Inexpensive Christianity
A couple of weeks ago we held our Pro-Life Conference, which was a great success. At the conference we gave a book to each attendee – the same books that had spent months stacked in boxes in our family room. Aside from a very understanding wife who never complained about our Sears Tower of books in the corner, over those months I noticed something interesting. One of the boxes said, “Everything Christian for Less”.
When you work from home and spend a significant part of your workday writing, an odd thing happens – you notice things in your environment you had not previously paid attention to. When I write a letter to the editor, this type of blog email, or content for a new webpage, I tend to regularly stare off into the distance while composing my thoughts (I’m sure there’s a joke in there somewhere). As a result, objects in our family room get more daily scrutiny simply because my mind wanders and my eyes follow closely behind. I get fixated on something, and in this case, it was the box slogan.
The phrase “Everything Christian for Less” is actually the catchphrase for Christianbook.com, where we purchased the books. They did a great job with the order, but it still struck me as odd that a company would choose that wording. To some who are new to the faith or who do not understand the basics of a Christian walk of life, it might be interpreted as saying that Christianity can be “purchased” at low cost to the individual. You can put in your order online and get Christianity inexpensively delivered to your door in 3-5 business days.
All joking aside, I know what they mean by this slogan, as I’m sure you do (but I certainly hope nobody got a marketing bonus for it). However, Christianity is just the opposite; it’s expensive. Christ himself stated that the cost of discipleship could mean everything up to and including death. Aside from His own death on the cross for us, just look at his disciples. Every one of them was crucified, stoned, hanged, or made to die in some similar fashion for proclaiming their faith.
In contrast, I think it’s fair to say that as Christians, we often believe that exercising our faith can be quick and easy. We attend church, go to our bible study, and have our devotions. While these are all critical parts of our Christian life, there is another part of our Christian life which was not mentioned. That part is spreading our values through all parts of life, which is incredibly difficult. It can be extremely time consuming (i.e., expensive) and means taking the hits on a regular basis. That’s a major reason NDFA exists.
NDFA represents you and your values in the legislature and across the state. If you were to do this same work yourself, the task would become very expensive in terms of time requirements, fulfilling existing obligations, getting your work done, and so much more. We undertake that work on your behalf, and based on historical evidence, we are able to do it very efficiently and effectively. We love representing your values in North Dakota, but it is expensive for us as well.
Our organization is funded 100% through private donations from folks like you – North Dakotans who want to leave a legacy of biblically-based laws for their children and grandchildren. You can help support us in this work in a special way tomorrow with Giving Hearts Day! You also receive a dollar-for-dollar match on your donation in the process. You can go directly to our GHD webpage and donate, or you can mail a check to the address at the bottom of this email if you feel more comfortable doing that (be sure to put “GHD” on the memo line).
Integrating your values into North Dakota’s public policy world is not easy and can be expensive, but it is definitely worth it to push back against the moral decay underway in our country. NDFA is here to help you do that, and we want to sincerely thank you for your support and faith in us!