Are we controversial today? I would say that Christianity is and always has been controversial. Why is that? There are a multitude of reasons for it, not the least of which is that in Christianity, principles are found that go against rational thinking. Thoughts like love your enemies, turn the other cheek, and unconditional forgiveness are not widely accepted in our world today. There are two different kinds of controversy in Christianity. Outside entities that feel the tenets of Christianity are controversial, and internal struggles between Christians who argue over issues of the faith.
Recently, Illinois senator and presidential hopeful Barack Obama said that Christianity had been hijacked by the leaders of the Christian right. He made the comment that
At every opportunity, they’ve told evangelical Christians that Democrats disrespect their values and dislike their church, while suggesting to the rest of the country that religious Americans care only about issues like abortion and gay marriage, school prayer and intelligent design.
A couple of words on this. First, most evangelicals don’t need to be told that Democrats disrespect our values. We know that already. When you vote for or approve of abortion and gay marriage, two things that go against our faith, we don’t need James Dobson or Pat Robertson to tell us you dislike our church. Most of us are smart enough to figure that out on our own. What evangelicals do need to be told is that most Republicans aren’t any different. The government is not there to serve our faith, it is there to serve the people. When we became the silent majority, we turned over the reigns to those who wanted these things.
This thought in itself is controversial. Many people equate Republican with Christian and it just isn’t true, at least not to a historical definition of Christianity. While our country was founded on Judeo-Christian ethics, what have we done to keep it front and center? We’ve shied away from controversy, preferring to sit back and let others take control. Now we complain about things not going our way. We’ve turned the chicken coop over to the foxes, and then act surprised when the hens get eaten.
How do we deal with the external controversies? We engage in them, head on. We don’t shy away because it’s the ‘Christian’ thing to do. Luke 39:40 says
“Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
We can’t keep quiet about Jesus. If that brings us into conflict with those outside the church, then so be it. Better to be a fool in the eyes of men than a fool in the eyes of God.
However, controversy with external entities sometimes pales in comparison to internal battles.
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