Gag Orders and Wisdom

There’s a lot of so-called “hate-speak” out there today.  What’s disturbing to me is not so much the attacks on Christianity, as much as Christians engaging in the same tactics.  Must we stoop to the level of the world when trying to get our point across?  Do we have to criticize a YouTube presentation that extols Christ but condemns religion?  Doesn’t the criticism just support the very basis of the presentation? Wouldn’t it be wiser to just be an example of Christ while accepting that people have been badly hurt in the name of religion?

I realize that our culture is just too darn sensitive. Or stated more honestly, the influencers of our culture—celebrities, media, politicians, and even some religious icons—don’t like messages that contradict their lifestyles. So rather than remaining open to other ideas, they just cast other ideas as offensive or bigoted.  By doing this, of course, they are themselves narrow-minded and bigoted. But since they have greater cultural influence and the attendant social and economic power that comes with that influence, they’re able to gag the other ideas. 

But to counter such gagging, we need to be wiser in our communication.  Rather than extolling hostility, we need to learn how to proclaim our message in a way that doesn’t water down the truth but also doesn’t stoop to the level of name-calling or finger-pointing. Do we really need to condemn entire people-groups to proclaim the love of Jesus? Do you not see the irony in this? 

I am not at all drawn to Facebook or Twitter postings that totally insult my faith or political preferences. Those insults just drive me further away from their message.  Don’t you think they are also driven away from us for the same reasons? If they want me to take them seriously, then they need to engage me with respect and dignity.  We must do the same. Otherwise, we might as well dig in and prepare to win fewer and fewer souls for Christ while we watch our churches die. If we can’t figure out a way to engage winsomely, we will continue to lose this so-called culture war. (It’s actually a spiritual war, see Ephesians 6:10ff.)

A truly counter-cultural engagement would be one that shows respect and dignity toward humanity. Think about it, God made people in His own image. Granted, people are the ones who employ evil and extol sinful lifestyles as normal and acceptable. But the very same people are broken and lost (just like we were, or perhaps still are). We can’t win them to Christ and pull them out of the gates of Hell by belittling them or spewing the same verbal venom on them that they spew on us. 

Let’s see, who was it that said, “Forgive them for they do not know what they are doing?”  Oh yes, it was Jesus! (See Luke 23:34.) My heart breaks when I see friends bash Jesus and I pray for wisdom on how to reach them. But I know if I just come at them like I think they’re stupid, they’ll just disown me and my message. And even if I “counter-post” on their Facebook a blistering, intellectual retort to their anti-Christian message, I’ve just played right into Satan’s hands. Therefore, I must figure out a different method of reaching them that isn’t the same hate-filled method they use. But I’m too feeble to figure that out on my own, so I must look to the Lord for wisdom on how to properly engage such anti-Christ hatefulness. 

So far I don’t have an answer…do you?            

Christian Civility and Kindness

I’m going to take a little departure from the theme of my last post and shift my focus to civility—Christian civility.  I “tweeted” on Twitter and on Facebook the question of what is Christian civility and what does it look like.  Unfortunately the response was grossly underwhelming; I had only one substantive response.  The reason could simply be no one saw my post; or, the reason could also be that we just don’t know the answer to that question. 

The question of civility is now in the headlines due to inappropriate responses to a tragic shooting in Arizona.  In fact, the New York Times ran this headline on January 12, 2011:  “Obama Calls for a New Era of Civility in U.S. Politics.”  Regardless of our political affiliation, I’m sure we can all agree that American political rhetoric is vitriolic at its most typical and downright hostile at its extremes.  We seem to accept this as the norm and slough it off as just political banter and blather.

But does this banter and blather belie a deeper and darker truth about our culture, that our communication in general is becoming more vitriolic?  This question leads to a larger question:  Does culture follow politics or does politics follow culture?  I think it’s the latter, that’s why politicians are doing what they can to get our attention; and it seems that the only communication we pay attention to is either flashy and shallow or hostile and accusative.  Such an environment has no room for civility or politeness.  This is the environment that Christ-followers are trying to be heard in as well. 

What’s more, we see so-called pastors calling to picket funerals or burn religious texts from other religions.  We also see and hear a lot of judgmental comments about lifestyles.  While I am well aware that sin is sin, does Christian civility call for us to pound people over the head about their sin?  If we are to extol the virtues of the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ, wouldn’t we instead focus on more positive messages such as salvation?  Have we not read Romans 2:3-4:  “So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?” 

This passage isn’t calling for a blind eye toward sin, but it is inviting us to realize that we are all sinners in need of a loving Savior Who forgives and then works on delivering us from our sins.

So while there is no hard and fast answer to what Christian civility is, we now know that it entails in part, kindness. So if we are about to communicate in a way that is not kind, then we can be pretty sure it won’t meet the test of Christian civility.