I experienced another confluence today that got me thinking. My Bible reading is in the first chapters of Romans where Paul harshly criticizes unbelievers for ignoring what can be known of God and living lives of unrighteousness and debauchery. He certainly pulls no punches. Then my devotional reading of Charles Spurgeon took off from the verse, “The sword of the Lord and the sword of Gideon.” Spurgeon developed the idea that believers must rely totally on God to accomplish His work (the sword of the Lord), and at the same time do whatever is humanly possible to bring God’s will to pass (the sword of Gideon).
The problem came when Spurgeon said, “go out personally and
serve with our flaming torch of holy example, and with our trumpet tones of
earnest declaration and testimony.” I am mostly successful in living a life
that is a worthy example of a believer, but the second half of the admonition gives
me trouble. If Paul’s condemnation in Romans is an example of “earnest
declaration,” I can’t see how that will win many friends or influence people to
turn to Christ. I used to be quite bold in that regard, and I was told to go
someplace hot and uncomfortable on several occasions. I even had
fellow-believers tell me to tone it down.
The problem is that many people, perhaps most people are not
aware that they are “lost in sin.” The entire concept of sin has been mostly
washed from the consciousness of our modern society. “Values clarification” as
taught in public schools has strengthened the natural inclination of humans to go
their own way regarding moral structures. Unfortunately, sin and its
consequences are not frequent topics of sermons even in evangelical churches.
In our post-modern society where truth itself is scoffed, telling someone they
are wrong is a sure way to lose an audience.
The situation has become even more difficult with the
codification of politically correct speech standards and the criminalization of
certain topics. There are places in America where a sermon on Romans 2 would be
considered hate speech and place the preacher in jeopardy of criminal charges. It
has already happened in Canada
and the UK.
I am not suggesting we go as
far as Pastor Steven Anderson and call for stoning, but the simple message
that God disapproves of homosexual behavior is no longer safe under First
Amendment protection.
It is not only pushing legal boundaries to speak the truth
(in love, of course), but the workplace is being gradually converted to a
no-speak zone. I have spent the last two years working at an organization that
would reprimand me, and should I not cease, fire me for proclaiming the Bible
standard for sexual relationships. I was required to take annual harassment
training that explicitly forbade any judgment of a person’s sexual preferences.
The same type of training was required at the academic institution where I last
taught. A similar prohibition exists for recommending the biblical roles of husband
and wife, and biblical parental discipline has been criminalized as well. The
list of things believers cannot talk about continues to grow.
It is ironic to the point of hypocrisy that the tolerance
and inclusion demanded by political correctness specifically excludes Christian,
biblical proclamation. We are being asked to tolerate everything except the beliefs
that are based in biblical truth. I see the enemy’s hand in this situation so
clearly that I am disappointed that Christians have not stood up and cried
foul. Biblical standards of behavior and expressions of faith are being
systematically removed and forbidden from Western society.
The situation I have been describing is built into the
political platform of one of the major parties in this country. I have written
previously that I am disturbed by the fact that thinking Christians can say
there is no difference between Republicans and Democrats. I read a blog recently
that called for Christians to be tolerant of fellow-believers’ differing
political affiliations. The writer believes that any vote is a vote for the
lesser of two evils. This may be true, but when one of the “evils” involves
openly denying the right of Christians to express and live their faith while
encouraging infanticide (aka abortion), homosexual lifestyles, deficit
spending, disrespecting law enforcement and celebrating anarchy (calling it
patriotism), this “evil” cannot be a legitimate choice for a believer. Each of the
positions I mentioned plainly tramples a biblical principle.
My Christian friends are all over Facebook complaining about
the flood of political ads we are being subjected to. I am there too; I mute them or
change the channel, especially when they are so easily recognizable as
distortions of the truth (aka lies) that anyone who cares to investigate can
discern. But we must not tune out to the point of idiocy. It would be idiotic,
moronic to use the biblical term, not to seek the truth and vote our
convictions.
A biblical moron is one who does not make the attempt to
follow God. I believe that there is a more godly choice in the upcoming
election – note I did not say a more godly man; all the candidates are human
and therefore fallible. But if a Christian votes for a platform rather than for
a candidate, there can be only one choice. That is an intolerant statement.
Paul was explicitly intolerant in his Roman letter. Jesus was quite intolerant
of the hypocrites of His day. If I offend, I do not apologize; Jesus was called
the stone
of stumbling and the rock of offense. What I am offended by is morons – in
the biblical sense.
Related articles: “Christians are Responsible to be Politically Engaged” “What Does it Mean to be an American” “How Could a Christian Vote for Hillary?” “Hooray! We Won. Now What?”
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