Christian Unity

America is increasingly becoming intolerant of Christian viewpoints. This is nowhere more evident than in the entertainment and news media, who react with disdain to any public official who hints that their governing decisions will be influenced by what they believe about God. But it has not always been so. Following is a sampling of some quotes by great American leaders of the past:

George Washington

“It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible.”

“It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favors.”

Abraham Lincoln

“Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right”

“The will of God prevails. In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be, wrong.”
— September 1862 – Meditation on the Divine Will

“If God now wills the removal of a great wrong, and wills also that we of the North as well as you of the South, shall pay fairly for our complicity in that wrong, impartial history will find therein new cause to attest and revere the justice and goodness of God.”— April 4, 1864 – Letter to Albert Hodges

“We hoped for a happy termination of this terrible war long before this; but God knows best, and has ruled otherwise. We shall yet acknowledge His wisdom and our own error therein.” — September 4, 1864 – Letter to Eliza Gurney

Franklin D. Roosevelt

“As Americans, we go forward, in the service of our country, by the will of God.”

“With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy.” — D-Day prayer

“Thy will be done, Almighty God.” — Closing to D-Day prayer

John F. Kennedy

“I believe that God has a plan.”

“The world is a very different now…and yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe–the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God.” — Inaugural address

“And, therefore, as we set sail we ask God’s blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked.” — Inaugural address

“Our goal is not the victory of might, but the vindication of right-not peace at the expense of freedom, but both peace and freedom, here in this hemisphere, and, we hope, around the world. God willing, that goal will be achieved.” — July 4, 1962

America has changed dramatically since the days of those leaders. A politician saying such things in today’s world can expect to be held up to ridicule by the media and the modern pop culture. Our culture has become ashamed of Christ and Christian values. That should not come as a surprise to Christians:

1Jo 3:13 Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you.

2Ti 3:12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,
2Ti 3:13 while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

Neither should Christians yield to anti-Christian pressure from the surrounding culture. That kind of reaction should not knock Christians off our stride. We are citizens of a different country:

Heb 11:13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.
Heb 11:14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own.

Occasionally a leader will buck the trend, and not back down from displaying his or her convictions publicly. It is a good thing when government officials seek to follow the will of God. But when the media ridicules them for doing so, Christians should not be surprised.

Mat 25:40 “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

Christians are saved in order to do good works. Among the most obvious, and most important of those good works is to take care of the “least of these.” Nothing is more God-like, more Christ-like, than to defend the weak and powerless. And who is more powerless than an unborn child?

In the 35 years since the Roe Vs Wade decision in the U.S. Supreme Court, over 48 million unborn children have lost their lives to abortion.
The magnitude of horror in that number defies the imagination: 48 million innocent lives snuffed out in the womb! We recoil at the thought of six million Jews being killed in Hitler’s Germany. And yet, eight times that many innocents have been killed in America through abortion since 1973.

Abortion is wrong because it takes an innocent human life. We instinctively know that taking innocent life is evil. But just in case we miss that point, God has made his view of the matter clear.

It is easy to prove that murder is wrong according to the scriptures. The following two references should suffice:

Exo 20:13 “You shall not murder.

1Jo 3:15 Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.

To show that this includes taking the life of an unborn child, we merely need to show that unborn children are considered human lives by God. That, too, is easily proven from the scriptures:

Jer 1:4 The word of the LORD came to me, saying,
Jer 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

Isa 44:1 Israel the Chosen
“But now listen, O Jacob, my servant,
Israel, whom I have chosen.
Isa 44:2 This is what the LORD says–
he who made you, who formed you in the womb,
and who will help you:
Do not be afraid, O Jacob, my servant,
Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.

Job 10:8 “Your hands shaped me and made me.
Will you now turn and destroy me?
Job 10:9 Remember that you molded me like clay.
Will you now turn me to dust again?
Job 10:10 Did you not pour me out like milk
and curdle me like cheese,
Job 10:11 clothe me with skin and flesh
and knit me together with bones and sinews?
Job 10:12 You gave me life and showed me kindness,
and in your providence watched over my spirit.

Psa 22:9 Yet you brought me out of the womb;
you made me trust in you
even at my mother’s breast.
Psa 22:10 From birth I was cast upon you;
from my mother’s womb you have been my God.

