So You Wanna Start a Riot?

In an election year as polarizing as this one was, starting a riot is not a difficult thing to do. Throw in last summer's Chick-Fil-A day followed by Louie Giglio bowing out of the inauguration and it becomes clear that a culture war is not something looming on the horizon, it is in our midst. This battle of values is something that many Christians are eager to sign up for. Recently, while surfing hundreds of channels and finding nothing to watch, I landed on the show of a well known TV preacher. I tuned in just as he was reaching the crescendo of his message, "We are soldiers in the army of the Lord! And we are fighting a culture war for the soul of a nation!" As he wiped the sweat from his brow, the congregation responded with resounding cheers and amens. Hands were raised in support throughout the room. I was perplexed. I could not argue with his first point, although childhood memories of singing, "Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war..." still creep me out a little. However, the second half of his mission statement put me on edge. Are we really called by God to engage in a culture war? Is the mission of the church to fight for the soul of a nation? Could I please have some New Testament scriptures to support this? Ironically, a decade ago I would have joined in the cheers and high-fived the tv screen. I was an American and a Christian, therefore it was my God given duty to defend her honor and help get this country back on track. However, around the turn of the millennium, a conversation with a good Christian brother would leave me troubled and questioning my deeply held convictions. In short, he was a pacifist while I was a member of the NRA. He was from the northeast, I was from Texas. At first I thought it was just a geographical issue. However, what I really couldn't shake, what annoyed me the most, was that his convictions, though vastly different than mine, were based on scripture, not just culture, patriotism and "good ol' common sense". He also pointed out how these ideas could be seen exemplified by the early church. When he asked me for scripture to support my beliefs, I had none. Literally, nothing. After my initial defensive reaction (surmising that he was just another unpatriotic commie-pinko-liberal who had infiltrated the church), I began to realize that much of my world view had been shaped through the environment I grew up in: the Bible-belt south. Although he didn't completely convert me to pacifism, this conversation was the catalyst to a journey of seeking out what the Bible teaches about how a Christ follower relates to the world around them. I realized that I could no longer blindly embrace the views of my community, my parents, a political party, or even a church. I must seek to know God's truth myself and continually ask, "what does Jesus say about my mission on earth?", and "how do I see that lived out by His early followers?" While many of my perspectives were changed greatly through all of this, it only took one unexpected conflict to instantly reveal the "work in progress" my heart still is.

I have to confess, I didn't go out and show my support on Chick-Fil-A day, but it wasn't by choice. You see, when Mike Huckabee made his decree for all God fearing people to defend Biblical marriage by eating Christian chicken, I happened to be touring Italy with a good friend who, of all things, is a Chick-Fil-A proprietor. Daily I would hear reports from him of protests and vandalized stores and the harassment of good kids just trying to give second mile service. Thankfully, those stories were greatly overshadowed by the enthusiastic support of the faithful fans and record sales. My initial response to the attacks on Dan Cathy and the company was one of "righteous indignation". Looking back, it was probably about 10% righteous and 90% indignation. "What hypocrites!", I thought. "How can they ask for tolerance yet condemn someone with a different belief?" "What about freedom of speech?" "Where is the ACLU in all of this?" I was ready to start a riot! Unfortunately, I was thousands of miles away in Italy where this was all being seen as absurdity if it was seen at all. But that's why Al Gore invented the interwebs, right? I fired off a bitter status update on The Facebook letting the world know my highly valued opinion on the matter. Friends began to "LIKE" it at machine gun speed, quickly jumping on the bandwagon with their comments. I'd never received so much response to a post! All my friends agreed but one, Ruth. She was a young woman I led on a mission trip as a teenager. I should have figured she would disagree. I had seen pictures of her kids wearing, "My mama's for Obama" t-shirts and muttered, "child abuse". Ruth's comment said, "You are a leader of a church... your message doesn't reflect a very kind or loving persona to someone who is gay. " Ok, now I was fired up. I spent the next two hours writing a magnificent rebuttal to all of her points, with scriptural footnotes of course. It felt good to hit send. It felt good to be right, especially when supported by scripture. I wanted to go out and have a number one with cheese, waffle fries and a lemonade to celebrate, but alas, the Italy thing.

As the days went on, and my self righteous buzz slowly wore off, I began to read blogs from believers who were actually against the idea of this mass showing of support for Chick-Fil-A. I was initially surprised, and quite frankly annoyed. "Liberal Christians always have to take the opposing view," I thought. However, as I continued to read the developing conversation I began to drop my default defensiveness and look at this from a different perspective. An article by Matthew Paul Turner, "5 Reasons Why the Church Failed Yesterday", was particularly convicting. Matthew reasoned, "Yesterday’s campaign, while I don’t think it should be considered or called “hate,” neither can it be called love. Christians all over America ignored the second greatest commandment: to love our neighbors. Call yesterday what you want, freedom of speech, a rally behind “family values,” a sincere fascination with CFA’s brand of fried poultry… but it cannot be called love. It was not love. Whether or not hate actually existed is not the point, people felt hated. And rather than acknowledging those feelings or trying to understand or engage them in any way, Christians everywhere marched off to their local CFA like it was a cross to bear, a necessity, a battle cry of some sort, the waffle fry’s last stand." I started to feel uncomfortable... almost nauseous. You know that moment when you begin to realize that you might be wrong? That metaphorical, "Ouch"? My heart hurt. My self righteous high was quickly becoming a holy hangover. I began to interrogate myself, "What was the goal of your Facebook rant? What were you hoping to accomplish, other than being right? Did you really think it would change someone's mind? Were you loving your neighbor, or Ruth? Do you really think a shouting match in the public forum will change peoples hearts?" From where I stand today, looking back over the last few months, the only thing I see changing with the marriage debate in our country is the rapidly expanding chasm between the two sides. But if not this, then how do we respond? If we do not make a bold public statement of what we believe, then what will become of our country? Do we just quietly surrender and become POWs in the culture war?

