Discipleship – Vampire Christianity

This is not at all in sequence with my previous posts. However, I had to get this out while it was fresh on my mind.

I live in the Bible Belt. As a matter of fact, I live in the Bible Belt Buckle. There’s a church on every corner, and it seems that most people profess at least a cultural connection to Christianity. They are a member of one church or another, whether or not they’ve attended in the last twenty years. They are still at least somewhat concerned with conservative Christian values. They generally place a strong value on family and have a good work ethic. Sure, we definitely have our share of agnostics and atheists (personally, I don’t believe they exist), but predominantly, most people around me are in some way connected to the church, whether they have strong convictions in any particular biblical value, or have even picked up a Bible in their lifetime. I call this Cultural Christianity.

Cultural Christians are so, because their “brand” of Christianity has been passed down to them from generations past. They may have never darkened the door of a church but to be baptized, nor opened their Bible longer than to inscribe the names of their children in the genealogical section beneath the cover. However, they call themselves a Baptist or a Methodist, and feel that they have a connection to an organism far greater than themselves. They are “Christian” more by association, than by faith or a living experience with the Living Redeemer. They are “members.”

While at first glance this seems quite innocuous, it reveals a deeper issue that lies beneath the surface. Quoting A. W. Tozer’s argument against Christians accepting Christ as Savior without accepting him as Lord, Dallas Willard makes a very interesting comment that helps to shock us into the perspective of our spiritual reality. First, he affirms Tozer’s statement that “salvation apart from obedience is unknown in the sacred scriptures.” He then goes on to say,

“This ‘heresy’ has created the impression that it is quite reasonable to be a ‘vampire Christian.’ One in effect says to Jesus, ‘I’d like a little of your blood, please. But I don’t care to be your student or have your character. In fact, won’t you just excuse me while I get on with my life, and I’ll see you in heaven.'” ¹

Ouch! A vampire Christian? Yes – that hurts. But truth is often revealed in pain, because it breaks us out of our personal utopia and forces us to confront reality. I know that no one in their right mind would consciously say these words. However, Willard has uttered here the subconscious thoughts of all Cultural Christians. He has exposed the heart of those who would invoke the blood of the Messiah in order to wash away their sinful past, but continue to walk in stride with a life in which the Risen Lord has no place. Paul tells us that if we have life in the Spirit, then our daily walk (life) should also be “in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25). If we are walking on our own path, rather than following in the dust of our Master, it should give us pause. Are we a “vampire Christian”? Have we insulted the Spirit of grace (Hebrews 10:29)? Has our Cultural Christianity lulled us into a spiritual coma from which we cannot awaken? The gift of grace through the blood of the Risen Messiah is entirely free. Yet it cost Jesus his very life. Shouldn’t we at the very least give ours back to him, rather than merely feeding off of his blood?

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:26-31 ESV)

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