Topic: constipated Christianity

Relief from Constipated Christianity

By David W. Shelton | April 30, 2008 |

In an unlikely pairing of words, I’ve decided to define the phrase “constipated Christianity” since I know that this will probably come up in discussion among my friends and family. So what is it? It’s really quite simple:

Constipated Christianity: A form of religious impersonation where the devotee is always tense, bloated, and never moves. It’s characterized by constant straining, nothing good ever comes out. As a result, the poor person is just generally full of it.

It’s crude and offensive. It’s sophomoric. Yes, I know. This also happens to be all too true! Makes me wonder if there’s a spiritual laxative. Of course, the opposite of this would be religious diarrhea. And believe me, I DON’T want to define that one since it’s pretty self-evident.

Neither is pretty. Both are ugly pictures of what can easily come about when someone takes their eyes off the glory of Jesus Christ. When someone is so stuck on tradition (we’ve always done it like that!) and scoffs at new ideas and new ways to reach the unchurched, it’s easy to criticize… especially when an idea is totally unconventional. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Spirituality | 2 Comments