I have nothing but respect for Michael Craven. His leadership at the helm of The Center for Christ and Culture should be applauded. His well written columns reveal a deep thinker who has a heart for God and heartache for the state of our culture.
But I have to disagree with Michael’s latest column The Culture War is Over: We Lost! I admit his arguments for our defeat are strong. Evangelicals are certainly not winning the debate over homosexuality. Craven is correct that “If the attitudes of the next generation remain as they are; the present opposition to same sex marriage will not remain much longer.” He is also correct to point out that when all things are considered, “the future of traditional marriage is in doubt.”
No honest observer of the current trends in our culture would say things are getting better. But the war will not be lost as long as God has a witness in the culture. For the believer, winning is not measured by Supreme Court appointments, number of marriage amendments passed, or even in a reduced number of abortions. Winning is simply the act of standing. It is finding a dark corner of culture and starting a fire of righteousness.
When you consider the track record of Jesus earthly ministry you would be hard pressed to place much in the win column. Jesus was abandoned by the throngs that initially flocked to His ministry. His followers were weak and wishy washy. Peter, the strongest one in the bunch, refused to even acknowledge He knew Jesus when Jesus was hauled up in front of the Sanhedrin. All of His closest followers fled when Jesus was nailed to the cross. By every human measure of achievement Jesus was an earthly failure.
But the proof of Jesus power came on the other side of the earthly appearance of failure. The rag tag gang of cowardly Galileans was transformed into fearless spiritual warriors who stood up to the Sanhedrin, refusing to be silent in the face of great persecution. The coming of the Holy Spirit made faithful giants out of fearful spiritual midgets. The world was turned upside down by people who realized they couldn’t lose if they would just stand firm in what they knew to be true.
The culture war cannot be lost unless and until the church decides to quit. Craven says at the end of his column, “It is not that I am giving up, certainly not! It is merely that I want to understand how best to engage the culture.” One thing is sure…declaring the battle lost is not the way to engage the culture. If the battle is lost there is no reason for us to stay engaged.
Personal evangelism must remain the primary passion of every believer because real cultural transformation will be realized when enough transformed hearts are engaged in cultural transformation. But as we witness we must also confront and never concede to the spreading darkness that threatens to envelope every area of culture. But how can we roll back the darkness?
We do it by being the light wherever God gifts us and calls us. If you are a carpenter then build for Christ and confront the darkness that exists in the construction business. If you are a teacher, go into the public school system and allow the light of Christ to shine in the classroom through the love and concern you show for your students. If you are a lawyer, demand social justice and a return to a measure of common sense in the judicial system. If you are a businessman, demonstrate honesty and fairness in the way you conduct your affairs. If you are a reporter report the truth and refuse to be manipulated by anyone’s personal agenda. Continue >>
Comments
WAIT!! PLEASE!
PLEASE LISTEN!! THIS IS A MIS-UNDERSTANDING!!
Beam, you misunderstand Craven. Craven is simply proclaiming the scripture: 1 Cor. 5:12 "What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?"
ALL of our efforts to legislate morality on non-Christians are un-biblical and pharisee-like. Craven is simply saying we must stop trying to make non-Christians behave like Christians, because: 1) it's not working 2) it's making them resistant to the gospel - hence keeping them from getting saved!!
For God's sake, and non-Christians' sake! Please! keep witnessing and loving non-Christians, but stop "standing up" for un-biblical ways of engaging non-Christians.
PLEASE!! PLEASE!! I beg you brothers!
The culture war is not over... but Christians must adapt in our method of discipleship.
There are excellent points mentioned in both articles; the call to STAND is what we Christians are called to do.
That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God - 1Corinthians 2:5.
The battle is for souls within the culture; we are to continue preaching and living the gospel so that those who have an ear to hear may be saved. The Scriptures plainly state that the culture (the world) as a whole will not accept Christ but rather reject him.
Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it - Matthew 7:14.
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil - John 3:19.
Again; the culture (the world) as a whole will not be saved; this is plainly taught in scripture. Does this mean that we should stop preaching the gospel? - God forbid. We will continue to STAND and share the gospel of Jesus Christ despite the obstacles that are set before us.
For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the LORD our God shall call - Acts 2:39.
You did say something which has at least a half truth in it though, Jesus was not concerned with politics, and He was concerned with overcoming personal sin. To be certain each Christian should be looking to themselves and their own lives to make sure that it is right before God each day, and certainly change does not start with society but with the individual in Christianity. But that does not mean we should just be quite and let the minority in America decide social policy. We can vote our beliefs, this is a free democratic republic, and if you practiced what you preached you would mind your own business and let us decide how we want to vote.
Sportinlife,
What does your comment have to do with Dr. Beam, this article, or anything posted so far?
You said: "America is sick and tired of christians who are humorless, nasty people always getting into others' business and never minding their own. And too many christians these days really are like that."
What do you mean by humor, do you mean being able to laugh at Jesus and make fun of Him in some obscure way, or to make crude sex jokes? No Christians won't do that, but the secular world wants us to. I am so sorry that I cannot fulfill your desires and have to offend you, now get over it. "Nasty people"? what was that? That was just base name calling. Are we 5 years old? "Getting into other people's business, and never minding their own" Hmmm, lets see it is probably a good idea to get in other people's business whenever they are abusing children, whenever they are stealing from the poor, whenever they are cheating or lying to the public, whenever they murder someone, or have that intention, whenever they are about to rob a store, or after they do, whenever they engage in hate crimes and torture animals. (This list might go on for quite a while) But do you really have a problem with these things? What about when someone is depressed or self-abusive or is engaged in any of the above? I suppose your solution is, "LEAVE THEM ALONE, MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!!! JUST LOOK DOWN AT THE GROUND AND DONT ASK THEM, IT MIGHT BE OFFENSIVE" Politically Correct garbage...can't offend in anyone, nope that is the worst sin on earth.
Beam doesn't get it.
America is sick and tired of christians who are humorless, nasty people always getting into others' business and never minding their own. And too many christians these days really are like that.
We should all lead by example, as Jesus did, and leave the politics to the politicians.
Thank you Dr. Beam for this article. I work as a missionary with YWAM taking an assembly program into 3,000 public schools every year throughout the United States addressing substance abuse and violence among the youth. After reading Michael Craven's article, I have to admit, I was feeling a bit defeated. I thought to myself, "What's the point of speaking into these kids’ lives about their character if it isn't going to do any good?" Your article brought clarity, truth and hope about the state of the battle we all continue to fight and I want to thank you for that.
Our God truly is an Awesome God
An excellent article by Dr. Beam, we are not the lost- the deceived are those who would buy into the humanist/liberal belief of compromise for the sake of unity.There can be no unity with those who reject the innerant word of the Bible. I would warn all of my brother's and sister's in CHRIST to pray for and use discernment in any review of people preaching the word of GOD regardless of who say's it and the size of their church- numbers don't matter, GOD will send the increase if your church is obedient !!! Stand boldly for the truth and don't compromise- it is a slippery slope to disobedience and heartbreak.