The Conflict:
Many of the current controversies and divisions our nation is experiencing seems to stem from a massive collision of differing worldviews. No surprise there. On one side, we have Christians trying to keep our nation on what they would call “the narrow path.” As a Christian myself, I understand the desire. Who wouldn’t prefer their moral principles to be so ingrained into their immediate culture that laws are passed to uphold them?
On the other side– the majority side– humanism and universalism is the defining lens. Even including many professing Christians, those expressing this worldview vehemently reject anything that calls anyone wrong for something they feel or think, so long as it doesn’t hurt anyone. They, too, want our nation’s laws to reflect what they believe is right and good. Again, who can blame them?
Something has started to rub me the wrong way in all of this conflict, though. I’ve heard the concern from Christian leaders about how our country is going in the wrong direction and how badly our laws are dishonoring God. From the Christian perspective, it’s easy to be so dig-in with our claim to know universal truth that we misuse our confidence to point our finger in the other direction, claiming it’s because of “them” that we’re in this situation. It’s those pesky non-believers who aren’t making sense. There are indeed plenty of issues with a secular worldview, I’ll admit. But a wider angle is starting to become much clearer for me– even to the point where I’m starting to notice how it’s also the Christians who aren’t making sense.
Allow me to explain.
To Be Christian:
Let’s just start with some basics. As a Christian, I’m committed to embracing the gospel and saying a massive and joyful “Yes” to a redeemed life as I serve my Creator. Easier said than done, of course. In fact, I have to admit that any accomplishment of this goal is not by my own power. My heart has been shown and now yearns for truth beyond my own reasoning, and I accept Jesus as that truth-giver. I take seriously His invitation to surrender my identity, which will never be good enough in the eyes of a perfect and holy God, so that I can receive His identity as a child whom He has ransomed and adopted as His own (Romans 3:21-25).
Being a Christian is a lot more than this, though. Naturally, embracing this life-altering and often counter-intuitive gospel has many implications that make things pretty complicated in our world. For example, living with a Christian worldview means that I don’t believe in divorce. I believe that even a 1-week-old fetus is a miraculous movement of God and shouldn’t be done away with for the sake of convenience, avoiding responsibility for our actions, or even avoiding pain. I believe consensual, heterosexual sex within the bond of marriage is honoring to God and all sex elsewhere is not. I believe other religions not based on the original biblical scriptures are wrong and dangerously misguided.
It’s not that I want to believe these things. And yes, I fully acknowledge these are not clean and tidy situations that are not absent of circumstantial issues. It’s just that if I claim universal truth is found in the Bible and not my own feelings or desires, then these positions are unapologetically what I’m led to. They are pretty unrealistic propositions, and yet they are no less reliable and truthful for me. (More on that in a moment.) These stances, to me, are simply the blueprint of how God designed us to operate at our best– much like the assembly instructions found in a box of Ikea furniture. And whether the world lives according to this blueprint or not doesn’t change what they are.
Contrary to secular protester slogans and accusations, not one of these moral statements means that I hate anyone. I understand my views aren’t popular, but it’s critically important to emphasize that the same worldview that provides these moral statements also demands that I remember my own sinful past and tendencies when I notice anyone who still trusts in their own abilities and feelings to escape this broken mess we call life. I desire equality for everyone in respect to legal standing, justice, and the opportunity to succeed. But I also believe that none of us is created with desires that are inherently good. To say that something is natural does not make it automatically good, because Christian doctrine teaches that everything natural is headed for destruction and needs to be redeemed.
I also do not define sin by whether others are harmed, like most of the secular worldview does. For a Christian, sin is not about people hurting each other but rather people rebelling against God and choosing our own way over His.
