Winning the Culture War

I mentioned in my last post that there was a good article that I found on Derek's blog that talked about a pastor who began preaching that the church should steer clear of politics. For this message, he lost about 20 percent of his congregation because they disagreed with him.

This brings up several things that I could write on, including why people leave their church when they disagree with pastor and whether that's a good idea or not, but I want to address the main message that he was trying to share with his church. Even though I am active in politics and have very strong opinions on a number of social issues I completely agree with his premise.

I had a great professor in college named Dr. Martin. He was a brilliant man and one of his greatest gifts was teaching young minds to interpret different worldviews. He rightly suggested that the largest problem with liberal politics is that they put their hope in government instead of in God. Their worldview is that the government should feed, protect and provide for all society's needs and that these needs will largely not be met without government intervention. But before we rush to judgment, there is another side of the coin. I fear that conservatives have also begun to place their hope in government. Not to take care of people's physical needs but to win the culture war instead. The right's worldview is that if the right people get elected and the right laws get passed we can restore our nation's Christian heritage. And this goal will not be met without government intervention.

No longer does the church view social issues like homosexuality, abortion and gambling as spiritual problems in need of a spiritual solution but instead as political problems in need of a political solution. The problem with this notion is that government cannot and will not change people's hearts. We could pass every law we want and there will still be social ills in the world. And while I do think that a nation's law represent the values of its people I think we would be better off changing people's values and then have the laws change as a result.

I was just reminded of story that highlights the difference between fighting spiritual and political battles. A few years ago there was an abortion clinic in Kentwood where I grew up. It had been there a long time and was often quite busy. A handful of women who counseled women before and after they went into the clinic decided that they should be intentionally praying for the clinic to close. Within a short time, the women showed up to counsel and they found that the clinic has closed without notice. This was a direct result of prayer and their efforts saved many children's lives. Politics would not have shut down that clinic because it doesn't have the power to win the spiritual war that surrounds these social issues.

I am not advocating that Christians abandon the cultural battles of the day. But rather I propose that we rethink our weapon of choice to fight these battles. Continuing to rely on government and politics to transform the culture is like going to war against a nuclear enemy with only a rifle. The most skilled shooter might be able to knock off a few of his enemies but would have no real chance of winning the war and the same is true in the culture wars. Until the church realizes this we will face setback after setback and wonder why all our efforts are failing.