A while back, I wrote about the idolatry of religious freedom. The subtle seduction of this standard is hard to overstate, especially for those of us who grew up in the United States. It only seems logical that this freedom would be one of the most important freedoms that Christians should seek to protect.
Logical, maybe, but hardly biblical. I’m not saying that we should seek to lose this freedom that we enjoy, but like all of our rights, it must never stand in the way of the good of the Kingdom. (See Paul’s discussion about this in 1 Corinthians 9)
I spent last week in Cuba, part of the time in Matanzas, part of the time in Havana. I heard the “party line” straight from the mouth of Communist officials and was reminded of the limits placed on the church there. I also saw a healthy, vibrant church that is growing by leaps and bounds.
I was struck yesterday by the contrast between what goes on in Cuba and what goes on in the United States. I see Christians here in the States spending endless time debating politics, while Christians in Cuba are about the business of spreading the gospel.
The church here is stagnated. The church in Cuba, in a Communist country with limits on their religious freedom, is growing and growing.
Which scenario do you think is more pleasing to God? While we spend our time protecting our economy, our democracy and our religious freedom, we leave the business of God’s Kingdom untended. Of course, it’s not the Kingdom that is worse off for that. It’s us, our children and this country.
Well Tim: first of all nothing we do is pleasing to God, per se on an individual basis. With the work of the ministry collectively, in Christ’s name it is. Speaking of the United States, by you living here has given you many opportunities you most likely wouldn’t have had, to share the gospel. Living in this rich country has allowed you to travel individually, placed you in a vocation that has allowed to fulfill your life’s committment.
If you lived in a country that doesn’t offer the same opportunities as this one, your life in all probability would have been different.
The more advanced our society becomes the more complex the issues are and living becomes more burdensome. To compare the lifestyle of a Christian in a third world country to ours, is how you, in your own words “half- baked thoughts.”
Lets see, Atomic energy, Space exploration, Air travel, Stem cell research, a population of over 300 million people with in our borders,
Industries of Motion Pictures, Auto manufacturing, Construction, helping to establish a world food supply, An enormous educational system, that is free by the way. You want to see a growing Christian ministry look at Joel Osteen, or a number of other Mega churches in this country. I love this country. I am so happy that my grandparents came over from a poor mountain village in Greece. This is the greatest country of people ever to inhabit the face of this earth at any time.
Just my opinion and thanks for letting me share…….
P.S. as I was watching last nights vote for national healthcare, I was glad to see some people taking an interest in politics, taking it upon themselves to care for the ones who have no health insurance.
I for one sell health insurance that so many people can’t afford,
knowing this first hand and seeing people who have pre existing conditions caught with health insurance they really can’t afford,
also ones who get turned down because they have pre existing conditions that insurance companies refuse to cover.
I recently discussed with my wife if it would be “bad” to pray for persecution to enter this land. It is a shaky subject; but at times I feel a want for God to go ahead and do some pre-judgment and separate the wheat from the chaff in this land; and rid us of our “advantages” in this religiously free country. “If they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us” (1 John 2:19). Is it bad to want to see this played out among all those who confess with their lips? For it seems that in part, the freedom that we have in this country has become a curse to the faith.
It is no secret, as expressed specifically and repetitively in the New Testament, that God has ordained persecution to work in the advancing of the Gospel. And we see this up to this day; where the faith is persecuted the most in the world we are seeing the most growth and strength in believers. It takes on a whole new perspective when it’s “flesh for flesh” (re: JOB). And if this happened in this land, how many will come out of it still proclaiming “Blessed be the Name of the Lord!”?
Good question Tim.
In some sense the reason America has become anti-religious is because most Christians don’t view America as a missions field. As a result we send our missionaries to places like Africa or Cuba instead of trying to be on mission in our neighborhood. We assume since people in America are aware of the historical Jesus they are aware of the Biblical Jesus.
I think the missions field needs diversity in action, from Cuba to politics or schools. Ignoring the need to plant the gospel in America will result in fewer and fewer missionaries to send out in the future.
Jeff
Good piece Archer!
I have submitted an article to Christianity Today (I am waiting to hear whether it will be published) exploring the idea of justice in Deuteronomy which always has as its object real people (strangers, aliens, widows, orphans). In the article I lament that in the current debate over healthcare, God’s people have forgotten God’s concern for justice and instead have become concerned about bureaucracy when (IMH-biblical-O) God could care less about bureaucratic forms but does care about justice.
My point is not to decide whether President Obama’s healthcare reform is a good idea or bad. My point is that many Christians have lost the biblical focus of being concerned for the things which God is concerned about, of which justice for all people is but one of those concerns. But this loss of focus is really only a symtom of a larger problem whereby the gospel, with all of its theological claims and ethical demands, is no longer what Christians in the United States are passionate about. Instead, instead we have become passionate about perserving and furthering a kingdom that in the grandscheme of history, will fall because their is only one King and one Kingdom that will stand (and it foolishly has a Roman cross as its symbol of salvation, victory, and hope). From this perspective, the left and right are just two sides of a liberal coin that rejects the verdict God has rendered upon history. Instead, the left side of Christianity is focused on toleration and ecumenism while the right is focused on perserving a Puritan politic (which includes Puritan moral values) and both do so believing their focus is consummate with the Kingdom of God. What makes both sides as a believable idolatry is that each side does embody some of the Kingdom values while unforunately rejecting others and rejecting the rule of the King who sits upon his throne.
Grace and peace,
Rex
P.S. And for those of us who recognize this problem, may the Lord graciously but candidly reveal to us the idols we are still erecting and worshiping!
If we had focused on making disciples of the Christ instead of making church members through guilt give money to run the church and do the work for the church, while we “members” in the church came a couple of hours each week to “practice” and pull off in less than 60 minutes what we should be living all through the week, then perhaps we wouldn’t be in this mess of lifeless church members sitting lifeless in the pews and returning to be lifeless in the community and lifeless while at work, school or where ever we are, thinking God won’t Nadab and Abihu “US” because we do church right every Sunday. Maybe if preachers would preach what they preached someone would dare even read Romans 12:
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
But then this verse never has met what we teach, preach or practice. I hate to be negative but I grow soooo tired of our intellectual ekite that never have gotten it right, now tell us what “WE” poor church members don’t do right.
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H.C.M. Great points in your post. You touched on some things that I have been trying to say in blogs where ever I can. That what we doooo
is never right. It can’t be and hasn’t been and never will be. Most of us and I will include myself when I say, miss the mark, run short in the race, lose sight of the prize. We can preach, cajole, shame, criticize, pressure, but what it comes down to is free will and choice. The purpose of Christ shedding his blood was to finish something we can’t do ourselves. To make ourselves pleasing to God.
We can’t pressure God to bring judgement down. There is no need. He is not judging us any more. The apostle Paul says we have peace with God now thru Christ Jesus…..Its all about love and the next world we pass into. God is not a respector of persons any more. Not Israel, not gentiles or Christians, not men nor women, not freeman nor slave.
Why is it that if God hasn’t initiated a move in 2000 years, chances are its not going to happen, we can’t accept this. Its not about this life, its about the next one. Finally, we love Christ, because he first loved us.