I’m not sure exactly when it happened, but a monumental paradigm shift has occurred. Back in my grandparent’s generation, Christianity formed the rock-solid foundation of America’s culture. Sure, there were plenty of detractors, but even they had to admire the moral integrity provided by an acceptance of the Church. Even in my parent’s generation, one dominated by talk of Woodstock and moon landings, the truth of Christianity provided the strong backdrop against which the culture departed.
Today, sadly, America no longer seems to be a Christian nation. Instead of simply railing against Christianity, our culture has bought into the lie that Christianity is but one of many truths. “Tolerance” is the new religion.
In the midst of this paradigm shift of core beliefs, those of us who still follow Christ often cling to the old status quo. Christ is all-important to us, so why wouldn’t He be all-important to everyone around us? We fail to recognize that our world has changed dramatically, and we suddenly find ourselves slack-jawed when we become the victims of choice for the soldiers of Tolerance.
While we should be saddened by the secularization of our society, Christ-followers should realize that this is not the first time in history that Christianity has been in the minority. In fact, a quick glance at history reveals that most believers have faced a monumental up-hill struggle against the world around them. True Christ-centered cultures have been exceedingly rare and short-lived, plagued as they are from constant attacks from internal and external forces.
In fact, in a promise we often like to overlook, Jesus says that “all men will hate you because of me” (Mt. 10:22). Therefore, we should not expect to be viewed as the moral saviors of our society. Respect for the Church is at an all-time low, so much so that scores of believers (including myself) tend to shy away from term “Christian,” preferring instead to be considered a “Christ-follower.”
There are many aspects to this shift to the secular that should shame us as believers. We should be ashamed that the Church did not do more to prevent it. We should be ashamed that our nation chose this path. We should be ashamed that our leaders have led us away from biblical truth. And we should be ashamed that we, Christ-followers, are surprised that the world hates us.
If we truly reflect Christ within us, than we can be assured that many people, indeed an entire culture, will despise us. After all, we represent truth in an age where truth has been rejected. We’re the victims of unjust prejudice, unwarranted rage, and undeserved slander. Grievous mistakes in our history are held up and declared to be our greatest legacy (the Crusades come to mind…). We’re blasted with labels of every kind: close-minded, weak, ignorant, intolerant… And we are blamed for all the glaring failures in our history.
Given what Christ said, it is indeed shameful that Christ-followers are surprised that the world hates us. But it is even more shameful that we often hate back. Our natural tendency is to retaliate – to use the same tactics and labels that are used on us, and to seek to prove that we are right. In the process, we cross a subtle yet incredibly important line: we begin to hate those that hate us.
Scripture teaches us to hate evil (Rom. 12:9). And there is plenty of evil around us. But, there is absolutely no excuse for a follower of Christ to hate the person who does the evil. No one is without sin, and so all of us are in desperate need of God’s grace. We have absolutely no right to cast stones (see John 8:7).
To put this plainly, Christ-followers cannot cross the line between hating homosexuality to hating homosexuals. We must not begin hating pro-choice advocates simply because we hate abortion. We even must show love to those who follow other faiths like Islam, even when their faith demands our destruction.
The world hates us because of Christ. But the moment we begin to hate it back, we cease to follow Him. He modeled love, even to the point of death. Could it be that one reason our society has lost its respect for the Church is that church-people have lost their respect for others? We attack and argue all in a vain attempt to prove ourselves to be right. While we should never shy away from standing firm in the truth, if that truth is not bathed in love, is nothing but a “resounding gong or a clanging cymbal” (1 Cor. 13:1).
Christ-followers, we desperately need to demonstrate His love to the world around us. Let us stop the retaliation, cease the counter-attacks, and lower our fists. If someone strikes us because our guard is down, then let us turn the other cheek. (Jesus modeled that, too.)
If we claim to love God, then hating another person is simply not an option. May we do everything possible to demonstrate to the world the vast difference between hating the sin and hating the sinner. After all, that’s one label that can be applied to us all.