Reject Reality and Hope to Get Well is No Remedy

Without doubt, there are churches which have walked out on their God-given calling to teach the whole counsel of God. Some have fallen away because they now worship at the altar of political power (a failing of both the right and the left), others because they have become unanchored from the Christian texts (scriptures), that are central to Christianity’s set of beliefs and just want to be what is considered in cultural terms relatable and/or trendy.  But hearing pundits in media railing against the Church for not addressing animus and social injustice indicate that they have not been paying attention. 


What some of these people really want is just another political opportunity to assail the Church -- this is nothing new. They want to paint the church as roguish or at least impotent, regarding the confrontation of moral maliciousness in their culture. But they are very particular about the moral evils they want the church to address. Do these same people call for the Church to speak regularly and forthrightly about lying, extramarital sex, disobedience to parents, therapeutic or induced abortion, or blasphemy? Well, if they attended a church where God's Word was fully preached, they'd hear all that from the pulpit, as well as the charge to love your neighbor as yourself. But we don't get to selectively choose from what is available. If you appeal to Jesus to be Lord of racial reconciliation, don't be surprised if He also demands to be Lord of your sexuality, your finances, and your conversation. God is not a political consultant. He is God. 


The problem we humans face, as the late English writer, orator and lay theologian, G.K. Chesterton so rightly noted, is not a failure of the Church: "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult, and left untried." Chesterton’s point, as I see it: The Christian ideal has also been found, for any person wanting to point the finger at others while desiring to continue in their own favorite sins, slightly inconvenient.