Responding to Intolerance: Life Transformation
Increasingly we find ourselves in an America that doesn’t share our Christian beliefs.[1] In fact, it doesn’t simply not share them; it refuses even to tolerate them. The Obergefell decision has recently held that the Fourteenth Amendment protects so-called same-sex marriage rights, further pitting sexual freedom against religious freedom. And now courts jail those who refuse to issue marriage licenses, while also finding Christian bakers and florists who decline to participate in same-sex ceremonies guilty of discrimination. It’s not just the courts, though.
Cities deny church groups equal access to rent public properties. Universities decline to recognize Christian student groups with traditional, religious values. Federal healthcare mandates attempt to require corporations to cover contraceptives and abortion. City mayors terminate the services of public servants who express religious views contrary to city policy, and even attempt to compel pastors to submit sermons that make reference to homosexuals. While many legal doctrines are invoked in such examples—so-called privacy rights, due process, and equal protection—they illustrate the mounting pressures we Christians face when standing for our convictions in this world.
As such trends continue, what should we do? How do we respond? We respond with life transformation, which we’ll consider in this article; and world transformation, which we’ll consider in the next (to post in October). These will give us a framework for knowing how to respond with Christian integrity in our increasingly hostile society, whether in reference to our congregations, families, friends, or workplaces. In considering these responses though, we will first lay some historical, cultural, and Biblical groundwork to give context to our discussion.
Groundwork: Religious Freedom and Persecution
On the one hand, we’re surprised and grieved by the developments in our society. “After all, we’re Baptists and we’re Americans,” we think to ourselves, “and we believe strongly in the freedom of religion. It’s in our DNA.” Baptist founder Thomas Helwys wrote about universal religious freedom when he stated:
Christ is the head of his Church . . . Let it suffice the King to have all rule over his peoples, bodies, and goods; and let not our lord King give his power to be exercised over the spirits of his people . . . For men’s religion to God, is betwixt God and themselves; the king shall not answer for it, neither may the king be judged between God and man. Let them be heretics, Turks, Jews, or whatsoever it appertains not to the earthly power to punish them in the last measure.[2]
American founder Thomas Jefferson also spoke about this freedom in his Virginia Bill for Religious Liberty:
Whereas, Almighty God hath created the mind free . . . no man . . . shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief, but that all men shall be free to profess . . . their opinions in matters of Religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge or affect their civil capacities. . . . we are free to declare, and do declare that the rights hereby asserted, are of the natural rights of mankind.[3]
So important was this matter to Jefferson that it appears on his tombstone, alongside his authoring the Declaration of Independence and founding the University of Virginia. The Virginia Bill would serve as the foundation for the First Amendment, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religious, nor prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”[4]
Due to our own heritage then, we have come to believe in and expect a certain freedom of religion. In fact, many of us would even say that religious freedom is a natural, inalienable right—and rightfully so, I believe. We’ve also grown accustomed to a culture that has accepted (at least historically) the standards of Christian morality, even if its members haven’t always lived in a manner altogether consistent to it.
b. The Bible and Persecution
Despite this though, we shouldn’t be too shocked about the pressures we face. Jesus warned us this would happen: “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you . . . Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you” (Jn. 15, ESV). The Apostle Paul also promised persecution: “[A]ll who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12; cf. Mt 10:22; Jn. 16:33; Rom. 5:3-5; 8:18; 2 Cor. 4:8-10; Col. 1:24; Jas. 1:2-4; 1 Pet. 2:21; 3:18; 4:12-19; 5:10). Such language is unequivocal.
By implication, if we’re not experiencing some degree of hostility in this world, we might want to reconsider the quality of our public witness. Indeed, true discipleship is costly, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer would remind us.[5] And we would do well to consider, perhaps even develop, what a theology of persecution and suffering might look like in an American context.
c. How Do We Respond?
Here we return to our original question. As our society continues to decline in its commitment to and acceptance of a Christian moral compass, how do we respond when it treats us with intolerance? Today, we’re most under fire for our beliefs concerning homosexuality; but rest assured, it will always be something, whether we’re discussing the Bible and prayer in schools, abortion, the legalization of marijuana, or whatever. Whether today or in the future, how should we think through and respond to such difficulties? I have two suggestions: life transformation and world transformation.
