Anecdotes for Sale - Brian Taylor
As with a tin of pipe tobacco (of which I am certainly familiar), I sense the need to attach a warning label to this blog.Caution, the following contains an anecdote. I likewise feel the need to make a confession. I am one of those rascally fellows who believes in mixing my politics with a good amount of religion (though not my religion with my politics). So, with a much clearer conscience, I will now proceed to state my contention. I contend that the Christian church needs be on guard to preserve sound biblical doctrine. Now that was easy enough. After the choir sits down, I will finish my assertion. I further contend that such a duty requires us to be wary of some of our co-belligerents on the right side of the aisle. I sense potential hesitancy in some portions of the amen section. Consequently, I best explain myself.
If you happen to be a progressive sort of believer, of which I am not, the subsequent critique may either thrill or bore you (“Well, yeah, I already knew this,” to which I would respond, “Let him who has not sinned, cast the first stone… or smirk”). For those of us on the more conservative side of the spectrum, who happen to likewise believe that we ought to be shaping our society in light of the Word of God, promoting righteousness and justice (and I shall dispense with the adjective “social,” as unnecessarily repetitious or, in some cases, downrightdeceptive), while also resisting the evil arising from a nation’s beastly nature, this sort of caution is needed. It is needed because some of our unbelieving conservative co-belligerents feel the need to give us a hand in defending the Faith in the public square by, shall we say, prettying things up.
I do want to express my gratitude toward our co-belligerents for their efforts. Yet, not every defense of the gospel is necessarily a good defense, as Acts 16:16-18 demonstrates. There, we read of a demon-possessed girl, who decided to lend a hand to Paul and his company. Following them around town, she served as a walking billboard for the group, proclaiming, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” What better endorsement can you get than when your own enemy goes about bragging on you? Apparently, though, this was not the sort of marketing strategy approved by the Apostle. Rather than beginning an ad campaign for First Presbyterian church of Philippi, starring demon-possessed slave girl, Paul put the kibosh on such by exercising the demon from the girl. So much for free publicity. It would seem that Paul was more concerned with the integrity of his proclamation than buying into an unprincipled, pragmatic approach to church growth.
My contention here is that we too must be careful about who we sponsor or support as our defenders in the public square. Now for my anecdotal evidence. Over the years, I have noticed efforts by some conservative, unbelieving “friends” of the Faith to help us out a bit when it comes to our public image. They like to put a little makeup on the, from their perspective, aging star and so cover up some of those nasty blemishes, like what the church believes about certain issues. Case in point: I have been reading recently a book by a conservative unbeliever (a self-proclaimed agnostic), who was doing a fair job at critiquing aspects of the New Atheism. In the process, from time to time, he also tried to defend our ancient Faith. So, for instance, in dealing with science and evolution, he attempted to show that, at least, not all Christians are still of the “flat-earth” sort. That is, there might be a few bright bulbs in the bunch who have made great contributions to science (of which I certainly agree and endorse). To accomplish this, he utilized one particular Christian scientist. Here, though, is where my alarm bell started ringing. I knew from another book, that this specific scientist’s views are troubling, even to other believing scientists. From my own perspective, he certainly would not be the person I would want my people learning how to harmonize their faith with science. Whereas I did appreciate my conservative co-belligerent’s efforts, I likewise must protest his method. I must do so because I believe it more important to support the truth than gain some good publicity.
We, as believers, considering the amount of bad press we get, may well appreciate any good word coming our way. We might be tempted to let slide an error here and there due to such appreciation. My contention, though, is that we must guard against all error, even when originating from more desirable sources. Our agnostic friend above is certainly not the same as the demon-possessed girl of Acts 16. One could actually makethe case, though, that he is potentially more dangerous than the girl, because she, in the least, spoke undeniable truth. In the end, whether from friend or foe, error is error. I would even go one step further, stating that error from friendly sources is all the more hazardous because it is all the more tempting to ignore. Yet here we must state unequivocally that any person who has not bowed their knee to the Lord Jesus Christ has the potential of being an enemy of the cross and harmful to the truth of God. Whether originating from a young girl, demonically inspired, or from a conservative co-belligerent, politically inspired, we must heed the counsel of the Apostle John: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1).