OPINION:
Dear Dr E: As we begin a new year, almost every survey shows Americans worry about their future. Most believe our culture is at risk and that we are on the precipice of losing whatever remnant is left of our Western values, our freedoms, and our corresponding way of life. Do you believe there is anything we can do that can save us from what seems to be an inevitable trainwreck of societal collapse? — CONCERNED VOTER FROM ILLINOIS
Dear Concerned: Yes, there is something we can do. We can return to the Church.
You don’t have to agree with the specifics of my orthodox faith to acknowledge that the Christian Church has been essential to much of what is good about Western civilization and a positive influence on the rest of the world.
Take, for example, Matthew Parris, a journalist for the London Times. Paris is an award-winning author and a former Member of Parliament, and he also describes himself as a gay atheist. He grew up in South Africa, and a recent return trip there prompted the following comment.
“In my return to my African heritage, I have realized that the continent of Africa, had it not been for Christian evangelism, would have suffered the fate of the machete, genocide, or the worship of Nike. Missionaries, not aid money, are the solution to Africa’s biggest problem — the crushing passivity of the people’s mindset.”
Parris then concluded it was the Church’s emphasis on a personal relationship with God that fueled an individuality that could “cast off a crushing tribal groupthink” that cursed the average African citizen.
A “crushing, tribal groupthink” sounds a lot like what we find in America today, doesn’t it? Here, we have a South African atheist admitting that Christian evangelism and its social and moral traditions saved Africa from genocide. Yet, our corporate leaders, elected officials, and educational elites in the United States disparage these same social and moral traditions and expect a better result.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that this will not end well. Instead of trying to expunge any mention of Christianity from the public square, we should be extolling its virtues and proclaiming, “Thank God for the Church!”
The truth is that few, if any, of the cultural institutions we currently enjoy – things such as hospitals, schools, civil rights organizations, colleges, and universities – would exist without the Church’s influence. Chuck Colson reminded us of this when he said, “In every action we take, we are either helping to create a hell on earth or helping to bring down a foretaste of heaven. We are either contributing to the broken condition of the world or participating with God in transforming the world to reflect His righteousness.”
The Church has done more to bring a little heaven to earth than any other institution in history. America’s founders, for example, were committed to the importance of the Church. Even those who did not personally embrace its orthodoxy acknowledged it as essential for the nation’s formation and sustainability. Then, in the 1830s, the Church led the effort to help runaway slaves escape to freedom.
Everyone remembers the Underground Railroad, but our history books often neglect to mention the Church leaders who stood against the cultural current for what they knew was right. Across the globe, it was the Church that pushed to end slavery, a practice accepted as commonplace before Christians stood and demanded change.
Likewise, in Germany, the Pastor’s Emergency League revolted against Hitler’s control of the pulpits during World War II. This became known in history as “The Confessing Church” because of their stand against the evils of the Nazi regime.
For 2,000 years, the Church has been a force for humble boldness against evil throughout the world. It draws us by the power of the Gospel to a place of repentance. It exposes our ignorance and condemns our arrogance. It rescues us from the tyranny of deception. It calls us to carry the cross of Christ as we work to lighten the load of others. Above all, it is the Church’s clarion call to embrace the truth that empowers people to throw off the enslavement we all experience to our own sin and to fight against the subjugation the powerful always seek to impose on the weak.
The Church has been a faithful, noble, and righteous voice throughout history. Without the Church and its defense of truth, the world would be a much darker place, and the country that now tries to expel it from the public square would not exist without it.
If you want to stem the tide of societal decay and cultural collapse, find a Bible-believing church. Support it. Defend it. Attend it. Obey it. And watch your country change for the better.
If you are seeking guidance in today’s changing world, Higher Ground is there for you. Everett Piper, a Ph.D. and a former university president and radio host, takes your questions in his weekly ’Ask Dr. E’ column. If you have moral or ethical questions for which you’d like an answer, please email askeverett@washingtontimes.com and he may include it in a future column.
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