What is your pronoun? How do I refer to you?
Sound familiar? Much modern conversation has been given about sensitivity to another person’s pronouns. In 2021, it seems, we are able to pick whatever we want for ourselves. He/She, him/her, them/they… I’ll admit I don’t really understand the xe/xem. I know… I’m terribly backwards and stuck in 2019. The nerve.
I’ll skip past the commentary regarding a self-declaring, self-identifying culture. The orthodox Christian position on this movement is well known and firmly established. I have nothing new to add.
Instead, I would like to ask the infinitely more important question: what is your noun? More specifically, what is your noun with due, but preferential, respect to your adjective. And, even more specifically, I want to make sure those who share with me the label “Christian” know what our actual noun is.
I had a hard time writing that last sentence. Because it is fully incorrect even though it sounds like familiar rhetoric. “Christian” is not a label. We don’t label ourselves Christian. We either are or are not one. Labels are descriptors. They are adjectives. Christian is not a label. Christian is a noun.
This thought doesn’t come easily to me. I was never good at my English classes in school. As you can tell, I write like I talk. Sentence structure and grammar ain’t me forté. My brain spins a bit when people start talking about nouns, verbs, pronouns, and the like.
But… even in that confusion. I think this is a major idea to get straight.
One more time: “Christian” is not an adjective. It is a noun.
We either are a Christian or we are not. There is one dividing line in all of humanity. Only one. You are either saved by the blood of Jesus or you are not. Meaning: similar to how our Old Testament Hebrew friends used to draw lines, when they said you are either a Jew or you are not (and the “not” people are Gentiles... the whole lot of them) we can see a comparable line among people. Christian or not.
Mankind has many different lines in the sand. We have different tribes. We gather with people of the same look, status, and interests. None of those lines are inherently bad. But, they are all temporary. The permanent line is the one that God has drawn in the sand.
God’s line creates nouns. Our lines create adjectives.
In other words… God’s line defines who we are. Our lines just refine how we are defined.
Alright, brass tax. Please hear the difference:
“I am a biker who is Christian.” “I am a Christian who is a biker.”
“I am a black man who is Christian.” “I am a Christian man who is black.”
“I am a banker who is Christian.” “I am a Christian who is a banker.”
I hope you can hear/see the difference. We are or are not a Christian. Everything else just refines our definition. But those statements aren’t how we actually talk especially when it comes to the most contentious lines in our society today.
Instead we say things like “I am a white/black Christian” or “I am a democrat/republican Christian.” When we use those dividing lines, we far too often confuse the noun with the adjective. Black, white, democrat, republican… those are not our nouns. They are our adjectives.
Why is this so important? Well, the Christian Church is splintered, and it continues to fray. I believe this is one of the reasons. We have used black/white/democrat/republican as our noun and we have just used Christian as a descriptor. As an adjective. We have built too many denominations around our adjectives and forgotten unity over our noun.
Let it not be so. We must unite around our noun. We are who we are. The other much-less important lines might help us enjoy likeminded culture and conversation. But they are secondary. A distant secondary.
What is your noun? I hope it is “Christian”.