It doesn’t take much to show that our culture is becoming hostile to Christianity, even as “Christians” make up the majority of our society. It might not be worse that it has been in human history but it is, at least, worse than it’s been in our lifetimes. David Kinnaman, president of Barna Research, and Gabe Lyons have written a book titled Good Faith: Being a Christian When Society Thinks You’re Irrelevant and Extreme.
The Bible simply is not viewed with the same high level of respect and honor that it once had. In our multicultural environment where Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and other religions have infiltrated, the Bible is seen too often by others as simply one book among many. Even among people who grew up in the church, you can show them where the Bible teaches that fornication is wrong but it doesn’t seem to faze them.
Kinnaman and Lyons offers some helpful suggestions on how to stay faithful in this environment (pg 201). They divided these suggestions into five broad categories: theology, ministry, relationships, politics, and the public square.
In theology, we must continually ask: “What does God’s word and the church’s wisdom reveal about this?” Of course, God’s word is paramount in that question and the church must adjust its “wisdom” to the wisdom of revealed words from God. We need to be dedicated to the truth. We need to be committed to the truth revealed from God and we need to want to know the truth from God (John 7:17). I fed on Thomas Warren’s writings in the Spiritual Sword as I grew up and he, with a background in philosophy, emphasized that our society was moving away from a dedication to absolute truth. In my pre-teen and teenage naïveté, I could not see how prescient he was.
In ministry, we ask, “What is the proper pastoral response to people living in a fallen world?” The issue of homosexuality is one of the key issues in this regard. Yes, the Bible teaches homosexuality is sinful. It is easy for people to see that. But how do you deal with homosexual tendencies, urges, thoughts (ever how you want to define it)? How do you minister to one who is dealing with this issue? It’s not new in human society. But it is now openly encouraged. Christians need to respond, as we do with anyone in sin, with patience, love, courage, and Scripture appropriately applied.
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Relative to relationships, we need an appropriate response to these cultural / ethical issues: “How should I engage friends and neighbors with whom I disagree?” Again, quoting Scripture first does not have the authority in our responses as it once did. Going back to the nature of God if not the nature of truth itself might be the starting point in our conversations. But we also “must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 2:24-25). Pray, pray, pray. Pray for your relationship. Pray for yourself, that you’ll have the patience, the wisdom, the love, and the biblical answers to the discussion.
In politics, Kinnaman and Lyons ask: “What government policies, however imperfect, best empower human flourishing?” There is some truth to that. Of course, we are first interested in what policies honor God? What policies are consistent with the word from God? Then, what policies honor human beings as unique creatures, made in the image of God, with the ability and the need to be productive in their own lives? It is those policies we ought to encourage, as Christians.
Finally, in the public square (even places like Facebook), “What is the appropriate relationship between personal conviction and day-to-day interactions with those who hold different sets of beliefs?” Study Paul’s interactions with the philosophers in Athens when he preached from Mars Hill, in Acts 17. Recognize that Paul did not make fun of them nor mock them, even as they did him (17:18-21). Rather, he began where they were (17:22) and moved to where they needed to be (17:30-31), as he quoted from their own sources to prove his point (17:28).
If our society is going to move more toward an “Athenian” mentality, perhaps we need to move more toward a “Pauline-Acts 17” teaching style.
Paul Holland
