In the World But Not of the World

A few weeks ago, I received a letter of solicitation from People for the American Way (PFAW), a liberal interest group. If you visit their website, they proclaim loudly that they are for defending democracy.

What they actually are, is clear to me. They are anti-Christian, especially what they call the Religious Right. They say they are for "respect for individual liberty, celebration of diversity, religious freedom, love of country and reverence for the democratic institutions" but their actions belie their words. What they are for, one might find in a socialist party manifesto.

Christian personalities like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson are considered intolerant and religious extremists. People for the American Way feel threatened by the Christian Coalition, Focus on the Family, Traditional Values Coalition, and the American Center for Law and Justice.

Why do PFAW feel threatened by such groups? Because they know that the majority of the population believe in the values espoused by such groups, and as such PFAW can only demonize those groups in order to advance their liberal beliefs and values. PFAW decry intolerance and bigotry, yet by their very actions against people of faith and people who hold traditional moral values, they are the very thing they charged others with.

As a Christian I am not at all surprised that groups like PFAW hate what Christians stand for. The words of John 15 have never been so true.

John 15:18-19 "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you."

What the world holds dear are opposite to what the Christian is focused on. The Christian has an eternal perspective, and looks beyond what the trends are in the world today. Christians are called to be "in the world but not of the world" .

And as such, should Christians be exempted from participating in public discourse especially about the direction the nation is heading? I think not. Christians are to be the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13) and we can only do that if we influence society and not the other way round. We can do that by standing up to Biblical truths, and emphasizing Christian morality. If we fail to do this then we are as good as surrendering ourselves to the church of secular humanism which is prevalent in our society today.