Psa 139:13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Psa 139:14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
Psa 139:15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
Psa 139:16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

The account of Mary and Elizabeth clearly demonstrates the humanness of the unborn child. Note that John the Baptist leaped for joy inside Elizabeth’s womb:

Luk 1:39 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea,
Luk 1:40 where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth.
Luk 1:41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
Luk 1:42 In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!
Luk 1:43 But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
Luk 1:44 As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.
Luk 1:45 Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!”

The Old Testament law directly addressed the protection of pregnant mothers and their unborn children, proving that unborn children have a right to life and to protection of the law:

Exo 21:22 “If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows.
Exo 21:23 But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life,
Exo 21:24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
Exo 21:25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.

The scriptures also make it clear how God’s children should respond to the practice of abortion:

Pro 31:8 “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,
for the rights of all who are destitute.

Pro 24:11 Rescue those being led away to death;
hold back those staggering toward slaughter.
Pro 24:12 If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,”
does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
Does not he who guards your life know it?
Will he not repay each person according to what he has done?

Est 4:12 When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai,
Est 4:13 he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape.
Est 4:14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?”

Psa 82:3 Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless;
maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.
Psa 82:4 Rescue the weak and needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.

Whatever we do for the least of these, we do for Christ. And whatever we do not do for them, we do not do for Christ. Let’s resolve to speak up for the defenseless.

I am in the process of reading a fascinating book titled “The New Faces of Christianity: Believing the Bible in the Global South“. You can expect a book review on this blog when I’m finished.

Meanwhile, Jay Guin is blogging a series on the future of progressive churches of Christ, based on articles in the September issue of the Christian Standard. That topic is all the more interesting because the Christian Standard is a publication of the independent Christian churches, the ecclesiastically estranged cousins of the churches of Christ. Is the wall between these groups starting to crumble? Let’s hope so. There is no sound reason why these two groups should not embrace one another as brothers and sisters, despite differences on some peripheral topics.

On another unity front, the Portland ICOC is seeking to restore fellowship with the other ICOC congregations. This is a positive and hopeful sign for more brotherhood and peace between groups of believers.

And closer to home for me, our congregation is using the facilities of a nearby independent Christian church to conduct a session of Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University. We are also hoping to work out arrangements for us to use their facilities for other activities. The elders of this Christian Church have been extraordinarily gracious and eager to help. We are two congregations with so much in common doctrinally.

The church of Christ is at a crossroads.

More and more voices are questioning whether the teachings of the Bible continue to have authority in the postmodern world. A growing number of people argue that the world of today is much more enlightened than that of the early church, and therefore the teachings about what is sin and what is acceptable should be changed to fit our modern values.

The argument is made about an entire spectrum of topics. Do biblical teachings about the role of women apply today? Are biblical teachings about marriage, divorce, and remarriage still applicable? Is homosexuality still a sin? Is it still necessary to confine sex to the marriage relationship? In each of these topics, people are arguing that the biblical instructions should no longer apply. They hold that the church should change to accommodate permissive, progressive, postmodern culture.

A recent article in the Christian Courier laments The Erosion of Marriage due to mounting pressures to conform to the standards of our postmodern neighbors. It is shocking to read that someone speaking at a “Christian Scholars Conference” would take the position that

…the sexual regulations set forth in the Bible merely were cultural and the restrictions imposed in biblical times may be ignored in our contemporary, “post-modern” world.

Yet this should not come as such a surprise. For some years, people have been arguing for the abandonment of traditional, biblical teachings about topics like the role of women in the church. They claimed that the traditional teaching was a vestige of the distant past, and an unnecessary, unpopular burden for the church. Others objected that abandoning traditional teachings is a slippery slope. If we can eliminate one doctrine of the Bible because it conflicts with the consensus of modern society, why not another? But those advocating the change insisted that this was as far as it would go. Of course, it has continued to go farther and farther.

The church faces a choice. Will we teach a commitment to vivid otherworldliness, or will we become so much like the world that we will become irrelevant?

I recently wrote that Christians should keep their political views between themselves and God, for the sake of unity. Subsequently, a new Pew poll has discovered that more conservatives are coming to the conclusion that it can be a bad idea to mix religion and politics. From the Pew Forum article:

Four years ago, just 30% of conservatives believed that churches and other houses of worship should stay out of politics. Today, 50% of conservatives express this view.

In 2004, there was a sharp difference between conservatives and liberals on this question. In that poll, Democrats preferred for churches to stay out of politics by a margin of 51% to 45%. But in the 2004 poll, Republicans felt churches should be active in politics by a margin of 58%-37%. In the recent (2008) poll, the difference between Democrats and Republicans on this issue has virtually disappeared.

