The Galahad Effect

Christians are easily misunderstood people.  The chief reason is the general inaccessibility of a person who is a Christian, authentic, not nominal, nor traditional, nor customary.  It is easy to go by the name of Christian, to be born into Christian families, to attend services regularly (or irregularly enough).

But to be a Christian -- this is a trick.

Thus, I can agree with the general confusion when one Christian claims A, and another "Christian" asserts non-A.  True Christians can be conservative or liberal as long as they are not consumed with matters political.  But this leaves to a problem of perception.  Will the real Christian please stand up?  And when a mass of humanity rises to this request, we probably will need to undergo further sifting to cull the sincere from the insincere, the divine from the delusional.

Perhaps a telling clue is defined by what I term the "Galahad Effect."  I used the phrase in a recent  STR blog post to refer to possible negative encounters with Christians due to never understanding the merits of such a person, ONCE HE HAS BEEN FOUND.  It is founded on this portion of T.H. White's Once and Future King, where Arthur speaks with Lancelot about some of his knights.

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"I am told that Galahad and Percivale were virgins, and Bors, although not quite a virgin, turned out to be a first-class theologian, I suppose.  Bors passed for his dogma, and Percivale for his innocence.  I know hardly anything about Galahad, except that everyone dislikes him."

"Dislike him?"

"They complain about his being inhuman."

Lancelot considered his cup.

"He is inhuman," he said at last.  "But why should he be human?  Are angels supposed to be human?"

"I don't quite follow."

"Do you think if the Archangel Michael were to come here this minute, he would say: 'What charming weather we are having today!  Won't you have a glass of whiskey?'"

"I suppose not."
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Luther once stated, "Man muss fern ein Christ zu finden."  One must go far to find a Christian.  And once found out of the masses that claim Christian status, what would be the world's opinion of such a one?  Jesus said that His followers would be hated by the world.  So be it.

It would be a delightful change from the annoyance that the world perceives in its vision of modern Christianity.