This is not a topic I would usually post about, but I think the current situation–particulalry right now in the US and the part that Christians are taking in it–merits it. I did comment in some forum regarding these issues and I now base this post on that comment.
I sincerely don’t see Jesus defending his faith like many Christians do today. He simply was and he showed truth and light and those who had eyes to see, saw; those who were willing to go into the light, did. I am not going to discuss how a litmus test tells me God exists, I have experienced things those who don’t know him haven’t and I can only be grateful and fearful and pray for the others with a willing and attentive heart.
This obviously comes from what is being observed lately as part of the US contention for president and not so much the stance, but the attitude that many Christians take in relation to these issues. This of course happens in varying degrees in other countries and has happened for centuries all around the world; the present case simply makes its contemporary situation in the Western world starkly evident for discussion.
What is pitiful in this all is not having atheists and agnostics attacking Christian stands or even Christian beliefs in general. Such people are often sincere humans expressing their concerns for their society while they haven’t experienced the God their reactive mockers claim to have experienced—a God that showed us the way through Jesus not by attack, but by mercy and authentic love.
The pitiful thing is having Christians attacking such atheists and agnostics and entering into silly discussions to defend a faith. How necessary is it really to create factions to defend a faith as if we were of this world. Will this give anyone a taste of the God who taught his followers meekness and a heart set in heaven and not Earth? Or will it just potentially make you look better?
Do not live to defend your faith or your morals against others, be strong enough to live them and let God do whatever he will while you remain with a willing heart. Isn’t the gospel more about this? Jesus never set into heated theological discussions to prove He was the Son of God, he simply spent the time being the Son of God. Jesus didn’t create political movements for Roman law to change, he was instead loving sinners into repentance. Yes, some of those former sinners might have ended in important positions and brought forth good fruit to this or that part of government, but not by fighting a government or society.
That society belonged to this world as, in this case, America belongs to this world and is limited to it. Through Jesus came a new society whose members have to be born again to join and which hence cannot be enforced through laws—a society which will never be America. And I mention America here because that is the topic at hand—this is a very particular nation that to its benefit has historically incorporated Christian values to its construction; values which when made mundane by politics have also brought negative effects.
Now, if you, through the knowledge of God, believe that the biblical apparent disapproval of gay union means that such a thing could cause damages to the society you live in, it is your duty not to support such things. Yet, as a follower of Christ, it is also your duty not to viciously fight against the people who support them or be driven by emotional instead of spiritual reactions.
Your responsibility is to live—life in general but including any action related to these issues—with discernment and prayer, with humility and prudence and wisdom. One of the worldly responsibilities of each person might be to work for the betterment of their society (and consider here that some components of this world carry out this responsibility by promoting homosexual marriage, or by, sadly if you will, promoting women to have a choice over the unborn). The difference is that Christians participate in their worldly duties differently—with true meekness and love and not by the means of those of the world—having in mind that in the end (that is, if you believe the Bible) the world will still go wrong as is its nature and has been through towers and floods and kingdoms and crucifixions and holocausts and wars and all sorts of institutions. If you follow God, then your ultimate fight is not for any government at hand to be God’s government. I think that a studied Christian will tell you such a thing will not happen, and hence, such a fight, especially if it is vicious, is not heavenly but worldly. God wants souls not offices. Do not become of this world fighting for a religion or worse yet, to defend your beliefs (does God really need your defense, or do you just want yourself to be justified in the world’s eyes?)
Be God’s children in the darkness. America has a problem? Yes, it is, after all, part of this doomed world. Yes, it has Christians who live as if they were part of this world. Yes, it has Christians who are willing to draw swords against ears or more to see their morals worldly established. So, what now, are we going to be light amidst these problems or conform with being part of them? Study Christ, do you see him debating? Protesting against governments? Dictating how society should live? No, he dictated how God’s children should live, he cleansed the church, not society, and he needed not defend himself or his faith but to be, just as he invites us to be sons of God.
This is an excellent, very insightful post. I hope many Christians read it and take its message to heart.
Grace and Peace to you,
R
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wow Alex,
I found my way to this post through one of breena’s blogs, I was blown a way and very inspired. Thank you so much for sharing.
Alex, I loved reading this when you had posted a version in that forum, and I loved reading it again here, fleshed out and presented as its own thought. A couple lines in your closing paragraphs really struck a cord with me:
“Does God really need your defense, or do you just want yourself to be justified in the world’s eyes?” Yikes, I find that I’m guilty of the latter on many occasions (or when I don’t have the guts to take a stand I will just sit steeped in my indignity, which can’t be constructive.)
and
“[America] has Christians who are willing to draw swords against ears or more to see their morals worldly established.” Swords against ears, that is so incredible. And surely there are nonviolent forms of these swords (I wonder if my blog isn’t one, on occasion) but they are just as dangerous. I think you should try submitting this article somewhere – it needs to be read. What about Relevent magazine (or at least its online counterpart) even though I sometimes can’t stand that magazine. Maybe you aren’t interested in that idea, but I really do think Christians (especially American Christians) need to read this.
Oh, I can’t go back and correct the grammar of my comments once I’ve posted… I would change my first parenthetical to read: “I will just sit steeping in my indignity” instead of steeped. There, I’ve revealed my writing process–constant edits.
Also, I like the photo on the header, with the umbrella – did you take that? Is there a story to it?
Bea,
Thank you for your nice words (and I thank Rachael and Roubaigh here too). I pretty much made this post of its own from that of that forum because you (back to Bea) said I could/should.
The header picture I took at a Starbucks in Paris. The umbrella is just a friend’s, I guess she used it a lot in Paris. I like the picture, but the wordpress crop made it look even better. Me selecting it as header was simply because wordpress lost my other picture when I did the change and I think I lost it too. From the pictures I did have I liked that this one looked at the world from behind a window, kind of like in a “zoo” though not really a cage. Plus it was from a coffee shop, where people write…haha… just nice cliches I found when I thought to myself the picture worked.
way to misspell names.. sorry Rachel and Robaigh…
Good for people to know.
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