dev180

“But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. “

2 Corinthians 2:14

I was heartbroken recently upon hearing of the tragedy in Norway. After living in Europe for almost three years now, I have grown to respect this country very much. I have been unhappy, however, with the media’s coverage of this story, as it seems that they have enjoyed labeling the killer as a “fundamentalist Christian.” By placing emphasis on this label, they have made an implication that beliefs that line up with a fundamental Christian view lead to such atrocities. As one who is a fundamentalist Christian (depending on your definition of “fundamentalist”), I find this not only offensive but irresponsible journalism.

Perhaps it is easy to understand why I would be offended, but why would I call it irresponsible? The reason is because I believe Christians who hold to the fundamentals of what Jesus taught should have by now earned a better reputation than that. After all, it was fundamentalist Christians who were the first to be in New Orleans with aid after hurricane Katrina. It was fundamentalist Christians who sacrificed their time and money to go and help after the Tsunami in South Asia, the earthquakes in Japan and Haiti, and have led the charge in fighting global hunger. Every homeless ministry I worked with in America had been started by fundamentalist Christians, and it is fundamentalist Christians who are helping rebuild my hometown of Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

I’ll stop there, but I could go on for pages about the social justice done by fundamentalist Christians through the centuries and in this present age. Despite all the merit that our people should have earned, it only takes one evil man that has “Christian” on his Facebook profile to profane our name and cause the name of Jesus to stink. While this upsets me, it should not surprise me, and it causes me to turn this from a gripe against our plank-in-the-eye judges to an invaluable lesson that we “fundamentalist Christians” should take from this.

The world will always search out the sins of the church and ignore the good. Why? Because any merit they give to the church is a merit given to God, and it is He they do not want. The world will not accept God, for they are under a different reign. There are many atheists who cite the wars started by religion as the reason they don’t believe in God, but in reality this is more of a reason they found because they already didn’t want to believe in God. The good works of the church will always be ignored by those destined for destruction.

Yet, we are called to be the aroma of Christ. There are many individuals all around the world who have stated that the reason they first became open to the gospel was because they watched the life of some “fundamentalist Christian.” They were upright. They were trustworthy. They were happy. They cared about the well-being of others. They, so to say, had a sweet aroma that they had not found in the world. To follow Jesus in a fundamental way is to spread the perfume of God amongst the nations, and there is no sweeter fragrance.

While the world will always claim that the odor of Christ stinks, the life of people who truly follow Christ in a fundamental way will always prove otherwise. Let us not be surprised when the world spreads its slander and its stink; rather, let our aroma spread the knowledge of him in every place.