Overall, 44% of those surveyed in 2004 said that churches should keep out of politics. Today, 51% take that position. Conservatives account for the majority of that shift.

In short, the change of mind about the role of religious institutions in politics is most apparent among people who are most concerned about the very issues that churches and other houses of worship have focused on, and among those who fault the parties for their friendliness toward religion.

There are many theories why conservatives have changed their minds on churches being active in politics. Steve Waldman at Belief Net wrote:

But just as likely, this is a reflection of a genuine disillusionment among conservatives about what political involvement has actually gotten them. As the Evangelical Manifesto, produced in May by a group of leading Christians put it: “Whichever side it comes from, a politicized faith is faithless, foolish and disastrous for the church.”

I think that comes close, but misses a key point. Conservatives are not feeling great about either political party right now. They have no champion in today’s political arena for their most cherished causes. I suspect this is the primary reason they are less inclined to engage in the political arena today than they were four years ago.

For me, two issues trump all of the other factors that could be mentioned. First, we don’t need to be creating any unnecessary obstacles in our mission to reach the lost. A public stance on politics is likely to turn off about half of the surrounding community, over a disputable matter that should be kept to ourselves. Second, politics has a real potential to divide a church. How are we going to show the world our unity, as Jesus prayed, if we are quarreling about political candidates? The church has more important things to talk about.

You may already be familiar with e-Sword, the outstanding free Bible software for Windows PC, and its smaller companion, Pocket e-Sword. I’ve just discovered a new platform where this tool resides, called e-Sword Live, an online Web 2.0 Bible study tool.

You’ll need to register to access all the features of e-Sword Live. After selecting a user ID and supplying your name and email address, you will receive a temporary password to log in to the site. Once you log in, you will want to visit your profile to select your favorite translations, commentaries, dictionaries, lexicons, and topical resources. You can even link to verses on the e-Sword Live site in blog posts. When readers follow those links, they will have access to commentaries, dictionaries, and lexicons coordinated with the linked passage — a nice advantage in comparison to other existing online Bible study sites. If you are logged in to e-Sword Live while browsing, you can switch between your selected translations, commentaries etc just like in the original e-Sword application. If you are not logged in, you will get the ESV for Bible text and the Matthew Henry Concise Commentary when you follow the link.

I think I’ll start using that tool for scripture links. Let me know what you think!

The Christian Standard is currently featuring a pair of articles explaining two sides of the issue around the role of women in the church. In one, Joe Harvey takes the complementarian position. In the other, Lana West takes the egalitarian position.

I’m not going to get back into that debate, since I covered it previously in my series on First Corinthians. But I thought it was worthy of note that the Christian Standard is willing to present both sides of such a controversial topic, without making it an issue of fellowship.

Both sides cannot be correct. But I believe there are sincere Christians on both sides of the issue. A person can have their sins forgiven and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit without understanding anything about this topic. Such a person is therefore a brother or sister in Christ.

I doubt any Christian has absolutely perfect understanding of every Christian doctrine. We need to be willing to embrace as a brother those who disagree on topics like this one, because of our unity on the core gospel. Kudos to the Christian Standard for demonstrating that kind of unity.

Christianity and politics have had a rocky relationship.

In the early days of the church, government persecuted the church. Later, the government practically merged with the church. Those previously persecuted Christians must have viewed the sanction of government as a wonderful thing. But centuries of state-sponsored Christianity led to war in the name of Christ, and to corruption of both the morals and the doctrine of the church. In more recent times, separation of church and state has become the rule in western cultures.

Today, opinions among Christians vary about the relationship between church and state. Some believe the church should actively promote its agenda in the political realm. Others believe the church should focus on meeting the spiritual needs of individuals, and leave politics alone.

If your priority is Christian unity, then politics can be a hindrance. The American two-party system has a tendency to polarize issues. There are major Christian values on both sides of the aisle. One side opposes abortion, while the other side opposes the war. One side emphasizes individual responsibility, while the other advocates expansion of the government-sponsored safety net. Since we aren’t offered a choice that perfectly matches our Christian values, different Christians are drawn to different ends of the political spectrum depending on how they prioritize the issues, and on which compromises they find least offensive.

Many churches lack diversity of culture and therefore of political persuasion. I suspect those churches are the ones most likely to be politically active and to take public positions on political issues. Those who have a successful outreach to a diversity of cultures have to be more diplomatic about politics.

There are some opinions that Christians should keep between themselves and God, for the sake of unity. I think controversial political views are on that list.