I have a very deep and sincere concern for this generation of Christians. We are truly a unique group with a unique set of problems. Though we’re not the first generation to experience the hype and control of institutional Christianity, we are the first to even consider divorcing ourselves from it. This decision alone creates a whole new set of problems that our parents and grandparents never dreamed of facing. They tolerated the religious abuse because they didn’t think they had a choice in the matter. Our generation is the first to tap into the possibility that the Christian life could be “returned to the wild” after being bred and born in captivity. Deciding to leave is the easy part; learning to live in the wild and survive without institutionalized religion is quite another story.

I suppose what concerns me the most is the fact that most of us have been duped into believing things about the Christian walk that are simply not true. And many of the things that ARE true have been greatly exaggerated and embellished to enhance their theatrical presentation. Because of the fact that the majority of our Christian lives were spent watching the Christian play at church, we have grown accustomed to sitting through the show and demanding to be entertained. Every spiritual facet of the “personal relationship with God” has been caked with makeup, airbrushed, pumped with steroids, injected with botox, sprayed with perfume and stuffed with implants. In the end, we’re left with a “Glam Shot” perception of “relationship” that is about as real as a fifty dollar blow-up doll. It’s perfect for the theater, but when it comes to a real, one-on-one relationship, it’s just impossible.

Leaving the Christian Church today and setting out to find your own relationship with God is about as likely as a man addicted to pornography believing he can get married and find similar fulfillment. I have a friend in my life who I honestly believe is a “Christian porn addict”. I’m not saying he is addicted to pornography in the sense that you might think, but he is addicted to what I call, “Christian pornography”. This type of “pornography” is a version of Christianity that blows up and exaggerates everything in an effort to spiritually arouse the onlooker. People become addicted to these outrageous representations of spirituality because the very idea of them brings excitement and gratification.

The addiction to these spiritually accentuated concepts is almost identical to an addiction to pornography – some people can’t get aroused without it.

Every part of the Christian walk has been romanticized and glamorized to the point where we have no concept of what God really wants to offer us.

I know that it would sound lovely and cliché if I told you that sex in the context of marriage is much more fulfilling than watching pornography, but the fact is that it doesn’t even compare. If you were to use a “pleasure meter” to identify which act is more physically satisfying, pornography would win hands down. Pornography is like a super sonic dose of pure gratification to the body, while sex in the context of marriage is sustainable and eternal. The same is true with substances like Methamphetamines and Heroin. We would all like to think that a family day at the park would outweigh the high that Meth and Heroin offer, but let me assure you that nothing could be further from the truth. These drugs provide a high that completely blows away anything this life has to offer under normal circumstances. Being a person who came from a life of drug addiction, I can tell you first hand that one of the biggest challenges I faced after walking away from drugs was my ability to find fulfillment in the “every day” things of life. In order to do that, one has to change their thinking altogether. The drug addict seeks total fulfillment in the “here and now”, and the non-drug addict looks for overall fulfillment in “the long run” of life. The decision to switch from an extreme lifestyle like that of a drug addict to a life of normalcy is quite difficult almost never attained.

It is almost impossible for a Christian who has been raised on a steady diet of spiritual pornography to settle down and be content with the everyday life of REAL spirituality. Every aspect of “relationship with God” has been laced with religious PCP, and the real authentic truth doesn’t even compare to the spiked version they grew up with.

It seems that at every angle of spirituality we have been fed an unrealistic and glamorized perception of “how it’s supposed to be”; this worries me. These ideas – when put into action – are ultimately impossible to sustain for more than a week or two. It’s just not realistic to think anyone could have a “burning passion” for God twenty-four hours a day for the rest of their life! Personal and simple things like prayer are turned into super spiritual and emotional experiences that shake the heavens and the earth. Before you know it, the very avenue through which we communicate with God has been hijacked and turned into a “passionate heart pounding cry to the heavens”. Ultimately, when you can’t sustain this emotional position, you begin to feel condemned regarding your Christian walk. This extremism has been applied to every single facet of the Christian life. We have an entire generation of people who honestly think a relationship with God is like a Hollywood, “action packed romance thriller”. It has been so accentuated and romanticized, that when it’s finally compared to the real thing, the lie seems a thousand times better!

The problem is that everything we have been taught about a personal relationship with God is an exaggerated lie and absolutely impossible to obtain. It simply does not exist! It was all smoke and mirrors for the purpose of entertaining and inspiring a congregation. When all is said and done, most people have NO idea what to really expect when it comes to a REAL personal relationship with Him. When the real thing shows itself, it is unappealing and people are usually uninterested.