To not accept these notions means to not accept the basic premise that demanded Christ’s sacrifice in the first place. So if you’re not a Christian and are reading this section with a wave of offense building up inside of you, just know that the reason some Christians draw such a loud and (unfortunately) obnoxious line in the sand about these issues is because wavering on them means to reject the very gospel of salvation itself. If life is just about doing good and being ourselves, we’ve thrown out everything Jesus taught and did. At that point, Jesus can’t even be a “good teacher” because what He taught was that we are evil (Matthew 7:11) and need to be redeemed for our self-centered rebellion (Matthew 20:28). If we are good enough with out that redemption, as many would prefer to believe, then His life and sacrifice are about as meaningful as a Saturday morning cartoon.
Moreover, Christian doctrine paints a surprisingly clear (and uncomfortable) picture of what Jesus followers should expect from the world:
- “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me.” (John 15:18-21)
- “Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues. On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. (Matthew 10:16-20)
- “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
- “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed.” (1 Timothy 3:12-14)
- “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.” (Matthew 10:34-36)
- “Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.” (1 John 3:13)
I’m sure you’re getting the point by now. If you’re not convinced yet that living a Christian life was never promised to lead you to worldly power and comfort but rather to rejection by that world, you can read more here. You might also consider the actual historical lives of Jesus and his earliest followers.
…but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. (Jesus Christ: John 15:18)
And that leads me to our nation’s government.
To Be Democratic:
Again, let’s start with some basics.
Democracy is a form of government defined as giving people the power to have a say in how they are governed and who they are governed by. In a democracy, we don’t elect leaders to follow. We elect representatives to follow us. That’s a very important distinction, especially if, as a Christian, you believe that going our own way is exactly the problem Jesus came to fix. Democracy is undeniably committed to taking the widest possible path because elections are won by the majority.
To be elected, a candidate must earn the trust of voters– believers and non-believers alike. Fifty years ago, or even 20 years ago, it may not have been all that difficult for a sincere Christian to win an election. Today, however, with the effects of social media and a heightened sensitivity to anything resembling disapproval of lifestyle choices and spiritual beliefs, a candidate exemplifying the most basic Christian beliefs would be quickly chased off the ticket. Those who don’t associate with any religion, or a religion other than Christianity, understandably wouldn’t be much interested in trusting someone who uses words like “sin” or “repentance” or “Jesus” when they talk about what they earnestly want to see happen in our communities.
That’s not to say elected officials don’t still try to put on a Christian name tag when it suites them. After all, there are still many votes to gain from the Christ followers around the country– especially of those in rural areas. But when it comes to application, their Christian beliefs are almost always absent of any meaningful teaching that distinguishes itself from humanistic, secular thought. Publicly, at least.
In a democracy, we don’t elect leaders to follow. We elect representatives to follow us.
Take for example Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, who recently said, “I’m a Christian, but part of being a Christian, in my view, is recognizing that there are lots of ways that people can pursue their god.”
First of all, Van Hollen’s statement in itself is about as revolutionary as saying 2+2=4. No one needs to call themselves a Christian in order to recognize that different religions pursue different gods. The senator strategically left out the bit about whether Christianity recognizes any of those religions as true or not. And that’s entirely my point. That seems to be the only kind of Christianity that will still get someone elected.
What’s worse is that Van Hollen was speaking up during the confirmation hearing of the president’s nominee for deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought. The nominee had respectfully declined to back down from the implications of exclusivity of Christ as the one true Savior, and was being completely berated by Senator Bernie Sanders as “hateful”, “Islamophobic” and “bigoted” because of those beliefs.
I couldn’t help but wonder if Senator Sanders thinks that Muslims, Buddhists, or Jews accept all other religions as acceptable like he apparently thinks Christianity should do. (It’s also comical to watch the senator get so visibly heated as he calls someone else hateful, all the while making his own truth claim in declaring all beliefs equal.)
After getting so outraged and offended by Mr. Vought’s views, Sanders declared, “…this nominee is really not someone who is what this country is supposed to be about. I will vote no.”
In a statement after the hearing, Sanders went further and effectively captured the heart of this incompatibility of true Christianity within democracy:
“In a democratic society, founded on the principle of religious freedom, we can all disagree over issues, but racism and bigotry—condemning an entire group of people because of their faith—cannot be part of any public policy.”
Now that actually does make sense, and is entirely my point.
