Christianity Today, take a bow. Satan himself could not have written a better line.
It's like they're saying, "Have you tried being MORE fake and gay?"
The article is written by Richard Mouw, a research fellow at Calvin University and former president of Fuller Theological Seminary. He's a Christian with credentials.
As such, he starts with the typical pharisaical chest thumping:
A liberal acquaintance told me recently that while he generally dislikes evangelicals, he doesn't find me to be as bad as the rest: 'At least you don't rant about wanting to establish a theocracy!'
"Thank you, Lord, for not making me like those conservative chuds!"
I decided to accept what he said as a compliment, even though I regretted not coming clean with him about theocracy...
Mouw says he DOES support theocracy, but only inside the walls of the church.
I do not serve God's purposes in the world by trying to impose 'Christian' laws on people against their own values and convictions. I should not want everything that I consider to be sinful to be made illegal.
Imagine such making this argument during the time of Viking raids, Muslim conquest, and human sacrifices in Mesoamerica and Africa.
"Yes, mass human sacrifice is wrong, but I don't want to impose 'Christian' laws on people against their own values and convictions."
Mouw echoes the Apostle Peter and the Prophet Jeremiah in a call for Christians to live meek, quiet, and winsome lives, then says he's happy to live in a pluralistic nation.
Or, in essence, he thinks what every "winsome," squishy evangelical leader has preached for over half a century as our society has gone to hell.
I am grateful for the opportunity to live in a pluralistic society where I can learn from people with whom I seriously disagree about religious beliefs, public policy, and moral lifestyles. For one thing, I can learn about the mistakes and misdeeds that Christians like me have made in the past — and still make today — about important matters. In genuinely engaging others on these matters, I often find effective ways to partner with them for the common good.
This man is grateful to learn from other religions, listen to how the doctrines of demons criticize Christianity, and try to find "common good."
Again, Satan couldn't have said it better.
The entire world is split into the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. There is, as CS Lewis said, no neutral ground. A man who seeks to learn how to be a better Christian by listening to those who do not follow Christ is like an English intelligence officer during World War 2 asking Germans for tactical advice.
Ephesians 6 makes it clear that our fight is not against people, but the dark spiritual forces that have this world enslaved under their thumb. At the same time, the Apostle Paul was clear on the idea of partnering with pagans in a pluralistic manner.
'Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?' - 2 Corinthians 6: 14-15
There is no "common good" apart from Christ. Christianity is not one of many paths to a good life. There is one God and the Christian's mission is to teach the world His commands and work for earth to reflect heaven by discipling the nations (Matthew 28:18-20).
But Richard Mouw from Christianity Astray seems to think he has more in common with a secular atheist or a worshipper of other gods than he does with Christians who don't ascribe to his winsome third-wayism!
The apostle Peter puts the mandate this way: 'Live such good lives among the pagans that … they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us' (1 Pet. 2:12).
He takes this to mean something like, "Embrace pluralism and partner with pagans and try not to offend them. Because once they see how nice your life is they'll jump at the chance to join the faith you actively refuse to live out."
Here's the crux of his argument, where Mouw somehow thinks [checks notes] Jerry Falwell Sr. is the most influential voice in Christianity today:
Things changed around 1980 with the emergence of the New Christian Right, led by Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. Evangelicals became aggressively political, working for candidates who promoted what we saw as godly causes, often explicitly guided by the theocratic project of returning to the vision of a 'Christian America.'
Thus, we have either distanced ourselves from active involvement in the political system or worked to take it over. Either we were a cognitive minority content to sing, as we did in my youth, "This world is not my home, I'm just a-passing through" — or we proclaimed ourselves to be a "moral majority," boldly belting out "Shine, Jesus, shine / Fill this land with the Father's glory."
There is, of course, a third option ...
A third-way! Whoa! How original! No one has ever argued this before!!
... one desperately needed today in our increasingly polarized society: an evangelical willingness to labor patiently alongside others — persons of other faiths and of no faiths at all — in seeking workable solutions to the complex challenges we face as a nation.
So we shouldn't turn to God as a nation to solve our problems because ... it's going to be tough to "labor alongside" pagans?
James 4:4: 'You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.'
Maybe some reflection is needed among Christians who think we can partner with pluralism.
The name of the piece is "Theocracy is not the Enemy of Pluralism.'" Mouw thinks we can have theocracy within the walls of the church but then become pluralists outside of the church walls.
I disagree.