When touring on a budget, I recommend what I like to call "ear hustling." Ear hustling is the fine art of standing close enough to a tour group to hear what the leader is saying, while keeping a safe distance and pretending to be just wandering around the sites. While touring the Palatine Hill in Rome I overheard a guide say something that caught my attention. "Although religion today is merely a private matter", (that will perk up a pastors ears!), "in the days of the empire, it was a part of their politics as well."  "Wow", I thought, "sounds a lot like America..." He continued, "The emperors would often affiliate themselves with a deity in order to gain authority in the eyes of the people. For instance, Augustus built his home here adjacent to the temple of Apollo. Nero took it a step further and had his face carved onto a statue of Zeus. They didn't do this because they really believed in these gods, they did it to have greater favor and power with the people." My head was spinning as tried to connect the dots. After reflecting on how this plays out in the American political drama, I thought back to the conversion of Constantine, known as the first Christian emperor. I had always questioned his faith. Although he made Christianity the official state religion he also proclaimed the tolerance of all pagan religions and is known for continuing to practice them along with Christianity. Contrary to what some may say, Constantine was a hardly a good example of a Christian in politics. So why did he convert? Why did he establish Christmas and Easter as we know them today? Why did he proclaim tolerance where there had once been persecution? It's quite simple, really. He did it for the same reason Augustus and Nero and every emperor before him based their religious platform: It was the most politically beneficial thing for them to do. The tide of culture had been completely changed by the move of the Gospel through the early church. An empire that once dominated and oppressed Christians had now become flooded with them. The most advantageous thing for Constantine to do in order to maintain the support and admiration of the people was to endorse their beliefs. Was it disingenuous? Of course. Self serving? Absolutely! Did it completely change the history of the world? Without a doubt. You see, the catalyst of freedom for Christians in the Roman empire, and what some would argue was the beginning of the end of the empire all together, was not protests or debates or even voting all the right people into office (which of course was impossible). The transformation of culture in ancient Rome occurred through believers simply living out their faith and making disciples. The tail did not wag the dog, the tail, better yet a flea on the tail, became the dog. 

So do you still want to start a riot? I do. But I think our methods might need to be reconsidered. In Acts 19 we read about another riot. One not led by Christians, but certainly started by them. For centuries the economy in Ephesus had been fueled by the production and sales of household idols and trinkets, specifically for the goddess Diana. As Paul preached the good news of Christ in that region, a silversmith named Demitrius became concerned. All of these new converts to Christianity stopped purchasing his statues and idols. He quickly rallied his colleagues and together they incited the people to abduct some of Paul's disciples. Luke makes it clear that the preaching of the Gospel in Ephesus, and the church growth that followed, was changing the city so much that it began to effect the economy! What strikes me is that it wasn't because Paul was organizing the church to protest against Diana statue shops. I don't read anywhere in his letters that he urges people to have a "pray in" at the temple of Saturn or to boycott butchers selling meat sacrificed to idols. Even when he himself preached on Mars Hill, an occultic Mt Everest, Paul did not condemn the people or curse their land. In a stroke of brilliance we should all learn from, he used their own pagan altar as an illustration to proclaim the supremacy of Christ! (Acts 17) This hardly sounds like the makings of a culture war. This sounds like the spread of the Gospel through the Spirit moving in a humble man. Do we still anticipate the Holy Spirit to move this way in our world? Do we have any sense of dependence on Him and His power working through us to accomplish His purpose in peoples lives? What would it look like if we did? What if a strip club in your community was shut down today, not because church members flooded a city counsel meeting or voted in the right people, but because their customer base was slowly disappearing? Better yet, what if they lost their employees because strippers' lives were transformed by Christian women reaching out to them? What if there were more ministries in the church like epicbeauty.org, who create "baskets of love" and bring them to women in the adult entertainment industry? You see, starting a riot in this way doesn't fuel our ego and it surely isn't easy. Investing your time, energy, reputation and resources into the lives of others and reaching out to those we might feel uncomfortable with requires far more work than signing a petition, going to a city counsel meeting, eating a chicken sandwich or writing a Facebook post. We will often experience rejection, rather than being the ones rejecting, but isn't this what Jesus did? Isn't his more what it looks like to love your neighbor?

One of my early mentors in the faith put it this way, "Jesus yelled at the religious people, and embraced the sinners. We tend to yell and the sinners and embrace the religious." Christians have become far too known for what we are against rather than what we are for. More for the law that kills than the grace that saves. It's time for a new reformation. A reformation of our mission. Our great commission is not about preaching morality or winning arguments or legislating our faith or fighting for the soul of a nation. Our great commission says to go into all the world and make disciples, baptizing them and teaching them everything we have been commanded. The crazy thing is, when I look at the growth of the early church and the spread of the gospel, it works. It really works. Hearts and minds transformed by the gospel will in turn change culture, and even a nation, in ways that nothing else can.

And Ruth, I'm sorry. You were right. Thanks for having the courage to tell this pastor the truth. I hope you will forgive my "self righteous indignation". I should have never made that post and responded to you the way I did. Consider this an open apology and an invitation to call me out in the future. I'm praying that you don't have to.