'Whatever Happened to Absolute Truth?'
By Adam Graham (07/06/08)
As I continue writing about the Young Evangelical seduction, I want to point out, after receiving some e-mail, that I am, in fact, a young Evangelical in my mid-to-late 20s. Usually, age is irrelevant, but given the subject matter, I think it’s of some import.
Now, when one looks at how the secular left is getting the children of many Evangelicals to support their causes, we have to look at the issues both in the church and the conservative movement that are behind this. We’ve already talked about the lack of a systematic teaching of a biblical worldview and materialism.
Modern liberalism is a thoroughly post-modern philosophy that, at its core, denies absolute truth. Thus it becomes possible to hold the position that abortion is the taking of an innocent human life, but should be legal, because that’s just my opinion, and you may have a different one. There’s a different truth for every person. No culture is better than another culture. No system is better than any other system. Our constitution is a living document subject to redefinition.
Christianity, on the other hand, affirms absolute truths about God, Christ, the World, and society. How can you mix Christianity and post-modernism in politics? It’s pretty easy if you’ve been doing it in church.
A Sensitive Topic
To say the subject of morals in the church is a sensitive topic would be an understatement. An element in many churches is legalistic, placing demands on people that scripture does not place. I was in one church where we were told not to drink root beer from brown glass bottles because people would think we were drinking alcohol. Never mind that even drinking alcohol is never strictly forbidden in the scriptures, though drunkenness is.
Some elements demand pastors prescribe rules on courtship and schooling found nowhere in scripture. These preachers focus on cleansing the outside of the cup through external rules, rather than letting God work to change hearts. Many have been spiritually abused by such legalists and my heart goes out to these wounded souls.
Yet I’m reminded of the passage of the Screwtape Letters where Screwtape advises Wormwood to get Christians to focus on the exact opposite of their most pressing problem. Legalism is a minor problem compared to the church’s refusal to stand for biblical truth.
There is a maxim: “Where the scriptures speak, we will speak. Where the scriptures are silent, we will be silent.” Yet in many cases, where the scriptures speak, churches are silent. Issues such as divorce and cohabitation are rarely preached on from most pulpits. In a select few pulpits is the issue of abortion discussed.
Churches often appeal to Matthew 7’s command to, “Judge not, lest ye be judged.” In the context of scripture, when one reads the whole passage, it’s clearly about hypocrisy. Religious post-modernists turn it into a requirement to abandon all moral judgment about many things scripture speaks to. In other words, they use it, ironically, as a pretext to judge as acceptable what the bible condemns as sin.
However, Christ not only tells us to judge righteous judgment (John 7:24), which is odd if we were to resign from all moral judgments, but also lays out a system of Church discipline in Matthew 18:15-17, and Paul lays this out further in 1 Corinthians 5.
Yet, Church discipline is never practiced in most churches for several reasons: 1) fear of losing members, 2) fear of lawsuits, and 3) if church discipline is practiced, the person can just go down the street and find another church that will completely ignore the applied discipline. And condemn the church to anyone who will listen, and that will again hurt the church’s precious reputation, membership numbers, and coffers.
Thus, many churches misuse Matthew 7 and committing adultery is treated no more seriously than drinking root beer from a brown glass bottle.
This is especially problematic in churches where homosexuality will be condemned, but other equally grave sins are left untouched from the pulpit. What the church does is show partiality, and to young evangelicals, the hypocrisy comes across crystal clear.
Rush to War
To close this look at the issues in the church that have led to some of these shifts among young Evangelicals, I think we need to turn the issue of war.
War is a tough issue. Scripture doesn’t bar America from defending itself. It behooves us to stand behind our soldiers with love, support, and plenty of prayer. They’re risking their lives in service to our country.
While I did not support the Iraq War going in, once our troops are committed, there’s only one acceptable course: victory. Defeat strengthens America’s enemies and bring us dishonor at home and abroad.
That said, some Christians on the right are far too quick to embrace war. War is sometimes necessary, but there are consequences: The cries of widows and orphans on all sides, the inevitable collateral damage, the destruction of property and the scattering of families, economic destruction, loss of national treasure, and loss of liberties. The law of unintended consequences also comes into play, as we saw manifested with the fall of Saddam bringing persecution to Iraqi Christians. Proper respect for human life and our freedom, as well as humility, requires that we ensure war is absolutely necessary before we enter into it.
We must also be sure we do not pursue war with the dangerous belief that democracy alone can make a good society. Remember, the democratic process gave us Hitler. Let us not attribute to voting transformative powers that should be attributed to God alone.
Standing by America’s troops as they go into battle is one thing. Being out front agitating for wars without thoughtfully considering the consequences sends the wrong message to young Evangelicals.
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