Senator Van Hollen, on the other hand, wanted to make it very clear that they were not voting in disapproval based on Vought’s professed faith (that would be illegal) but rather how he was applying that faith to his views about other people.
“No one is questioning your faith … It’s your comments that suggest a violation of the public trust in what will be a very important position,” he said. (Apparently this Office of Management and Budget plays a big role in the moral direction of the American public. Who knew?)
The comment exposes the rift with even more clarity. The only way to be “Christian” as a democratically elected representative is to set aside all Christian teaching and implications. The American politician must be committed to pursuing the approval of secularism and universalism because the votes are found on the widest path, just as Jesus promised.
The American Church Should’ve Expected This:
I’m not sure where this disconnect happened. It makes no sense to have a promise like the one in John 15:18 where Jesus point-blank tells us the majority is going to hate us because of Him, and then expect a nation where people rule over themselves to stick to the narrow path that few find or believe in (Matthew 7:13-14).
In an authoritarian government, or a theocracy, such an expectation would make sense. In those systems, leaders (not representatives) are installed and standards are established that intentionally supersede the will of the people. Not in a democracy, though. The very word “democracy” literally breaks down to “demos” (people) and “kratos” (rule): people rule. That is directly at odds with a religion which starts on the premise that people are sinful and in need of a Savior outside of themselves.
We’ve mistaken the call to “make disciples” as the need to pass laws rather than build personal relationships.
There are all kinds of effects we could look into from this. For one, we can see from a basic survey through history that the Church has tended to thrive when it has been directly persecuted. To put it another way, when the Church accepted Jesus’ promise that the world would hate us on account of Him, believers were far more effective in banding together in community and making disciples as they were commanded to. Meanwhile, apathy has mounted and discipleship is treated like homework on prom night anywhere that Christianity has become a cultural norm.
We also have to recognize that for generations, American Christians have looked to politics and legislation to measure how much influence and respect Christianity holds on the people. We’ve mistaken the call to “make disciples” as the need to pass laws rather than build personal relationships. One is impersonal and cold– the way we naturally prefer it. The other requires us to actually do something out of our comfort zone.
I can’t help but wonder what would happen if the illusion of Christianity was out of politics in our country altogether. Jesus followers everywhere would be marked by how well they are personally making disciples instead of by who they voted for in the last election or what rally they attended.
What if we accepted Jesus’ promise and just expected our people-powered nation to pass secular laws? If, because we live in a fallen world, we weren’t surprised to see gay couples be given permission by the government to call their relationship a marriage, or women demand the right to terminate a pregnancy that, by their worldview, is “just a fetus”?
Here’s a real curve ball. What if, instead of the American church being known for fighting to pass federal legislation and get Supreme Court decisions on abortion, the Church was instead known for fighting to remove barriers in our society that motivate abortion. Things like guaranteed maternity leave and childcare. If the Church was wise enough to listen to why so many women feel that abortion is their best option, they would quickly see that if these two issues alone were taken care of, far fewer women would choose abortion. After all, we say we’re more concerned with the heart of man and not what’s legal or not (if not then you may want to reread Romans).
But no. The Church is fighting to outlaw abortion despite the clearly insufficient safety net for women in at risk situations who would choose life. If the Church was known as being so pro-life that it was the cultural institution that single-handedly answered the foster care crisis and adopted any child that needed a home. Then, with that reputation and relationships established, we might not even need a law regarding abortion.
We should expect the democratic world and the people in it to follow natural desires like the world does, making laws that elevate man and remove God. We should expect non-believers to think and act like non-believers. And we should expect to find that God gives us influence among those in the world when we surrender our rights, serve people sacrificially, forgive them freely, and illustrate to others what we claim has been done for us.
Wake up, Church. Get to know your neighbors and pray for God to use you in making disciples. You can quit expecting the elected representatives in your area to cater to what the Bible says. But this is actually a good thing. It puts us back in the environment where the Church has always thrived and was meant to be.
After all, light is always most noticeable in dark places.
nikaō.life 