What is a performance aspect of something? It is the way you generally think you need to act in order to be considered part of the group. One of the easiest examples of this in the modern world is that of homosexuality. How do you know if a person is a homosexual without having them tell you directly? It is usually because they are acting in a specific way in order to fit into that group. A male homosexual will raise the pitch of his voice and take on some sort of twang that tends to sound like a southern black woman. He will use various phrases generally reserved for female use only so as to demonstrate that he is willing to act like a female. The male takes on alternative body language mannerisms, all effeminate of course.
Basically, a male homosexual will try to do everything a normal female does, and it is very easy to pick these people out. All these traits together are the performance aspect of homosexuality. If you want to prove that you are a homosexual, you have to “perform” in this clearly defined way.
Now let me ask you this, is a male homosexual forced to take on those performance aspects of homosexuality? Of course not. But all the other homos are acting the same way, so if he wants to be a part of the group, he has to act the part.
You can find the same thing among any group of people. In order to truly be a part of the group, you have to take on some distinct performance-based aspects that demonstrate to the outside world what group you belong to.
Let me tell you that this is not necessary or beneficial. It almost always does more harm than good. This is because the second you start acting like one of the gang, the outside world instantly places all their prejudices on you. You absorb everything the world thinks about your group, whether good or bad.
Even though taking on the performance aspects of a group is negative, we still do it, even with Christianity.
This is very common. What do performance aspects look like in Christianity? It usually includes the following:
- Rigidity of lifestyle
- Overuse of religious terminology in conversation (words like sin, morality, redemption, etc.)
- Open statements of what actions are avoided (“I don’t do that because I’m a Christian” etc.)
- Weakness
- Glorification of weakness
- Worship of the feminine
- The need to talk about the rigid lifestyle as if to gain some sort of praise
You do not have to take on the performative aspects of Christianity. In fact, it is those performances that turn off others from our point of view. Think back to the homosexual example: is it their homosexuality that bothers us or rather their flamboyant display of performance-based homosexuality? Typically, most people are not even thinking about what homosexuals are doing behind closed doors. Rather it is their flagrant display of effeminacy and anti-nature behavior that usually triggers our gag reflex.
The actions we display to the people on the outside will be the only information they have to judge us by.
If we take on the aspects of all the other religious people they have encountered, they will not be interested in what we have to say. They already have one-thousand and one preconceived notions about what it means to be a religious person. Fulfilling their stereotyped ideas of Christianity is not helping our situation.
You do not have to take on the stereotypical performance aspects of Christianity. Realize that is not even how Christians acted over the centuries. Stereotypically approved behavior has changed over the years. The foundation of America, the Reformation, the First Century, and other ages of Christianity all had their distinct performance-based behavior. They all had their performance aspects. Which one of them is the correct one? There is no way to no. And there is no need to take on any of these aspects, it does more harm than good.
What is required of you then? To obey the commands of God. That is all. There is no need to draw attention to every move we make with various Shakespearean performances. That is nothing more than an attempt to impress those people on the outside who are looking in. Our performance does not make them want to be a part of Christianity, in fact, it drives them farther away. People believe that in order to be a Christian, they have to act like the weak, effeminate Christians they interact with. This is not true; you have the freedom to act like a masculine man. In fact, all behavior is appropriate as long as you are obeying the commands of God.
Read: 1 John
