Signs and Standards

“Do this, don’t do that; can’t you read the sign?” Great song. But can we really just make up signs to tell people what to do, where to go, how to be? Or laws? Or guidelines? I don’t think Christians can. And if you know me, you might have foreseen that, because I’m all about reminding Christians when they’re wrong. Permit me a little tangent.

See, the churches in Africa, China – non-Western places of the world – are exploding. I haven’t studied too deep on the matter, granted; but when I look at that, and I look at the early Christian church, I see a common denominator: persecution. The threat of torture and death has a way of weeding out the posers, fakers, feel-gooders, and selfish. And when we take out the factor of Christian who are in it for the feel-good and the power of it, we start to have something like actual Kingdom-movers. And that grows churches.

Bringing the tangent back: persecution of the scale I’m talking about has been absent in America since its foundation. It became something of a national cultural identity to go to church on Sunday, even if you beat your wife and children Monday through Saturday. Church was “what you did.” And while I’m sure it didn’t have no effect, it also made the church complacent. And now that it’s hemorrhaging members, the church has no idea what to do. I blame history, a little; and figgly-wiggly Christians (that’s the technical term) a little more. Though it’s not necessarily their fault; they just haven’t been truly persecuted.

Enter me.

So here’s the thing, to return fully to the title of this post: Those who are Christians need to see the difference between saying: “You non-Christians can do whatever you want,” and saying: “I cannot hold non-Christians to the same standards to which I hold myself.”

See, whenever I say something along the lines of “I don’t think the government has the responsibility of this or that particular moral conduct in its constituency,” common responses run either along “Of course it is! God tells us to live in this or that particular way!” or: “But you can’t say that it’s okay! You’re going to hell for saying this or that conduct is okay.”

But Paul says: “The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.” (Romans 8:7 NIV, italics mine). So no, this or that particular moral conduct is wrong (or right) but I cannot necessarily hold a non-Christian to that standard. Read the Old Testament: even Hebrews with the Law of Moses couldn’t uphold that standard: non-Christian Americans don’t even have that.

So when it comes to signs and standards, let’s start by holding our own to our own, and spread the Good News of Christ’s love: love for Him brings obedience, not the ravings of politically-charged religions.