Reinventing our zeitgeists #1: 'Be true to yourself'

Over this next set of posts, I'm going to take a few 21st Century pearls of wisdom that I'm usually quick to reject, and see if there is any worth in them from a Christian worldview.


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There was mild uproar in some Christian circles when the Girl Guides had an overhaul of their promise.  Promising to 'Love my God' was replaced with 'Be true to myself and develop my beliefs'.  I was saddened by the new promise, but that's not the point.  What does 'be true to yourself' actually mean? And how right are the Christians for whom it really grates, myself among them, to be annoyed?

Source: http://new.girlguiding.org.uk/what-is-girlguiding/our-mission

A quick google search, and here is a description of what it means to be true to yourself that I found to be useful:

• Be who you are, be your genuine self
• Follow your own value system and common sense
• Listen to the advice of others, but make up your own mind
• Recognize, appreciate, and develop your unique talents
• Stand up for what you believe in and you will gain respect
• Know that being 'different' is a gift
• Understand that you are enriching others by being yourself
  
  http://www.essentiallifeskills.net/betruetoyourself.html
  
  

From looking at how the phrase is intended, my understanding is this: Being true to yourself is acting in accordance with your beliefs and who you are. It is about not putting on a false 'front', and not doing something to please others.  This is all good stuff, particularly to tell a teenager who is being pressurised to follow her peers into things she is not comfortable doing. It's also very important for all of us to accept who we are.

So why do people have a problem with it? To the humanist, there is little that can possibly be wrong with any of the above.  I use the word humanist to refer to not just those who identify as humanists, but all those who seek to live a morally fulfilling life without a God.

For me, however, I don't necessarily what to be everything that is me.  Left to my own devices, with no self control or prefrontal cortex function, I am a self-centred impatient intolerant narcissist.  My genuine self could be described as someone who seeks her own desires above others. 

And for this reason, I don't want to use myself as the reference point for what is true.  If being true to myself means developing my own belief system and values that is in direct contrast with being a Christian, whereby I believe that 'The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure' (Jeremiah 17:9).  Instead I want to 'Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to [my] earthly nature; sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.' (Colossians 3:5).  And then, of course, there are the famous words of Psalm 119:105 which I cannot help hearing in good old King James Version set to music despite having never been to Sunday School: 'Your word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.'

I am not the source of authority in my life - God is.  Many youth workers have described Sin as this:

• Shove off God
• I'm in charge
• No to your ways

But what of all those lovely things we want to say to the teenager struggling with self-doubt - are they no use?  I think they simply require a little bit of qualification:

• Be who you are, be your genuine self

Who says that my 'genuine self' is the self-centred, impatient, intolerant narcissist.  Apart from God, I am sinful, but I am also a child of God, adopted into his family by Jesus' blood.  'For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.  In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship* through Jesus Christ' (Ephesians 1:4-5).

And yet, all too often, I don't live in a way that is true to my God-given position of having been justified by faith in Jesus. 'Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!'. (Colossians 2:20-21)

Or alternatively, I let my selfish desires consume me for no reason, chasing after possessions, status or comfort (not that these things are necessary bad and can't be used for God's glory) when all along I have the creator of the earth and his word to bring me the deepest joy of all.

• Follow your own value system and common sense

Perhaps this one should say, 'follow the value system of your own Heavenly Father'.  But by God's unimaginable grace by which he sanctifies us, God's value system becomes ours.  '...Though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance' (Romans 6:17).

• Listen to the advice of others, but make up your own mind

This section really brought to my mind Colossians 2:8:  'See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy.'  We should be always discerning and: 'do not treat prophecies with contempt, but test them all: hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil' (1 Thessalonians 5:20-22

• Recognize, appreciate, and develop your unique talents/Know that being 'different' is a gift

'But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, just as he wanted them to be' (1 Corinthians 12:18).  God gives us each different gifts and abilities which work together like the parts of a body to form his church.   Another passage that springs to mind is Psalm 139:14-15: 'For you created my innermost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.  I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made'. 

• Stand up for what you believe in and you will gain respect

The Bible does not promise us that we will be respected - quite the opposite (John 15:18-25), but it does tell us to 'always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that you have.' (1 Peter 3:15)

• Understand that you are enriching others by being yourself

The Bible makes it clear that God has a plan for us to enrich the world:  'For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do.' (Ephesians 2:10).    We may not see the fruit this side of eternity, but God promises a purpose for our lives, and it is very difficult to frustrate his plans!

So although I don't have another suggestion for the Guides, I do for the Christian. 

Be true to your salvation.

Source: www.christian-wallpaper.com

*Sonship refers to the legal standing of an adopted heir in Roman culture

An antidote to racism?

We live, as always, in shifting times when it comes to race, national identify and immigration. Although I've entitled this post 'an antidote to racism', what I mean is the anger, suspicion and resentment felt towards those who have, or even whose parents or grandparents have, migrated to Britain from other countries.  Many people have no problem as long as people 'stay where they came from', but some will say: 'they don't belong here'.

