February 4, 2013

  • Sunday Devotional: Whatever Happened to the Christian Hippie?

    My parents had some older Christian books from the 60s and 70s in our house growing up. I read those books, feeling both confused and intrigued. The Jesus Movement of the 70s was essentially a revival among hippies, and you can feel the fire, joy, and idealism in the books they wrote. I was a logical kid, but I loved the passion, and the books spoke to me.

    Nowadays, I still meet "hippies," people with big hearts who seek to change the culture or bring peace and justice to all. But they are unfortunately ex-Christians. A bad experience with Christian culture, or their frustration with concepts such as hell or sin have driven them far away. We all make our own choices, but it bothers me precisely because these people are what Christianity needs so badly. God is love, and Jesus said that we prove that we are his disciples by the love we have for one another. So how can we stop this exodus of loving people who at times can be so easily hurt, and when hurt just leave and never come back? At a time where perhaps the church has never been more easy-going about theology in the United States, why are we still losing so many Christian hippies?

Comments (12)

  • http://www.allsavedfreakband.com/jesus_movement.htm Further reading on the Jesus Movement, if you want.

  • I actually remember the Jesus movement, and much of my family was involved.  The Jesus movement was very idealistic, and when the idealism and reality didn't match up it caused a lot of problems.  I also was around in the early 80's for the fallout.  A lot of those hippy Christians also simply moved on.  They lost a lot of their romantic idealism and started dealing with real life and raising families.  Some of the Christian hippies quit and joined the rat race. 

    What makes Christianity real is a real relationship with Jesus Christ.  Whatever idealism and hope for change bring, it is the real day to day commitment to relationship which keeps the fires burning. 

  • @Such_are_you - Yes, maybe it was just a beautiful moment that could not become a long-term thing. Those are good thoughts. 

  • Like such_are_you stated, developing a personal relationship with Christ is fundamental. If a relationship isn't there, a so-called Christian can be swept away by the romance of Christianity or the need to follow sets of rules to remain emotionally connected with the individuals within the church body. If many hippies fell for idealism, we must allow them to form a relationship with their Savior. Christianity has to become practical.

  • I'm not sure I know what you mean about the church being so easy-going about theology.

    I might suggest though that belief in peace is highly incompatible with the militarism that is common to most churches in the US.

    Also, a personal relationship with Christ is good but in my experience an awful lot of Christians try to force others into having the same relationship, built in the same way, as the one that they have themselves.  Such actions can be a very powerful deterrent from wanting anything to do with Christianity.

  • I was a Christian hippie. We were few and far between. I'm no longer a Christian for many reasons, chief among them the hatefulness, hypocrisy and dishonesty I encountered at every turn. Now I'm just a hippie, and have been much happier since I left the faith. The sad truth is Christianity is and always has been the complete opposite of what hippies are about. It will never get any further than the Jesus movement did back then. Especially not in this day and time.

  • Falling in love with the ideals of hippie-ism isn't the same thing as falling in love with Christ.  Having faith in people to change the world is not the same as faith in Christ who is the light of the world.   

    Also a non-confrontational approach to the wrongs of the world is the wrong idea of what being a Christian is.   The peace that Jesus gives is a peace based on the forgiveness of sin and a restoration (back to the time before the fall) with God who made us.   Jesus confronted those whose legalistic methods of change were hypocritical.   Also, those who thought that Jesus had come to put down the Roman rule were mistaken. 

    Bottom line.  We may think we can walk away from the Church and other Christians and still have a relationship with God; but the truth is that the Church, the Body of Christ is Christians, and we were never meant to be Lone Rangers.   We have fellowship one with another or we are not part of His Body.

  • I think a lot of them go to the Calvary Chapels in the area :)  

  • Okay! I find this super interesting however I am just about to head to work which doesn't loan for a well thought out reply. I'll be back tomorrow with something.

  • i had to sign in and all that rig-a-ma-roll (sp?), but had to comment and join this convo--my dad was saved in the Jesus movement. He's had a hard time of it, i think, because he is a prophet and sees things as black and white...and all you were saying about current theology. Anyways, we attend a Horizon church, that was started through Chuck Smith, who was saved/greatly invovled in the Jesus movement as well--love those churches! They have some of the hippie flavor, which yes, i crave like crazy. As well, I just got back from Chicago, staying at Jesus People USA (they have a website, i forget what it is), which is the longest running hippie commune--still up and running, and i love it. Anyways...i have met many of these ex-christian hippies. They are such lovely people...and it hurts my heart. But from my view--there are still many old hippies going strong for Jesus.

  • I wondered if it had something to do with materialism, which I think is a big problem for the church currently. . . seems that would turn the hippies off. But I do like what quest4god said. Seems right on.

  • Good news:  I go to an Episcopal church full of Christian hippies.  Bad news:  lots of evangelical fundamentalists would think we're all going to hell.

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