Life Transformation
We must recommit ourselves to the gospel’s transformative power in our whole lives. This means that we must live lives characterized by moral living and godly love.
a. Moral Living
Part of the reason the world does not take us seriously is because it doesn’t respect us. We don’t behave according to our beliefs. For too long, we’ve tried to “have our cake and eat it too.” We’ve misused the doctrine of Christian liberty to justify our conveniences, entertainment choices, hobbies and interests, lifestyle decisions, and more. Despite our attempts not to be viewed as old-fashioned, the watching world has not been fooled but has called our bluff and deemed us hypocrites (and pathetic hypocrites at that!). Christian caricature after caricature in film and other media reflects the world’s findings, and it has found us wanting.
In some cases, our compromises have been absolutely wrong; in others, they’ve simply been in bad taste. The gospel itself is offensive enough to a perishing people (1 Cor. 1:18) without Christians’ inconsistent lives adding to that offense. I submit that the world would rather us be authentically who we are than some compromised version of what we’re supposed to be. So we must recommit ourselves to Christian integrity and moral living.
b. The Rule of Love
Committing ourselves to gospel-produced, life transformation will also mean that we treat others with love; this includes those who would not treat us the same (Mt. 5:38-48; Rom. 12:17; 1 Pet. 3:9). As Jesus put it, “Love your enemies” (Mt. 5:44). Both Paul and Peter echo Jesus’ command in their epistles. The church catholic through time and space tell us the same thing too. The ethic of love is non-negotiable.
The reason for Christianity’s emphasis on love is at least twofold. First, all people bear God’s image and likeness, including those who mean us harm (Gen. 1:26-27). God created us to be in right relationship with other people. This means we should treat others as God intended—in other words, affording them some degree of dignity and hence respect. Second, they are people for whom Christ died. We believe in a general atonement after all (Jn. 3:16; 1 Jn. 2:1-2).
God is love (1 Jn. 4:8, 16), and He showed His love toward us “in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). So just as God loved us, even when we were hostile toward Him, so we should love others, even those who are hostile toward us. In fact, Jesus referred to this neighborly love as the second great commandment, and then illustrated it with the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk. 10:27-37).
To whom do we apply the rule of love? Everyone. The proper recipients of our love are those whom God has placed within our spheres of activity and influence, wherever that may be, and whomever they may be. While we should be the people most committed to truth in both word and deed (Christian integrity, moral living), we should also be the people most committed to love. F. Leroy Forlines makes this point in his Biblical Ethics. Or as Francis Schaeffer reminded us, love is the mark of the Christian.[6] If we don’t display love, we don’t exude the Spirit of Christ.
As an extension to this, we must also pray for people, even if they treat us badly. Perhaps they are in our families, at our places of employment, on news programs, in seats of political power, or someplace else. Whatever the case, the Bible is clear: “Pray for those who persecute you” (Mt. 5:44; cf. Rom. 12:14). No doubt the practice of loving and praying for certain people is difficult, but such is the evidence of the power of a transformative gospel.
Conclusion
Life transformation penetrates our hearts, captures our minds, and impacts our living. It manifests itself in what we believe and in how we behave. It results in moral living and a radical love ethic. Committing ourselves to this transformation is foundational in thinking about how to respond to an intolerant world. But our response does not stop there; it merely starts there. The gospel begins with the transformation of our lives, but it ends with the transformation of the world. We will turn to that topic in our next post (to post in October).
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[1] An earlier version of this article series appeared in The Brink Magazine, Summer 2015, 38-42.
[2] Joe Early, Jr., The Life and Writings of Thomas Helwys (Macon: Mercer University Press, 2009), 191.
[3] Thomas Jefferson, “Virginia Act for Establishing Religious Freedom,” January 16, 1786; accessible at http://www.heritage.org/initiatives/first-principles/primary-sources/virginia-act-establishing-religious-freedom.
[4] “The Constitution of the United States,” Amendment 1.
[5] See Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (1937).
[6] See Francis Schaeffer, The Mark of the Christian (1982).
September 14, 2015
Excellent article, Matthew. The Master has told us what to expect from an unbelieving culture, it is arriving. He also told us how to respond, you again have called us to it. May we engage in such a way that represents Him well and is ultimately eternally redemptive to our lost culture. Your insight and instruction are timely in helping us to do that.