Some of you may be familiar with the "not a fan" campaign and website.
The premise is straightforward and accurate: Jesus wasn't looking for enthusiastic admirers but for dedicated followers - people willing to learn from Him, to deny themselves and to take up the cross. Much of this has gotten lost in churchianity's understanding and presentation of the gospel. So in one way this is an important reminder what Jesus is calling us into and the cost that is involved.
At the same time I cannot deny a sense of unease in my own guess what will likely happen with campaigns like this where one aspect of truth is discovered and often understood as the ultimate silver bullet to solve all our inner battles. If the message is not framed correctly in our own minds, the call to complete surrender can easily become nothing more than identifying with a movement and with the heroic sacrifice the group and its values represent to offer us personal validation if we join it. I also see the danger of underestimating the depth of self-deception in us, even after "surrendering completely" and what we believe changes when we do that.
Just watch the testimony of former wrestler Matt Cappotelli on the testimony page of the website and note his reference to mankind, saying "We are all scumbags!" Well, yes we are as far as the evidence in our thinking and acting is concerned (apart from our actual identity in God's judgement of "very good"). But does that mean we create now a new identity by completely surrendering to Christ? And how complete exactly is "completely"? What if (after "fully surrendering") I find evidence all of a sudden that shows me undeniably that I'm not as completely surrendered as I thought I was? Isn't this whole approach very prone to the same old endless cycles of dedication, re-dedication, re-re-dedication etc. in evangelical circles until a person not just discovers a lot of shit in their lives but finally does give up and defines himself or herself as unchangeable shit and a hopeless case?
I'm not saying that it has to be this way or that the campaign is worthless. Rightly framed it has great potential to wake us up out of lethargy and an impotent Christianity that "rests on grace" to the point of boredom and irrelevance. But if our actual problem and God's response is not properly understood, it can be just as damaging and death producing as other campaigns that get people excited, lead them to join and repeat its mantras, and it can easily lead to an elitist thinking and a judgmental attitude toward those who in their view are just fans and not as dedicated as they are.
