Christianity and the Culture War (part 2)

[continued from here]

We have seen why is it that Christians should get involved in the Culture War and that they should take a stand. It is therefore not an option to say that we would antagonize those we are trying to read, or to state that the Kingdom of God is not of this world and therefore we should not get involved in it. Anyway, those who refuse to fight now would find out if the opposition wins that they would soon have to live under oppressive laws, if not persecuted for their beliefs.

That said, I would now like to expound on this topic from another area from the other side which should concern many of us as well, especially those of us who are involved in the Culture War.

Especially in the USA, the Culture War has many evangelicals focused on trying to uphold the morality of the country and its Christian foundation which is gradually having its signs removed. Such has led to strange alliances, as 'evangelicals' have decided to ally with Roman Catholics, and then with people of faith or morals to counter the immorality flooding the nation. Such is a blatent violation of the Doctrine of Separation of course. What makes it worse that in the name of "reclaiming the culture", 'evangelicals' have sacrificed the Gospel as a matter of political expediency in order to build their alliance of the "moral majority". Therefore, it has became a true war between the sides of the immoral liberals on the one hand, and the moral 'conservatives' on the other hand. The Church of Christ has been demoted to just one more political activist grouping, which is most evident in the 2004 re-election of George W. Bush to the US Presidency.

Firstly, the question to be asked of course is 'Where is the Gospel?' By fighting the immoral liberals who are behaving exactly as who they are, unregenerate people, we are fighting against the people who need the Gospel most. Unlike just taking a stand, by polarizing people between the 'religious right' and the 'immoral left', we are fighting against the person and not the idea. And such typically is very judgmetal, since the people would just condemn the immoral liberals (who are behaving consistently with their beliefs) instead of using their sin and guilt to press home their sinfulness and need of Christ.

Secondly, such compromise with unbelievers destroy the witness of the Church. It furthermore forces the believer not to share the Gospel with the lost moral pagans and Roman Catholics, in the name of not disrupting the unified front against the immoral left. Of course, this raises the question of what we are supposed to accomplish by so doing. Christianity is not about making people moral, but if the moral majority have their way, the nation would be just like Israel in the 1st century AD; clean on the inside and dirty on the inside. What is the point of having a moral nation whereby the people go to hell because they have rejected God?

As such, the Culture War is not to occupy a lot of our time also, as we are to be first and foremost witnesses of the Gospel. The Culture War could thus be used for us to bring home the Law, so that people would turn to Christ because of the realization of their sinfulness. Although the issues are important, those of us who are engaged in it should not spend too much time on it, but to fight and stand up when necessary, and even then to utilize it to spread the Gospel, knowing well that only the Gospel has the ability to change hearts and thus bring true victory in the Culture Wars when believed in.

[THE END!]

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See also:

The New Religious Common Ground — Cultural Co-Belligerance by Steve Camp