sophisticates of Christianity

Some Christians identify and then disparage or debunk the perception that no sophisticate can be a devout Christian. (Depending on the group of self-appointed sophisticates, the taboo might extend to all religions, all "organized" religions, or all unfashionable religions.) This perception is intellectually flimsy and contradicted by numerous examples, but the aspect to which some Christians most often object is the accompanying attitude. They complain that such anti-Christian sophisticates display, intentionally or not, a disrespect to practicing believers that verges on contempt (of course, those whose actual goal is to express unambiguous contempt are a narrower category). Since there's no shortage of coverage to this topic, no more than a short line of advice is necessary here: review the biblical sections on being hated and persecuted by the "world" and shift expectations and perspective accordingly.

Unfortunately, the antagonistic stance between Christians and some self-appointed sophisticates is mirrored by a division within Christianity between its own set of "sophisticates" and anyone whom they define to be "not-sophisticates". Like their anti-Christian counterparts, these sophisticates of Christianity pride (yes, pride) themselves on having achieved a level of enlightenment/achievement that marks them as having surpassed their lesser brethren. They likely have favorite ideological divergences from the not-sophisticates, differences which they will gladly explain on request. They tend to know exactly what mistakes are to blame for any way that Christianity is ineffective. They relish debating the definitions and practices of Christianity in clever ways, especially if the items under debate are traditional. They prefer to squeeze Christianity through the strainer of secular philosophy rather than consent to accepting it for what it claims to be.

Most of all, they must differ from the not-sophisticates. Whether they are doing something pretentiously creative and new or something that fell out of favor one hundred or more years ago, the point is that they certainly aren't doing what the not-sophisticates currently are. Moreover, they're eager to remind everyone, including each other, that they can and will name the multitudinous flaws of the not-sophisticates and mention that they're past those flaws.

To clarify, the problem with the sophisticates of Christianity isn't that they're reform-driven or independent-minded (no matter what the accuracy of those two self-applied descriptions may be). It's a matter of humility and empathy. A Christian who wants to entice other Christians into a "deeper walk" won't do that by relentlessly pointing out how and why sophisticates of Christianity are so special. Elevating oneself by endlessly criticizing others is a hopelessly negative strategy for real, lasting change. It also appears small-minded - and dare I say unsophisticated - to assume that someone who is a not-sophisticate according to a particular standard can't be consumed by God. If sophistication were that important, He selected the wrong apostles.