As I so now see…
Yup, you get what I was asking! 
And I agree with you. So in what ways would you suggest one focus on it?
Also, I think as Christians we do need to figure out how to adapt to all changes in cultural shifts, from political correctness, woke-ism, cancel culture, etc., without loosing sight of Biblical perspective and guidance. Any thoughts on that?
The best way I know how to discuss this is by sharing some of my personal experience.
I had something of a watershed moment in the years following 9/11. I observed many of the sorts of people who helped instill in me certain values that I learned in Sunday School and in church turn in ways that became difficult to harmonize together. The language I started hearing about Muslims, not just the terrorists who attacked on 9/11, or militant, extremist groups–but rather speak about all Muslims as though Muslims were to be viewed as the enemy.
I grew up being taught that all human beings were created in God’s image and deserving of love, kindness, and respect. This was true generally across the board, as I experienced several different sorts of church environments. My family’s church, when I was born, was a conservative non-denominational church, my parents had me attend a school affiliated with an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist church, and due to some church shenanigans with our first church we ended up attending a Foursquare church until I was an adult. I point this out to say that this was very much a conservative and Evangelical space that I was raised–and the message was always the value of human beings, that God loves everyone, and Jesus tells me to love even my enemies. And that no group of people is “the enemy” because we do not fight against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of darkness.
But the language was shifting in those years. When I voiced my conscientious objections to the war in Iraq, and voiced my concerns about the growing tide of anti-Muslim hate, and the way I saw Christians supporting the war, saying Muslims are sub-human or that Muslims are the enemy, etc. It created a form of cognitive dissonance that I couldn’t reconcile. I learned the Scriptures from a young age, I knew the hymns and the songs we sung, I had those words impressed upon me and I couldn’t reconcile what I was seeing with what I knew to be true of the God who sent His Son to die for me and for everyone.
What I’ve continued to observe since then is increasing polarization. Republicans and Democrats could sit at the same family table and deeply disagree and argue, but they’d be at the same table.
I think using terms like “woke-ism” is an example of something deeply unhelpful. The concept of “woke” originated among African Americans addressing issues of systemic racial injustice. But the term has now become a catch-all for almost anything. I don’t even know if “woke” means anything, though the rhetoric of a “woke mind virus” has become a major buzz term in some political circles. At the heart of it, however, is really just a recognition that there is corruption of power in high places which does treat certain people unjustly, and that society ought to be ordered in a just and equitable way.
I guess I don’t know what they way forward is. The only way forward I can see is one that involves both justice and mercy. There needs to be more mercy; because the current state of things is pretty merciless all around. And justice means, ultimately, the righting of wrongs and setting things into a state of reconciliation and equity.
I believe the Church has been granted an unprecedented opportunity to be a vanguard to preach justice and mercy and to do justice and do mercy–to be at the front lines of healing the wounds, speaking truth to power, and reconciling us together. Because the Church preaches Jesus Christ, He is her Lord and Head, she is His Body. And to be faithful to Christ means not only confessing with our mouth His Lordship in the world, but believing in our heart and living our lives with His Lordship over us.
I don’t know about how to fix society.
But the pathway forward for the Church can only be found in the Gospel.
Thank you for sharng this Brother. I was in Highschool when 9/11 occured, and have since, like you, noticed the shift in language (and attitudes and behaviors) towards those of the muslim faith. Espcially since the area I grew up in was quite diverse, Christans, Catholic, Jews and Muslims mainly - All Abrahamic Religons - and we used to compare the simiularities(?) that our faiths share. That ended after 9/11 in an unspoken agreement that I wasn’t privy to. Almost as if it just “fell out of fashion” and no one told me.
Us being Abrahamic religions, we were also taught that fundamental “created in God’s image and deserving of love, kindness, and respect portion that you were,” still, we drifted away from the mutuality In our religions due to that cultural shift. Our unoffical friendship was killed by cultural shifts on all sides.
This is truth, but hard to put into practice when all sides feel threatened by the other. An olive branch must be extended by one side or the other and talks must take place between those concerned for a reconciliation to take place, without inpediments such as Political Correctness to stumble over along the way. Otherwise, those dark forces win.
