Comments Which Conservatives Block From Their Blogs For March 29, 2023

 March 22

To Heidelblog and Carl Trueman for the portion of Trueman's article which was quoted in the Heidelblog post and dealt with preachers preaching on controversial political issues. 

Carl Trueman's full article can be found at:

    https://modernreformation.org/resource-library/web-exclusive-articles/the-mod-faithful-preaching-in-a-fashionable-world/

In the article cited above, Trueman offers 3 solutions for handling controversial political subjects from the pulpit. We should note that it seems that the controversial subjects that Trueman had in his mind regarded sex and LGBT issues. They are:

1.   The job of pastors, and indeed all Christians, is not to be popular.

2.   '<b>Preachers must preach the 'whole counsel of God</b>'

3.   Christians must realize that the Church is the Bride of Christ, not any other kind of group.

Certainly those 3 suggestions are very Biblical and any Christian should be hard pressed to object to any of those solutions.

But there is a 4th solution too. That is that because preachers must preach on political topics because many political topics involve moral issues. And so, preachers must distinguish between speaking morally from speaking politically. For example, certainly homosexuality is sin. But the solution to addressing homosexuality in our society is to call homosexuals to repentance rather than seeking to marginalize homosexuals or even criminalize homosexuality. 

However, we should note that other political issues that contain moral issues such as income and wealth disparity, climate change, health care, militarization and war might require that we publicly oppose the current political decisions rather than merely opposing individual personal decisions. In that case, preachers and all Christians should speak out against political policies while refraining from unnecessarily endorsing publicly stated political proposals.

Here the ability of the Church and our ability as Christians to distinguish between those issues that only require us to speak to individuals from those issues that call us to speak publicly to political policies are important.

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To Heidelblog and Nancy Guthrie and the part of her article about the Book of Revelation which talks about our worship of the triune God as being the ultimate subversive activity in today's world.

Nancy Guthrie's full article can be found at:

https://corechristianity.com/resource-library/articles/4-reasons-we-avoid-the-book-of-revelation/

But our prayers and worship can bring harm to the reputation of the Gospel when we mistreat others. And we all have done that, and will continue to have, examples of mistreating others. But we should also note that that is true of the Church as an institution too.

One way we can learn about how the Church has mistreated others is to listen to our critics. And here, I am particularly thinking of Critical Theory and Post Modernism. For they are, in part, reactions to the failure of the Church in how it has acted as an institution. Neither Critical Theory nor Post Modernism have the answers as to what the Church can do now.  But both are providing important feedback regarding some of where we have failed in carrying out the Great Commission.

Another way we can learn about how the Church has mistreated others is to observe how it might be seeking to treat other unjustly today. For example, why is religiously conservative American Christianity seeking to move the LGBT community back to the margins? Why does a good portion of religiously conservative American Christianity so ignore the injustices done to the Palestinians by its hero hero Israel? Why does a good portion of religiously conservative American Christianity oppose a political party that seeks to reduce social safety nets which would put many Americans at risk?

Here we should note that the article cited is about understanding the Book of Revelation. And yet, the part of Guthrie's article cited asks what could be more important than to talk about corporate worship. And yet, Jesus told us that there are prerequisites to worshiping God. And so even if we don't always make amends for all of our past sins, we need to be on the watch for current injustices that we the Church might be participating in today as being a part of our preparation for our worship of God.

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March 28

To Marc Barnes and his article that claims that what we are seeing today is not a post Christianity, but a hyper-Christianity so that the Christian influences on the nation are not recognized. This hyper-Christianity is the product of the 'material heresy of liberalism.'

The above article is the result of an apologetic panic that many Christians find themselves in. That panic causes them to try too hard to either say  too much in favor of Christianity or against everything outside of Christianity. For the most part, the above article is about the former.

Church history by itself adequately challenges the above article. Even recent Church history shows that Christianity has at least a mixed record on the principles valued above. At the same time, what goes unrecognized is that the person who penned the Declaration of Independence was not a Christian if what is required by the Christian faith was a belief in the supernatural and that Jesus was both God and man. Jefferson's account of the Gospels leaves out the supernatural side of Jesus.

From there, all we have to do is to look at the religious infighting in the Roman and Protestant branches of the Church to see that Christianity, as represented by Christians, has a very difficult time accepting the notion that all people are created equal. From the Church's support of imperialism, colonialism, white supremacy, ethnic cleansing of Native Americans from the land, slavery, Jim Crow, and those with wealth and power, Christianity has not taught that all people are equal. Even by example, Jefferson's words in the Declaration of Independence p are contradicted by his other words and his actions.

What we see today is not a hyperChristianity, that is unless one equates that with the reactionary forces that see wokism as a mortal enemy. Rather, what we are seeing is many religiously conservative Christians both claiming too much for their faith and not recognizing the valid thinking of unbelievers while fighting tooth and nail for control of society and the culture. Seeking to control others  is antithetical  to believing in and promoting equality.