It also seems that after stepping away from the hype of the institution in an attempt to experience “the real thing”, we usually get bored and run back to our church for a spiritual “porn fix”. At the very least, we start feeling like we’re dying inside because nothing looks the way they told us it would look. Nothing happens like it’s supposed to happen. Worshipping alone in your bedroom doesn’t even compare to the ten member band with lights and sound that your church offered. For some reason, you don’t break down and cry your eyes out during the experience now. Without all the music and singing to drown out your voice, you’re left with nothing but your own out of key tone. What’s worse is that now your friends don’t sit around and talk about Jesus all the time or sit and do Bible studies with you. There isn’t a planned time for praise reports and prayer requests. You become a normal person who works and lives, just like everyone else.

It’s kind of like the movie all your friends ranted and raved about. They begged you to go see it because they thought it was the best movie ever made. For weeks on end, all you heard them do was recite their favorite quotes and talk about how great it was. Finally you go watch the movie, and it ends up being a big let down because they’d built it up so much in front of you. The truth is, you probably would have loved the movie too, but after being contaminated by their exaggerated enthusiasm, the movie never stood a chance. It was bound to be a let down.

If I were going to give any advice to this generation of Christians, I think first and foremost I would say to let go of everything. Walk into this relationship with no pre-determined expectations. Forget everything you’ve heard about the way it’s supposed to be. Forget all the embellished testimonies and stories people recited from the stage of your church. Start out as though you are the first person in the world to have a relationship with God. Be open to absolutely anything.

I have found that “true spiritual porn addicts” almost always reject the message I preach. It’s simplicity angers and annoys them. It’s so unattractive and dull that they can’t imagine trading their present erotic spirituality for it. This is precisely why the Pharisees wanted to execute Jesus. He was a disappointment. They were looking for a reigning king and instead they got a dirty homeless carpenter. We’re no different in today’s institutional religious world than the Pharisees were in Jesus’ day. Ironically, we still insist on preaching the “reigning king relationship” to everyone – even though Jesus hasn’t returned as a reigning king yet. We STILL can’t accept the carpenter. Getting someone to trade in the reigning king perception for the carpenter is nearly impossible.

Just like marriage in the physical realm, true relationship with God cannot be expected to deliver a constant state of passionate spiritual arousal. There are times when this happens, but if you hang your entire relationship on it, you’re in for a world of disappointment. In many ways, some churches remind me of the married couple who based their relationship on their “hot sex life”. When things inevitably cool off, they have to participate in even more bizarre and wild behavior just to keep it “hot and alive”. It certainly explains why so many Christian groups get caught up in crazy spiritual fads. Their spiritual perceptions of relationship demands that things be kept at a spiritually sensual boiling point at all times. It’s like they are open to anything that will rekindle the fire of their spirituality for just another day.

I would honestly encourage everyone to take an honest look at their relationship with God and ask some important and deep questions. When you praise Him, what words do you use? Do you use the same phrases and terms you’ve heard a thousand other people recite at your church? Do you lift your hands and hop up and down like the people on the worship team? Do you teeter totter back and forth from right to left with your face tilted upwards, your elbows down and your arms extended out, your palms facing up, with a look of painful desperation on your face?

My question is this: How would you express yourself if you hadn’t watched everyone else show you how? What words would you use, if you hadn’t memorized the one’s they gave you? What would you say if you didn’t already have a script? Would you really “cry out to the Lord” or would you be more inclined to just talk to Him about your life? Would you really lie on your face and wail at the altar, or would you just sit quietly and think about Him? How would it all play out if you had never observed another Christian in your entire life?

What if God promised you right now that no matter how much money you gave in the offering, He would never give you one red cent for the rest of your life unless you earned it? What if He guaranteed you that you would never receive a healing from Him regardless of the sickness or injury? What if you never saw a miracle again until the day you died? What if no one ever gave you a “word from the Lord” from this day forward? What if you became crippled and couldn’t find a way to get to Church? What would become of your relationship with God if these things were to happen?

I believe that we need to assess our lives and take a close and honest look at what we have. I fear that many people who have come from an institutional mindset really don’t have much. What they do have is a handful of stuff that is absolutely useless in the real world. They have a pocket full of spiritual fairy dust that only works when they’re inside the walls of their church, and when they try to sprinkle it out in the real world, nothing happens.

Survival in the real world of “relationship with God” comes in finding enjoyment in the little things, and in “the long run” of life. It comes when you commit to being normal and give up your spiritual aspirations of becoming a super spiritual prophet, a preacher, or a miracle worker. The moment you’re ok with being just like everyone else and you no longer feel the need to validate your spirituality in the eyes of anyone, you will be well on your way to knowing the real Him. When the words “God told me” don’t need to pass through your lips in order to impress the person you’re talking to, and when you’re more willing to admit that you don’t know what the heck He’s telling you, you are closer than you could imagine. When you’re more touched by a warm dinner with neighbors than you are by an emotional church service, you will have swallowed His very heart. When the focus of your life goes from getting answers to your prayers to becoming answers to the prayers of others, you’ll know Him like never before.