Guard Against

“There is, however, a ridiculousness we should guard against: talking ingratiatingly about Christianity. I wonder if a man handing another man an extremely sharp, polished, two-edged instrument would hand it over with the air, gestures, and expression of one delivering a bouquet of flowers? Would not this be madness? What does one do, then? Convinced of the excellence of the dangerous instrument, one recommends it unreservedly, to be sure, but in such a way that in a certain sense one warns against it. So it is with Christianity. If what is needed is to be done, we should not hesitate, aware of the highest responsibility, to preach in Christian sermons—yes, precisely in Christian sermons—AGAINST Christianity. For we know full well where disaster strikes these days—namely, that by foolish and ingratiating Sunday-talk Christianity has been deceptively transformed into an illusion and we have even been tricked into the fancy that we, just as we are, are Christians. Yet if a man thought he was holding a flower in his hand, a flower which he somewhat idly, somewhat thoughtlessly delighted to look at—and then someone, truly discerning, shouted to him ‘You poor man, don’t you realise you are holding a very sharp, polished two-edged sword!’—I wonder if he would not become terrified for a moment! [ . . . ]

Christianity can be recommended only when at every point the danger is incessantly made clear—how Christianity according to merely human conceptions is foolishness and offence. But by making this clear and evident, a warning is issued. Christianity is that earnest. That which stands in need of the favour of man curries favour with them, but Christianity is so sure of itself and knows with such earnestness and exactness that it is men who stand in need of it, that for this very reason it does not recommend itself directly but first alerts them, as Christ recommended Himself to the apostles by once predicting to them that for his sake they would be hated—yes, that whoever put them to death would think he did God a service.”
~Søren Kierkegaard