Tuesday, November 27, 2007

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!]


See also:

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

3 comments:

  1. Children of Promise

    “Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise”. {Galatians 4 v 28}.

    When God looks at this old world, He no longer looks upon it like He did in the days before His only Son was crucified at Calvary. For Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary gave birth to the new covenant or testament, which He wrote on the hearts of men who accepted Christ as Lord and Saviour. No longer does He see tribes and races of people as such, for now because of Christ’s sacrifice He sees only the children of promise and the children of the bound. Let me explain, God states clearly in scripture that the children of God are those who have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, regardless of race or gender, they are the children of God, yes the children of promise. You see it is written, “And if ye be Christ’s then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to promise”, {Galatians 3 v 29}.

    Abraham had two sons, one by a bondwoman called Agar, and another by a freewoman called Sarah, as it is written, now these two sons represents the two covenants. The first son Ishmael of the bondwoman represented Jerusalem, which is now in bondage, which also represents the old covenant, but the freewoman’s son Isaac represents the heavenly Jerusalem, which is the new covenant. All God’s people are one in Christ Jesus, who are under the new covenant. Under this covenant there is no longer Jew, Gentile, slave or free, men or women, for we are all one in Christ. “For ye are all the children of promise by faith in Christ Jesus”,
    {Galatians 3 v 26}.
    Now God’s plan for the people of Israel is the same plan which He is using for the whole world, and that is that we must all repent and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. There is no other plan for salvation, only through Jesus. Who was crucified for our sins and rose again for our justification, and who is alive forever more. Praise be the wonderful name of Jesus. As it is written, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved”, {Acts 4 v 12}.

    As Isaac was, so are we the children of promise, no matter what nation we are from, God considers us all equal and precious in His sight. So precious are we that He sacrificed His only Son for each and everyone of us. So, let us all stand together as, the children of promise. I would like to state that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and many more in Israel are likened unto an olive tree which also represents the children of promise. We who believe are grafted into that tree, and so we become one with them, and are known as the true Israel of today. Now today there are still people in Israel who are chosen by God according to election of grace who will be grafted back into the olive tree, which represents the children of promise.

    We must pray for them, that they will see Jesus, for it is written, “ There shall come out of Zion the deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: for this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins”, {Romans 11 v 26 & 27}
    So dear saints, let us always pray and standby Israel, for I believe that there are many yet to come to know Jesus as their true Messiah. God bless Israel.

    www.evangelistbillybolitho.blogspot.com
    EVANGELIST BILLY BOLITHO

    ReplyDelete
  2. Congratulations on your award. Please come to my site to pick it up.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hello Carol,

    thanks for your kindness.

    ReplyDelete

This is my blog, and in order to facilitate an edifying exchange, I have came up with various blog rules. Please do read them before commenting, as failure to abide by them would make your post liable to being unapproved for publication. Violation of any of the rules three or more times, or at the blog owner's judgment, would make one liable to be banned from posting unless the blog owner (me) is satisfied that such behavior would not occur again.