As a
Christian I desire a venue in which I can live my Christian life and an
environment in which the gospel can work....one in which we can freely speak to
others. A concept like the 1st Amendment is something we should
desire and treasure. With it come many dangers and opportunities for others to
do things that aren't desirable. Though it allows them to continue their lost
behaviour it also allows us to bring them the gospel without persecution.
Theonomists
have been pretty vocal in the past about the 1st Amendment. If
you're committed to state enforced Sacralism...the 1st Amendment is
an abomination. It grants civil protections to false religions and allows
anyone to challenge what they hope would be the establishment.
Democracy
can only work when the voting public is involved and educated regarding the
issues. I'm not saying everyone needs a college degree...I'd be the last one to
suggest that...but they need to be engaged and have some knowledge of the
salient issues. It takes time and energy.
People
who are not engaged and yet vote, overthrow the system. Their choices will be
poor and are highly subject to manipulation.
What
about people who are very engaged, vote, but have embraced a way of thinking
that will not allow them to see anything but the paradigm they are provided
with? I'm thinking of course of the Christo-American faction. In many cases
they’ve been taught a theology which commits them to some form of Constantinianism,
or in the case of this man at the shopping mall, it’s probably more a case of
just blind nationalism wedded to the Christian faith.
These people,
regardless of which nuance they belong to, would answer the reason they won't
see beyond their circle is due to moral conviction.
I would
argue they've been deceived and the circle of ideas provided to them has
actually trapped them. It’s forced them into a way of thinking that is often
grossly immoral and completely contrary to the Scripture they claim to have
built their thinking on.
I was
reminded of something Chris Hedges said in ‘American Fascism’. I had the page
marked:
"Followers in the movement
are locked within closed systems of information and indoctrination that cater
to their hates and prejudices. Tens of millions of Americans rely exclusively
on Christian broadcasters for their news, health, entertainment and devotional
programs. These followers have been organized into disciplined and powerful
voting blocs. They attend churches that during election time are little more
than local headquarters for the Republican Party and during the rest of the year
demand nearly all of their social, religious and recreational time. These
believers are encased in a hermetic world. There is no questioning or dissent.
There are anywhere from 1.1 million to 2.1 million children, nearly all
evangelicals, now being homeschooled. These children are not challenged with
ideas or research that conflict with their biblical worldview. Evolution is not
taught. God created the world in six days. America, they are told, was founded
as a Christian nation. These young men and women are often funneled into
Christian colleges and universities, such as Jerry Falwell's Liberty
University, Pat Robertson's Regent University, and a host of other schools such
as Patrick Henry University. They are taught, in short, to obey. They are
discouraged from critical analysis, questioning and independent thought. And
they believe, by the time they are done, a host of myths designed to destroy
the open, pluralist society...." (p.26)
I by no
means even remotely agree with everything Hedges says here. This is how the
whole book is. He sees a lot and his observations are worth reading. The
problem is he's not a Christian and though he possesses a seminary degree, he
just doesn't understand Christianity or the Bible. Without meaning to he
actually provides quite a commentary on the state of the mainline seminaries
and the unbelieving scholars in these schools which shaped his thoughts. One
must be Born Again...it's so clear when you watch unbelievers try to navigate
Scripture. They just don't get it. They can't. These things are spiritually
discerned and in the eyes of the world, utter foolishness…truths largely
forgotten by the Church today.
Though Hedges’
Scriptural observations are poor...leading him to make nonsensical statements
like... Christians exclusively relying on Christian broadcasters for devotional
programmes?...what does he expect them to watch, Muslim programming? Or that
their recreational time is tied up in the Church...I think we would call it
fellowship?
But that
said, I know what he's getting at. The main point is many Christians have
sealed themselves off into a little world...and that world builds walls in
their minds and hearts. Some branch out and interact with the community, but
they take their walls with them, and often their interaction isn't really
genuine, it's just a ploy to conquer.
There's
a sense in which the idea of ‘sealing off’ is true...we're to be a separate
people, not overly concerned or entangled with the affairs of this life...I
read that in the sense of not being caught up in the power struggle and
adopting the values our culture defines as necessary to be successful or even,
respectable.
And as we
very consciously and deliberately maintain our identity… as we interact with
the world...there's a danger.
What if
we're wrong? What if the walls we've erected (as truth) in order to protect
ourselves aren't based on the Bible?
How
would we know?
We’d
better make sure we haven’t embraced theological presuppositions which disable
our ability to keep examining our beliefs in light of the Bible.
I
maintain as we interact with the world, culture, history, politics, and all the
rest...it should drive us back to the Scripture...not just looking to vindicate
our position but to continually re-examine and re-think the issues. We won't
necessarily change our views, but I think they will become a little more
nuanced and a little more wise. Certain passages when re-examined suddenly
won't say it quite the way we thought. Or we may realize we were forcing an
idea on the text.
But if
all we listen to, read, watch, and consume, all day long does nothing to
challenge us...but only reaffirms the same views over and over...we're not
going to grow. We're not going to gain wisdom. We're going to mentally stagnate
and end up non-cognitive automatons.
I hope
this isn’t too confusing. I’m trying to say Hedges is both right and wrong…and
much of modern Evangelicalism is in part right in their establishment of a
Christian identity but wrong in trying to create an insulated sub-culture that
almost seems to create an alternate reality, one that is not really helping the
Church to understand or interact with the world.
Also in
the insulated circle of American Evangelicalism...there are leaders, there are
voices steering the ship, telling you where to look, giving you maps and guides
so to speak to help the flock navigate the world.
Though
it pains Hedges, it's legitimate. The Church needs wise men to lead and guide.
But
we're warned over and over in Scripture to beware of wolves, of false
prophets....2 Corinthians 11 warns:
13
For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves
into the apostles of Christ.
14
And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
15
Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as
the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
What if
these leaders within the walls are unknowing or willing agents of the enemy? I
hope you see the formula here....the common folk have lost the ability to think
and interact with other ideas. If their leaders are false...how are they going
to know? It's got to be pretty obvious for people to see, and even then it's
difficult.
And what
if the leaders are actually representing other interests outside the
walls...and convincing those within that these interests coincide?
In
recent years there's been a push to get Christians to think about the issue of
Worldview...how Christianity applies to all of life.
That's
excellent, but I see very little in the way of real thinking and teaching
people to think. Instead I largely see this as a tool, almost a marketing plan
to promote what are often political agendas...a verbal power play to sanctify
the agenda. News and commentary are presented as being in accord with a
Biblical Worldview, granting legitimacy to the hearers, but rarely do I ever
actually hear the connection...how is it the Biblical Worldview? In fact
usually by the time they're done I've already compiled a list of issues I would
raise, arguing what they've just presented is actually contrary to what the
Bible teaches.
When
you're outside the walls, operating in a different paradigm this is all pretty
easy to see. It's not easy to get them to see...in fact almost impossible.
The fact
that some completely lost person like Chris Hedges can both observe and
identify this trap is nothing more than judgment on the American Evangelical
Church. His observations fall short because he doesn’t understand Christianity
and he certainly has no solutions, but that doesn’t invalidate all he says.
I cringe
as I read what he says in that excerpt. Much of it is true. And I can see why
people like him are more than a little concerned with the homeschool movement.
Most of these kids end up being automatons for the leaders of the movement.
That's
good, some would say...disciplined soldiers.
But if
they're wrong, you're making them twice the children of hell and destroying the
Church in the process.