As a Canadian, I am slightly ashamed to admit: I do not know the ins and outs of politics, specifically American politics. It's never been my thing and I will not pretend to act like I know what I'm talking about. But it seems to me that every time I turn around, there is something in the news about Christians calling for their 'rights'. Or some governor passing, or trying to pass, a law that protects 'religious freedom'. And it rankles me. I've thought about it endlessly and I'll try to spell out what exactly it is that bothers me.
First of all, we live in a broken world. Agreed? It is broken, fallen, and it doesn't take much past the CNN homepage to recognize that fact. We, as a society (I'm looking at you, all of the western civilization AKA first world), are living more blessed and privileged than any society before us. Really, any right that we have is a direct blessing from God. We are blessed. In a society like ours, rights are normal. We expect to have enough to eat, or somewhere to go if we don't have enough money for rent. We expect to be warm at night and have clothes on our back. Even the poorest of us don't know what it's like to live in the extreme poverty of a third world country. So in one sense, we've been rather protected by our blessings; we just don't know what it's like to truly suffer. I also have a pet theory, which may or may not be true: The further a society gets from God, the more 'rights' will be taken away from His people. It's just that simple. If they hate Him, they'll surely hate us. So here's the thing: Blessings are a privilege, not a right. And they could be taken away at any time.
A Christian fighting for his 'religious rights' is so opposite of what Christ set out to teach us. Why on earth would we ever expect to be treated better than He was? Than His disciples were? Who do we really think we are? In John 13:38, Jesus asked Peter, "Will you lay down your life for My sake?" And then in 1 John 3:16 we read, "By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us." If He had the strength and fortitude to stay quiet before His tormentors, can He not also hold us up through any persecution we may face down here? Matthew 10:19-22 - "But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. ...And you will be hated by all for My name's sake. ...A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master." I am wondering if Christians are fighting too much for their 'right to religious freedom' and I fail to see how that lines up with all of Jesus' talk about laying down His life and us taking up our cross and following Him. Matthew 10:34 - "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. ...And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it."
Another thing is that true persecution is not brought on oneself. For example, the backlash to proposed laws that support 'religious freedom' is not persecution. You've brought that on yourself. True persecution is standing quietly in the face of opposition. When you say, "I can't do such and such because it goes against the word of God" and get hatred and scorn, that is persecution. Not, "Oh us poor little Christians are so mocked because we simply want religious freedom and the 'right' to honour a God this society hates." No. That is not persecution. That is more like someone self-flagellating to gain some kind of righteousness.
I don't see the apostle Peter fighting for the rights of his fellow persecuted Christians. I don't see him trying to politicize Christianity. Rather, he exhorts them to submit to those in authority (1 Peter 2:13-17). Likewise, the apostle Paul in Romans 13:1-7. And remember, the person ruling in Paul's day was Nero, who eventually executed the him. I hardly think the Christians who faced the literal lions were crying out for their rights. Rather I think they might have considered it an honour to die for Christ.
But see, this is the problem: We think we do have rights. Everyone else has them, or is trying to get them. What about us? Don't we deserve some kind of protection and tolerance?
We are told over and over again to lay our lives down, to take up our cross, to submit to the authorities over us. I don't know that Christians are meant to fight with the world. The world is going to do what the world does best: Revile God. We are told to love God and our neighbour and that's honestly about it. Everything we do or not do should reflect that and flow out of that.
Note that I do not for a minute think we are not supposed to reach out to our neighbour in a tangible way. I absolutely think we are supposed to be the hands and feet of Jesus (and I fail at this) but what I don't think is that we're supposed to fight with our God-given (yes, God-given) governments. I really don't think it's the place of a Christian to 'change the world'. Why don't we just love the people around us, like we've been commanded to do, and leave the 'changing the world' to The Expert?
One more thought: This world is not our home. Any Christian worth his/her salt knows that our hope is in heaven. John 14:1-4 - "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." If we are pilgrims, we are going to face suffering and persecution. The problem is, I think we've forgotten that we're pilgrims on a journey, with a destination in heaven.
Are we called to make social reform in this dark world, or are we called to follow Him, even if that means death?
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