“I sure as heck don’t want a bunch of Christians deciding … what I can do in my life”

Last updated on: May 9, 2018 at 9:53 am by Mark Driscoll

“I sure as heck don’t want a bunch of Christians deciding … what I can do in my life” 2018-05-09T09:53:03-04:00 Mark Driscoll

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THE TRIUMPHANT LEFT

Those on the political left celebrate the demise of Christendom. They gladly spotlight its failures. They rightly remind us of the rampant unkindness of Christendom toward gays, women, ethnic minorities, and the poor, with whole groups marginalized, ostracized, and demonized for in the name of a greater social good. They note the astounding hypocrisy bred by social demands to put up a good public appearance even if privately you are a politician committing adultery on your way home from church. They are quick to protest the injustice, oppression, and evil that results when the powerful forces of government and religion line up together like two barrels on a gun. For the powerless, the end of Christendom feels like an exodus from cruel bondage into a new freedom.

According to data gained from the research for this project, nearly everyone outside the church—regardless of their previous church commitment—falls in this category of post-Christendom. For the right, the death of Christendom feels like a painful funeral. For the left, it gives reason to break out the party favors. They celebrate with good reason given their fears of the religious right, a movement that still makes many focus group participants feel downright unsafe. While their fears might not be justified, you would feel the same way if the only Christians you knew had veins popping out of their neck as they rail about a culture war onscreen or over the backyard fence. It must be how the average quiet-living, hardworking Muslim feels when all we notice about their religion are the extremists who make bombs and riot over cartoons.

THE CONFOUNDED CENTER

In the middle on a continuum between the right and the left tends to be many an average Christian person or pastor. They are weary of both sides spending endless hours berating each other on television, talk radio, and social media. They agree with many of the criticisms leveled at Christendom from the left. They also agree with many of the concerns leveled at the culture from the right. They reject a vision of a Christianity that imitates radical Islam where one religion rules all people and there is little distinction between the sacred text and laws of the land.

Many agree with Lee in Boston who said, “I don’t see why 16 people on the same block can’t be and do whatever the #### they want. I don’t see what the problem is with that.” While we might not use those exact words, there is a good chance most people would give a nod to the essence of what he says.

King Jesus

Whether we locate ourselves on the political right or left or in the middle, Jesus calls us to something more. If he were retelling his ancient parable of a couple lost sons today, the rebellious brother would lean politically left. The religious brother would lean politically right. The younger brother would march in a pride parade or a join a protest. The older brother would picket those parades and protest the protests.

But Jesus does not join either brother on the right or the left. He also does not join the masses trying to duck the issues in the middle.

Jesus is greater than politics. When the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate asked if he had revolutionary aspirations, Jesus replied, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36 NIV). Jesus the King rules over all kings, and his Kingdom reigns over all kingdoms. But the Kingdom of King Jesus has not yet come, and until we see it we are to pray as he taught us: “your kingdom come” (Matthew 6:10). When the Kingdom of Jesus arrives, sin will be replaced with salvation, death with resurrection, sickness with healing, war with peace, poverty with prosperity, and tears with laughter. From the first day we meet Jesus, our citizenship in his Kingdom is secure, but until we arrive in heaven we are stuck here.

Every election cycle we feel a collective ache for that Kingdom. Our world has gone terribly wrong, and everything needs changing. So, political candidates step forward to vie for the role of savior, each casting a vision of the heavenly future they promise to bring. Like worshipers, supporters throng to fund campaigns, bold with hope that things will improve. But they don’t. Or things only get better until they get worse.

Some kings are better than others, but no king is the King of Kings, because no human king rules with his perfection, justice, truth, and grace. Some kingdoms are better than others, but no kingdom is his Kingdom. No kingdom overcomes sin and the curse fully and forever. Only his Kingdom accomplishes what we long for. The question remains, how should Christians live until the King returns? We will explore that issue in the next blog.

(1)Robert Bellah, “Civil Religion in America,” Daedalus 96, no. 1 (Winter): 1–21, www.robertbellah.com/articles_5.htm.

(2)Patrick Henry, “‘And I Don’t Care What It Is’: The Tradition-History of a Civil Religion Proof-Text,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 49, issue 1 (March 1981): 41.

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