"Furrowed Brows"

This from Christianity Today takes a poke at (some) Christian leaders who seem professionally upset by the state of the culture wars. It reminds me of what I've thought regarding the displacement of Christmas and other holidays in the West:

What did we expect?

"What did we expect?" is a different matter from what we have hoped for, and I have no problem with both hoping and working for a cultural turnaround. I would love to see growth in peace and unity, a reduction of violence, racism, hatred. It would be great if we could return toward a shared sense of truth and morality (not forced or "imposed," but truly shared), rooted in the Word of God. I hope for this, I pray for it, and I work toward that end. I support those who take up that cause.

Yet there is nothing in that same Word of God that suggests Christianity will be fully victorious in that way, this side of Christ's return. The wars we will always have with us.

If we stake our joy and peace on winning the culture wars, we're giving up too much of our own ground. The New Testament presents the Church as an alien people holding foreign values and living a different kind of life among the world. The world's values are an aberration in terms of God's good and original plan for humankind; but in the current state, we should consider it normal that the world be as it is. It is normal for God's people to stand apart. It is normal for us not to be normal in the world's terms. It is normal for the world not to follow God's ways.

So if this is normal, and if Christ has called us to a spirit of joy, peace, and victory in him (see for example the the end of John 16, Romans 5:1-5, James 1:2-12), then there's no place for even a hint of hopeless hand-wringing among us.

Our real concern must be for the true victims of the culture wars: those who are misled into a denial of truth, those who are deeply hurt by the very real effects of immorality and hatred, and especially those who do not have Christ in them to lead them through this morass into victory. Let's continue to pray and fight on their behalf, but with the calmness and serenity that fits our real position in the battle.

Posted: Mon - April 24, 2006 at 04:09 PM |

Thinking Christian by Tom Gilson getCategoryName("<$CategoryUUID$>");

"Furrowed Brows"

Thinking Christian by Tom Gilson