Yes! But, no...

OK. This is going to be a long post. Just giving you a heads-up.

Tim Minchin (comedian, songwriter, and pianist extraordinaire, for those of you unfamiliar) recently put up these series of posts via Twitter:

'Yay! The PM wants a return to Christian values! Canaanites, sodomites & sluts watch out... I'm dusting off my stoning stones.' 

'Oh, so the Old Testament is not Christian? Perhaps those books just come together as a pre-christmas 2-1 offer...' 

'Or... 'Christian values' means nothing, cos Christians choose which bits of the bible to ignore. Thus they are not God's, but OUR values.' 

'the 10 commandments aren't Christian?' 

'RT @rhysmorgan Jesus said "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law... I have come not to abolish but to fulfill." ' 

'Twitter dictates I follow up flippant comments with less flippant clarification. Then peeps don't like my "preaching". Ah well. All fun.' 

'So, I shall preach more. David Cameron appealing for Christian values is noxious because: (several tweets to come. Forgive me.)' 

'1. They don't exist. Religious folk (generally) have modern values which they reverse engineer to suit the bits of the bible that match.' 

'2. It implies that all other value systems & religions generate less good moral values. This is demonstrably untrue and basically racist.' 

'3. A supernatural source of morality implies that we would all rape, murder & steal were it not for a punishing God. This idea upsets me.' 

'4. It fails to recognise that morality is an ongoing discussion. Human values change & improve with time & are nuanced, not simplistic.' 

'5. If you believe a probably fictional 2000-yr-dead bronze-aged preacher was magic & morally perfect you shouldn't be running a country.' 

'I could go on and on (!), but I'll leave y'all alone for now. My boy has a trouser full of his own faeces. Love, peace, all that.' 

'Oh, one more thing. I gather that I'm not taking into account all Cameron said. I hate stuff taken out of context so I apologise for that...' 

'... But any appeal to Christian values in modern politics is incredibly stupid, in my opinion.'

My first reaction to this was Yes! But no... I tend to get that a lot, when hearing atheists - or just non-Christians - talk about Christians. They'll get some things right (often, more than some Christians will admit), but it can often seem like the Christians they know are living in yesterday's age. I should probably point out here; not trying to shame Mr Minchin at all here. A lot of Christians do live in yesterday's age. As always, there's a reason for the cliche. But we'd appreciate not being all heaped into the one basket.

I could do a blow-by-blow run through and critique of the above statements. But that won't achieve anything. I've found that debates and such very rarely do. Because people - on both sides - are more than often convinced that they're right, and won't yield an inch.

What I will do, however, is just put up a couple of quick points about us Christians and what we believe, that isn't so much the cliche.

1. Non-Christians can be just as moral as Christians. I know some that are more so. Saying that they "can't be moral" just because they don't believe in God is just silly. 

2. The words of the Bible are not the be all and end all. God is. The Bible is God's Word, yes. And should be respected as such. But here are some words from it: “Why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?” Luke Chapter 12, verse 57. There are some things that go deeper than just the words of the Bible; the values represented in it. Those of love, and compassion, among others. They've been unfortunately absent from many people's experience of Christianity, many a time. But these values are why we don't have slavery, why women are now treated as equals, and why many are so divided on the point of homosexuals, among many others. 

3. We're all different. I know that there are a fair few Christians out there - probably many that I know - that would disagree vehemently with some of the points I've made. So please, before you say "All Christians are..." think a moment.

This isn't an argument, and I hope you don't see it that way. This is just an attempt to bridge the gap a bit between what we are, and what people think we are.

"Let us not love in word or talk but in deed and truth."