I recently ran across a CollegeHumor sketch all about why religious nerds are the biggest nerds in the world and how they’re just like all other types of nerds, but just more intense.
The video makes some valid points which I’ll bring out, but it also contains other more subtle messages that I want to analyze and explain here, alongside another point that relates back to this post’s title.
Valid Points
- Plenty of religious people are wholly uneducated when it comes to conversion tactics and make a fool of themselves.
- In the same vein, some religious people are so pushy that their efforts end up having the opposite effect.
- Too many religious people lose sight of what their goal should be (conversion and exemplification, in preparation for the afterlife) and start acting like their real goal is just to win battles in this life, whether verbal or physical.
- No other type of nerdiness has used their object of worship as an excuse for physical violence the way religions have.
- And if you’re so passionate that you feel led to physically fight people to the death, you need to go home and rethink your life.
- Any kind of extreme nerdiness will not get you far with worldly members of the opposite sex.
Ideas to Analyze
- The video has a not-so-subtle undercurrent that says religious nerds are annoying.
- Why do you think people feel that way? Being that I am religious, I can only give it my best educated guess, which would be two-fold (tell me if I’m right): (1) bad tactics on the part of the religious, or in lieu of that, (2) they don’t want to be made to feel like they’re living wrong, especially when in their minds, the supreme judge of their behavior, God, may not even exist. So, the marching orders for religious people here are: learn better tactics and never skimp on evidences, especially in this day and age.
- Why are some religious people seen as nerds? Or, what makes a religious person become that passionate?
- Moreso than anything else on earth, if a person believes that they need to use this life a certain way to achieve a good eternal afterlife and not a bad one, then knowing how short this life is, it makes total sense that one would prioritize their eternal happiness over anything this temporary life brings. In this way, religious people look at life differently than everyone else. That priority leads one to follow their religion’s holy book, and in the case of the Bible, it says you need to be passionate about it.
- The fact that the biggest difference is one of complete worldview means that often there is a vast gap of understanding that must be bridged to achieve any measure of harmony between the two parties.
One Idea of What Defines a Christian
I think 1 Corinthians 13:13 may contain all I need to explain this. Because of Christ’s love, we here can have a hope of a better afterlife through faith. And if we have that working faith, then we will share our hope in a manner exemplifying Christ’s love.
So, the challenge for Christians is to love people enough to care about how they might be the most receptive to your message. Blunt force will only make enemies. Tact, however, earns much respect. Therefore, study tactics and learn how to read people well enough to determine what tactic(s) would work best to not leave a bad taste in their mouths.