I was recently reading about a Christian in another country, who was in trouble with the authorities because of his pretty much “Thus-sayeth-the-Lord” condemnation of a political authority for that leader’s illicit sexual ethic.  This obviously begs the question, was that a wise way to try to be a positive influence in culture?  Further, was his calling out the other’s actions as immoral a hateful or loving action?  There is no doubt that in our current cultural moment, if he did that here (or pretty much any western democracy) he would be condemned.  Issues like this fit into the question we face–Can we all get along?

In this post, I want to elaborate on the argument of my last post, and start with some of its implications, specifically on how this relates to the conflict we see in our world.  Here are the major implications from that post:  Those that are hostile to God are against his purposes and are “children of wrath” or, the same thing, “sons of the devil.”  And those that claim to be believers but are not, are often wrong because of bad theology.  Finally, those that are true believers can increasingly have a mind of Christ. 

First up is to expand on the reality that either you are a God-follower or you are not.  The Bible has a continual storyline of those that are in relationship with God, and those that are on the outside.  But even those on the inside are continually struggling, due to the reality of their ongoing battle with sin.  I often feel that the conflict we read about with Jesus and the Pharisees and the Sadducees is representative of much of our current reality.  No current Christian wants to be identified with either of these groups, as both were strongly criticized by Jesus.  But let’s look at the criticisms a bit.  Jesus criticized the Pharisees not for lifting high the requirements of God, but rather 1) they didn’t follow the actual things they said to do, and 2) they added to God’s requirement.  For example, in that harsh critique in Matthew 23, Jesus said, “therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them.”  Notice it wasn’t what the Pharisees advocated that was so much the problem, but the hypocrisy of their proclamations.  Jesus further adds in v23, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law:  justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.  You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!”  To the extent that conservative Christians fail today to reflect the grace that is ours in Jesus, it will often be in the direction of Phariseeism and legalism. 

Likewise we see Jesus’ comments to the Sadducees, who did not believe in the resurrection,  

“You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God: ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”

The Sadducees did not understand Scripture or the power of God, and had abandoned the truth of God’s word.  To the extent that progressive Christians are in error today, they are generally following the false path of the Sadducees in denying the truth of God’s word or its applicability for us today. 

In today’s context, I think it safe to say that Jesus would not be abandoning sound doctrine and embracing worldly ideas (e.g., the ongoing sexual revolution) that are embraced by modern Christian Sadducees, nor would He deny grace to those that are caught in sinful lifestyles, as some modern Christian Pharisees might do.   Rather, He would give the message today to us that He gave in proclaiming the gospel:  repent and believe!   But the call to repent is precisely what is so offensive–it always has been and always will be.  To call someone to repentance is to tell them they are on the wrong path—and that is sooo judgmental.  Who are you to tell me I’m morally wrong?!  

The second area I want to elaborate on is that of the spiritual conflict we are in.  I think, as in many things, that C.S. Lewis has it about right:

There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.

We could say virtually the same thing about the focus on the spiritual realm in general.  The Bible does not often say much about the spiritual battle we’re in, because the spiritual battle plays out right here in our world, and our focus needs to properly battle here where our fight is.  But we must never forget the reality of what is “behind the curtain.”  We get glimpses of this, of course, as the Bible doesn’t leave us blind to that reality.  The most interesting to me is the scene we get in Daniel 10, where Daniel’s prayers are unanswered for three weeks:

¹⁰ Then behold, a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. ¹¹ He said to me, “O Daniel, man of high esteem, understand the words that I am about to tell you and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you.” And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling. ¹² Then he said to me, “Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words. ¹³ But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia. ¹⁴ Now I have come to give you an understanding of what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision pertains to the days yet future.”

The idea that our prayers can lead to a battle in the heavenly realms is amazing!  And in Job 1 we see that what is going on here can be a reflection of something that is going on there!  Paul reminds us that our conflicts are not primarily here,

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” 

And what goes on here is a testimony to the spiritual realm as well, as we see in Ephesians 3:10 that our unity will be a testimony to the heavenly realms of God’s wisdom.  And the Bible begins in Genesis and ends in Revelation with a description of the spiritual battle we are in.  All of this suggests that our conflicts with others are part of a larger spiritual picture.  Further, every one of our trials and adversities is part of God’s plan to grow us into the people he has called us to be.  Our sanctification process is rooted in our moment-by-moment choices to act according to God’s standard, and to teach us to act increasingly with the mind of Christ.  This helps explain why God does not shield us from the acts or our enemy and the agents that he has deceived—God will turn that harm into good in His providential plans.

Up to this point, most may not disagree with much of my analysis, if we constrain the truth of my claims to issues of salvation.  However, I don’t think the Bible anywhere intends for us not to be culturally relevant and have Biblical values in our public discourse.  The reality is that there is always going to be a set of dominant cultural values, the only question is: whose values?  And Jesus calls us to be a city on a hill, a light to those in darkness.  Clearly the Bible doesn’t speak exhaustively to every issue we face, but the fact that it does speak on many of these issues should cause us to find the underlying Godly values and principles to apply to questions that aren’t specifically addressed.  For example, God talks about what government should do, taxes, sexual ethics, definition of marriage, private property, the necessity of compassion being voluntary, the dignity of work, and the equality of racial groups (e.g., here and here)–many of the issues that are being contested at various levels of our public culture.  The Bible is not simply a manual for how one gets to heaven, although its grand narrative is God’s redemptive story.  It is a comprehensive guide for Christians to inform their every choice and action.  And for those of us that think the Bible has authority over all of us, and has something to say about how each of us should live, we will not find common ground with those that reject both of those propositions. This is the basic question: does the Bible have authority claims over all of us? If we do not agree on this issue, there is no common ground. Some value system will be the basis for our social interaction; if its not a biblical value system, what will it be? That’s why the culture wars aren’t going away. To repeat, neither God nor Satan are interested in a truce.

In the final post I will outline how I think we then respond in light of those realities.

PS: Do you think the guy I read about in the intro was right to publicly criticize somebody’s sex life?