Two Questions

If the Supreme Court rules that displays of the Ten Commandments should be brought down, then what should we do? And what will we do?

It's in their hands now. We don't know the outcome yet. But it's possible the Supreme Court will rule that displays of the Ten Commandments on public property will need to be removed.

Then what? Christianity Today predicts an uproar ("all heck will break loose").

We need to be thinking through two questions. I don't pretend to have complete answers; they are much more difficult than they appear on the surface:

1. What should we, the Church, do if the Court rules that way? What would be the Godly, biblical way to respond?

2. What should we do in regard to Christians (real or nominal) who are going to react in ways that are not Godly or biblical?

As I said, I don't know the full answer to either of these two questions. I can venture a beginning, though. First, our response should be thoughtful, rather than mob-like, slogan-powered, knee-jerk. A careful Biblical response to Question 1 is going to take a process of Biblical study, writing, dialogue, and response, with prayer. (It may even be rather technical.) Pastors and other leaders should be involved in the process, so as to lead the rest of the body in the right direction.

(There are many Christian leaders who would know the right response without this kind of study, because of their prior knowledge of the Word and their life experience. The body of Christ still needs the work done, though, for the sake of those without that background, and to correct some who may be prone to error.)

Second, our response should be loving and compassionate, strong yet humble. It should be founded on the assurance that God wants us to protect and advance His truth, and yet his way of doing that may not be the most obvious. Jesus' message is full of apparent paradoxes, especially in how we exercise Godly strength.

When I was about 21 years old I spent the summer working on the stage crew at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. It was in a camp setting, and all of us on the crew, more than twenty college-aged guys, shared not only the work but also our living space, in a large cabin. A few of us were Christians. One had come from a very separatistic background, and this was the first predominantly non-Christian environment he had ever experienced. One evening when most of us were in the cabin common room, he stood and delivered a scolding to the group for not attending Christian services. It was his attempt at sharing the gospel, and he handled it very badly.

The others of us who were Christian had to decide whether to distance ourselves from him, whether to publicly repudiate his message, or whether to maintain unity while privately coaching him in better approaches. (It wasn't just his approach that got him in trouble, of course, but a legalistic way of being a Christian.)

The same problem, much magnified, is my Question 2 above. I'm afraid some Christians would respond to such a Court decision with rage, insecurity, and legalism, rather than love, faith, and grace. We need to be ready for that as well. We have a lot of prayer and thinking ahead of us.

Posted: Fri - March 4, 2005 at 01:31 PM |

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Two Questions

Thinking Christian by Tom Gilson