Support for UKIP is rising.  While education secretary, Michael Gove decreed that education should teach 'British Values'.  A few years ago we had the country at its most patriotic, with the Royal Wedding, Jubilee and Olympics.   The EU has expanded and this time last year we'd been expecting a 'flood' of immigrants (although they didn't come - we got actual floods instead).  At the same time, the slowly recovering economy is not where we want it to be, and the NHS is constantly reported as struggling and stretched. 

Last year, a British Social Attitudes survey showed that 1 in 3 people admit to having racial prejudices.  But I thank the BBC for pointing out to the world the obvious flaw in using these figures to measure actual racism, because what may be the case is that people are setting the bar much higher.  We may actually be less racist than we were before, but we also expect a far higher standard of tolerance of ourselves and are aware that we don't measure up. 

But where do these attitudes come from?  Firstly, I think that prejudice and bigotry of all kinds stem from fear.  In the case of immigration, there is a fear of the unknown, and a fear of the real concern of over population.  When I was young, I didn't 'get' racism. That was because there was no opportunity to even imagine a fear. Where I grew up in Devon, there were very few ethnic minorities (unless, of course, you count my Cornish family). I could count on one hand the number of either non-British or non-white people in my school.  It was only when I saw other parts of the country that I understood how the racism narratives - the 'coming here and taking our jobs' stories - had developed.  Whether real or not, it was a explanation in people's minds for falling job opportunities and poverty, and an outlet for the frustration and hatred felt. There was someone to blame. 
 

Secondly, there is the entitlement story, arguably the other side of the same coin.  I think now of the modern day issue: the lack of young British people working in chains such as Pret a Manger.  It's an emotive topic, and it leads many to think that British youngsters should be given more of a chance. 
 

Entitlement and fear converge on one thing: it's OUR country.  We want to mark our territory when we're afraid that someone might take it.  And then when we've got our territory, we believe we're entitled to it. 
 

Well let me put forward a realisation that I had the other day.  It's not my country, it's not your country, it's GOD'S country.  The places in which I live, work, socialise and call my own are given to me by my Heavenly Father, and he can give and take away as he pleases.  
 

If you don't believe in a God, then your rebuttal might be that there is no God, and therefore man is welcome to mark his territory where he pleases.  However, if there is no external standard and we are free to do as we please, then what divine right do you have to a place?  If you are a Christian, you may come back at me with the view that Levitical laws stated that interest could be charged to foreigners in the land, but not to fellow Israelites.  There was a right to the land through inheritance. We don't often think about it today, but the word 'Nation' comes from the same route as 'naitre' - to be born. Traditionally, and etymologically, a nation is an ethnic group and membership is by birthright. 
 

But Romans 9:7-8 says that we are Abraham's descendants not because of physical descent, but through the promise (given to Abraham that Sarah would bear a child in her old age).  Later in chapter 11 Paul goes on to talk about the Gentiles being branches 'grafted in' and that there is no difference between those natural branches and those which are grafted in.  We cannot use the Levitical laws I've cited to justify our own personal territorialism because the new Israel is not an ethnic group, but a nation from all corners of the world drawn together by a promise, whose inheritance is not on earth but in Heaven. We are all foreigners in a strange land, so let's have empathy with those who are foreigners for a different reason.  This is what we are commanded to do (Leviticus 19:34).
 

As an aside, It is heartening to see how many narratives of what it means to be British also follow this idea to some extent.  Sometimes, Britishness is not seen as something which we are born into, but something adopted - why else would we think we could use a test of cultural knowledge to determine citizenship? Although this is different to citizenship in heaven, which is not earned and which no amount of swotting up on how much pocket money children should get will help, I do think that our attitudes to national identity have been shaped by our Christian heritage. 
 

And as for the fear, Jesus himself says:
 

'Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear....Consider the ravens: they do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; and yet God feeds them.  And how much more valuable are you than birds!' (Luke 12:22-24-25). 
 

One modern day equivalent could be this:
 

'Therefore I tell you, do not worry about the economy, how many jobs there will be, or the housing market or whether there will be a hospital bed for you when you need it...Consider the ravens: they do not have planning or border control, and yet God feeds them.  And how much more valuable are you than they!'
 

Now, if we're not worrying about the effects of immigration on our own pockets, then we needn't fear that a bunch of Romanians are about to come over and steal our jobs and hospital beds.  And if we are not afraid, then we can stop seeing people as a group and a threat, but as individuals.  Understanding that people are individuals is the ultimate antidote to racism and prejudice.
 

Now, I realise that this post doesn't answer the difficult questions of immigration policy.  Politicians face many difficult issues when trying to get the best for their electorate.   Resource scarcity, such as housing, is an issue.  At the same time, so is providing refuge to those in need, along with securing a country's place on the global stage and building a strong economy.  But I'm not trying to define what our immigration policy should be, but rather how we should respond in our hearts and our lives to whatever the situation might be. 
 

So, the antidote to immigration-related racism? Free ourselves from the idea that we can be in control, that we are owed anything, and the fear.  If we look outwards rather than trying to cling onto what we think we can control, suddenly it seems easy to see people as individuals.