Divided parties set bad examples and bad precedents, and when it comes to politcs, I, like all others, have my opinions. When it boils down to it, I feel we ALL need to be indepndents. Never going with the flow just because we’re with a party. Instead we should proceed with Biblical guidance and rational logical thought… wishfull thinking, I know.
I agree, which is why I use it as an example of what we need to navigate by adapting. You don’t need to comform to it to be able to “evolve” past it. It is a part of what is poisoning the minds of people today. It has taken on a life of its own. Even it’s orignator has said he no longer recognizes it from what it was intended to be.
I concur, which is why I believe we need to adapt to (not conform to) dealing with the issue of Political Correctness, and other culture shifts.
Let’s explore that. How can the Church forge a path through a cultural minefield of politcal correctness? Any verses come to mind my Brother?
In Romans 12, the Apostle writes,
Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
This is just one example of course. But I think it’s a good place to start.
I remember a sermon by Martin Luther King Jr, The Drum Major Instinct.
In the sermon it addresses when James and John came to Jesus privately and asked that they sit on His right and left when He comes into His kingdom. What follows is, naturally, the erroneous thinking the brothers had about what sort of kingdom Jesus was about. But King ends up saying,
Yes, Jesus, I want to be on your right or your left side, (Yes) not for any selfish reason. I want to be on your right or your left side, not in terms of some political kingdom or ambition. But I just want to be there in love and in justice and in truth and in commitment to others, so that we can make of this old world a new world.
Not having a seat in power, but in humility, in recognizing that the kingdom of God is about leastness, not greatness. That it’s not about having a position at the top, but at the bottom. Yes we should desire to be at Jesus’ side, but Jesus chooses not to rule from the top like a general or an emperor, but Jesus rules from the bottom as the Lamb of God slain for the sins of the world.
Our God is not like the false gods of the nations. He is a God who gives Himself away in love–even to the point of death on the cross.
The Christian does not live by power, but by the apparent weakness of the Cross–and the reality is that the Cross is not defeat, but victory. Because God is so profoundly different than what we sinful human beings think about what is great and powerful.
We stand with Christ, as we walk in weakness, as we serve, not lord over; as we stand beside the hurting, as we look to find the broken places, the shadow places, and be light, and minister with the soothing balm and medicine of God’s Gospel, of His love and mercy. So we forgive, so we show mercy, so we do not hold grudges, so we bless and do not curse. When we find someone who hates us, we lift them up with love.
So radical is this calling to follow Jesus, that it should be the most dangerous way of all.
Of course. We should love everyone and share the gospel with everyone. However, here lies the problem. We also need to call it what it is. Them who they are. Sin for sin, Good for good. You see, many use the Bible and false compassion to further their agendas. They try to silence the truth this way.
They use false compassion to claim all are equal. They are not. They use false compassion to justify sin. Live and let live. No, more like live sand let die. They use false compassion to say all religions lead to God. That is a lie straight from the evil one himself. We are all God’s creation, not all children of God. The only way to get to God is through Jesus.
Sin is sin. Right is right. The Bible directed us to cakk it as we see it. To “judge rightly,” To teach people and show them the error of their ways. Wokness is an attempt to block any of that.
Yes, we should go to the broken—the lost. We should love them and show them the better way. Yet we must be careful not to start justifying sin out of “love.”
Peter
We should love everyone and share the gospel with everyone [1] (~Matthew 28:19). However, we must call things what they are [2] (~Isaiah 5:20). Sin must be named as sin [3] (~Ephesians 5:11), and good as good [4] (~Romans 12:9).
Many use a false compassion that distorts truth [5] (~2 Timothy 4:3). Not all are equal in standing before God [6] (~John 1:12). Not all paths lead to God [7] (~John 14:6). We are all God’s creation [8] (~Acts 17:24), yet only those in Christ are His children [9] (~Galatians 3:26).
We are commanded to judge rightly [10] (~John 7:24), to correct error [11] (~2 Timothy 4:2), and to speak truth in love [12] (~Ephesians 4:15).
Yes, we go to the lost [13] (~Luke 19:10), loving them [14] (~Matthew 22:39), but not justifying sin [15] (~Romans 6:1–2).
J.