By Pastor Bryant
With the Olympic Games being held in China last month the controversy over expressing Christian faith there has received some attention. Some countries’ Olympic Committees, like Belgium’s, heavy-handedly forbade religious expression and required the signing of agreements to that effect. Others, like the United States have said nothing to their athletes and have left it up to them. The Communist Chinese government on its part has pointed out that such religious expression is illegal in their country and that they will deal with it accordingly. They thwarted President Bush’s intention of worshipping in an unregistered church by removing such pastors and church-members from the province.
I think it is safe to say that Biblical Christianity is counter-cultural in China.
But what about America?
Congress and (since the 14th Amendment) the states are prohibited from establishing a state religion and from prohibiting anyone from freely exercising their faith, so the United States is certainly not “officially” Christian. Nevertheless it is correct to say that Christianity is historically the predominate faith. For that reason ours has been called a “Christian Country” with a “Christian Culture.”
But is it still that way?
Perhaps in name, but not in reality, and therein lies a problem.
Ours is no longer a Christian culture in terms of morality. In our culture today, morality is determined by some apparent “cultural consensus.” When the majority of people who dominated the media reach a consensus that something is right or wrong, they claim they are merely “reflecting society” and it becomes the standard.
This relativistic morality has invaded law, so that determination of obscenity depends upon the “community” consensus.
This approach to morality itself stems from what I call the official religion of our country – Darwinism (in whatever derivative form.) It has become the basis of law and the evolutionary view of the world has been raised to heights of religion, providing the ultimate explanation of where we come from, where we are going, and what is the meaning of life. According to this religion we are derived from single-celled organisms, we are destined to return to dust, and the meaning of life is to preserve the species and to seek what is pleasing to the individual.
This anti-Biblical religion has also found its way into mainline denominations, many of whom no longer confess that God created the world as He revealed it to us in the Scriptures. Likewise in many denominations preachers are free to question the truth of Scripture, questioning basic moral virtues like chastity and honesty, not to mention crucial teachings such as original sin, and salvation alone though Christ.
Why make the point? Because if ours is not a Christian culture any longer, then to the extent that we would be fundamentally in tune with our culture, we would be at odds with Christ, the truth, the gospel, and salvation itself. Indeed we would be in danger of being lost altogether.
This is what the apostle John was driving at when he wrote, 1 John 2:15-17 15Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
If we as Christians are in fact not really supposed to be in step with our culture, reflecting and affirming it, then how should we relate to it? Like the Christians of previous generations, we are called to be a witness to it.