by Ben Hunnicutt
You’ve read the news. YouTube is demonetizing conservative content creators. Facebook is censoring Christian voices while allowing others to have their say. Christians seem to have ample reason to complain that their viewpoints are being stifled in today’s culture.
At the same time, as Paul and Rebecca note in the recent FaithWorks podcast entitled, “Losing Credibility,” Christians are increasingly pulling away from being active in politics, education, business, arts, and science. Instead of being involved in solving the world’s issues, we stay cooped up in our safe church circles. And we grumble about and wonder why our values are being suppressed. But we aren’t willing to get out there and make the changes we want to see happen. We Christians often use various rationalizations to free us from having to tackle the problems in our society. Here are three of those excuses:
1. “The World’s Just Gonna Get Worse”
A common reason Christians use for avoiding politics or social issues is that the world is on an inevitable downward spiral. The world’s getting worse and worse—we’re just surviving until Christ returns to make everything right. If Jesus will eventually do all the heavy lifting, why even try?
Why should we do something about it? Because Jesus commands us to pray that God’s Kingdom becomes a reality on earth: “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven” (Matthew 6:10). God invites us to partner with Him to show others what being ruled by Him looks like. By living out His commands and loving our communities, government, and the people in them, we cause His will to be done among us and those who don't yet know Him.
2. “We’ll Get Corrupted If We Try”
Another false belief we hold to is isolationism. In an attempt to not be “corrupted” by people who don’t share our values, we try to separate ourselves entirely. With common platitudes like, “you become like those whom you surround yourself with” floating around, this is an understandable fear.
However, provided that you are supported by a faithful community of believers, we should get out into the world to solve messy problems with God’s help. After all, we are supposed to follow Jesus’s example. He constantly healed the sick, fed the hungry, and spent time with society’s most outcast and hated individuals.
3. “Just Invite Them To Church”
“But that’s what the church is for,” some might argue, “can’t I just invite them to church?” We like to offload the responsibility of meeting needs and touching lives to the church. Instead of pursuing people where they’re at, we try to attract them into our institutionalized churches with programs, childcare, donuts, and flashy music. However, our job is to go out into the world to love people and meet real needs. In doing so we can make earth into a place more like heaven and less like hell.
Can we really change the world?
Want to learn more about how you and your church can change our culture for the better? Listen to our latest FaithWorks podcast, “Losing Credibility” where Paul Watson and Rebecca Ewing continue the discussion about how Christians have surrendered the future by rejecting innovation. It is also available on iTunes. To glean practical steps on how to transform our society for the Kingdom, listen to Part 2 by becoming a Patron on our Patreon page for $5 per month. You’ll gain access to a total of eight episodes per month, including all episodes from the CDM Podcast.