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TechnoratiWhen Abraham Lincoln was running for the presidency of the United States in another time of great moral crisis, he got a lot of criticism for making slavery an issue. Here’s what he said in 1860, in the midst of the presidential campaign: “You will not let us do a single thing as if it was wrong: there is no place where you will allow it to be even called wrong. We must not call it wrong in the free States, because it is not there, and we must not call it wrong in the slave States, because it is there; we must not call it wrong in politics, because that is bringing morality into politics, and we must not call it wrong in the pulpit, because that is bringing politics into religion . . . ” Lincoln concluded by saying, “There is no single place, according to you, where this wrong can properly be called wrong.” I’m glad Abraham Lincoln didn’t listen to his critics.
We have allowed ourselves to believe this lie that somehow Christians don’t have a right and an obligation to be involved in public policy, and we have withdrawn and left the field to those who do not care to hear our faith-based convictions. And we are reaping the consequences. There was a study done several years ago to determine which were the most religious countries in the world. They came to the conclusion that India was the most religious country in the world and Sweden was the least religious country in the world. When Peter Berger, the famous sociologist, was told of this, he commented that if India is the most religious country in the world, and Sweden the least religious, then America is a nation of Indians ruled by Swedes. There’s a great deal of tragic truth in that. Do you know whose fault that is? It’s our fault! It’s our fault for not being willing to get involved and to be part of the process.
Jesus told us we are the salt and the light of the world. Salt is a purifying agent and a preservative, but it must come into contact with that which it would purify and preserve. And it not only purifies and preserves, it also stings and irritates. That’s why when Jesus said we were to be salt and light, He preceded it by saying, “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake” (Matt. 5:11).
I grew up in Southern Baptist churches where it was often said, “Now, we’re Southern Baptists. That means we don’t get involved in anything controversial. We just preach the Gospel.” Folks, that’s an oxymoron. And as a graduate of Oxford, I want you to know that an oxymoron is not a moron who went to Oxford. An oxymoron is when you take two seemingly contradictory descriptions and use them to describe the same thing. Take “humble Texan,” for example. It is just as much of an oxymoron to say “noncontroversial Christian.” If we’re being salt and light then we are going to be controversial. Jesus intended for us to be controversial! In the first century Christians were known as the people who turned the world upside down, which means they were turning the world upside right. Continue »
