waltondammerung

Bad Hillsdalian--Part II

This is in response to my mom's comment on Bad Hillsdalian (Part I). Here's an excerpt:
"However, to say that it is political rabble-rousing that has generated anti-Christian hostility is patently false. That is a straw man raised every time a Christian has on opinion, but if you read Luke 4, you find that the folks in Nazareth turned their opinions about Christ on a dime, and he was not talking politics. The same is true in Acts - all the Christians were held in high esteem early on, but it wasn't not long at all until Stephen was stoned."

I think I will probably be writing parts III, IV, V, VI, etc, to this post, but I would first like to point out that I am not too concerned, when I write these things, about what non-Christians think of Christians. While political rabble-rousing might raise the ire of those who do not follow Christ, it's not as though there are many things we can do that would endear us to the world. We carry the fragrance of Christ, and to the perishing, we are the "aroma of death". Probably not pleasant.

I am concerned, conversely, about how we view non-Christians. What is a Christ-like approach to dealing with non-Christians? When they insist on laws that are in direct conflict with biblical principles, do we see them as opponents to our "right" to live in a society that outwardly conforms to a biblical worldview or as sinners who, like us, cannot even hope to do anything right without the molding, shaping, and pruning of the Holy Spirit?

There are certainly political issues that Christians can and should fight for. It seems to me, however, that the mentality of the Moral Majority and groups like it has gotten a little out of hand, and our attitude toward non-Christians is one instance of how it is hurting our purpose and identity as Christians. When we see the political arena as Christianity's primary point of influence on the world, we run the risk of seeing non-Christians only as foes and not, as MacArthur put it, the mission field. No constitutional amendment against homosexual marriage will save a single soul. Which leaves one to wonder why many Christians fight for it so hard. It's not going to make the country any more moral in actuality.

I suppose some people would argue that the current Christian political movement is driven by a love of godly righteousness or, more often, that we have a duty to fight for our right to exercise our religion. If any act of injustice or flagrant rebellion against God's Word ever warranted anger and insurrection against ungodly authority, the crucifixion the Son of God would be it. Yet when Christ was reviled, beaten, and crucified, He prayed for forgiveness for His own persecutors. Still, for some reason, we feel obligated to rally the troops when someone so much as tries to teach evolution in schools or removing the Ten Commandments from public places. Like Peter drawing his sword in the garden, our motives may be well-intentioned, but our actions are often misdirected. Casting our struggle in political terms allows Christians to paint the non-Christian world with the broad brush of "anti-Christianity" and to seek political solutions that will white-wash the entire country with the equally broad (and spiritually weak) stripe of "pro-Christian morality". Doing so encourages Christians to forsake addressing the real daily problems of real people in our lives for the easier tactic of moralizing the country while evangelizing no one.

In the next episode... I will consider whether, when we fight for political causes, we are actually fighting for the freedom to exercise our Christian beliefs.