A Mind At Play

My recent post “Thoughts on Starting a New (Christian) Life” has generated a lot of good comments and discussion. A couple of commenters have shared some thoughts and asked some questions that I think deserve a longer and more thoughtful response than a reply to a comment would allow, so I’ll be addressing those comments in posts over the next couple of days.

Clark Beasley asks:

How do you square Christianity, (even emergent, post-modern, the Bible is a metaphysical poem, let’s make up doctrine as we go brand of Christianity,) with Obama’s horrific and infanticidal opposition to the Born Alive Protection Act?

A fair question, and one I’ve been asked many times. I have a two-part answer.

First, I don’t necessarily agree with every position that Obama takes. I thought that of the two candidates Obama would make the better president, as his concerns and priorities aligned more closely with mine. A candidate’s stand on a single issue does not make or break that candidate for me. Some Christians use a candidate’s stand on abortion as a litmus test. I fully support their right to choose a candidate based on whatever criteria they think appropriate. It’s a problem, though, when such people believe that anyone who doesn’t agree with them is a bad Christian or not a Christian at all.

Second, I don’t think that abortion is a political issue; it’s a spiritual issue. If abortion were outlawed tomorrow, the number of abortions performed would drop maybe a few percentage points. Illegal abortions would always be available in the U.S., and a person seeking a lawful abortion could take a short trip to a country (Canada) where abortions were still legal. No prohibition law has ever worked. As long as you have demand for a service, there will be a supply. The only way to end abortion (or drug abuse or prostitution or any other such problem) is through eliminating demand. The only way to eliminate demand is through a change of heart. The only way to truly change a heart is the Gospel.

Or, as John MacArthur put it in his excellent sermon “The Christian’s Responsibility in a Pagan Society” (Part 1 & Part 2)

I hear a lot of talk today about the church impacting culture. Coming back from Atlanta where I went to the Christian Booksellers Convention this week I read a couple of books on the plane, both of them had to do with confronting our culture, effecting and impacting our culture. But frankly, folks, that’s not our goal. That is not our goal. It sounds like a noble goal and I’m sure there are people who can see certain noble aspects of it and there may be some. But our goal is not to impact our culture by changing their moral values. Our goal is not to impact our culture by creating traditional values, family values through legislation or judicial process. Our goal is not to make sure that the United States of America adheres to a national policy that equates to biblical morality. That is not our goal. We are not involved in altering social morality. We are not involved in upgrading cultural conduct. We are interested in people becoming saved. That is our only agenda. If we’re going to change our culture we’re going to change it from the inside out.

(Full disclosure: Clarke Beasely and I kind of grew up together, and we both attended Pensacola Christian School. I left after 8th grade, while Clarke went on to graduate from Pensacola Christian College. Since Clarke drank the PCS Kool-Aid longer than I did, it’ll probably take a few more years for him to get his head screwed back on straight. )