; he's only describing one aspect of it - the "feeling" part.

Miller also doesn't say that Christianity is something that can always be felt. In chapter Seven he talks about how hard it was for him to feel grace. He says: "I would hear about grace, read about grace, and even sing about grace, but accepting grace is an action I could not understand...I wanted to feel as though I earned my forgiveness."

At the beginning of the next chapter, he talks about doubts. "I remember a specific time when I was laying there in bed thinking about the absurdity of my belief. God. Who believes in God? It all seems so very silly." He obviously wasn't "feeling" the faith then.

So, basically Miller is not trying to make Chrisitanity cool and he is not saying it is based on feelings. He is honest. He doesn't try to make things what they arene't but rather describes them as they are. Christianity is very real to him, and he responds by sharing it as just that.