Years ago when our kids were little, we would drive to Florida for vacation (always drive, always through the night). They would wake up or finish the movie they were watching and ask where we were. Most of them asked it in the standard way: “where are we?” “What state are we in now?” Or the most popular of all: “How much longer ’til we get there?” But one of our kids asked the question in her own special way: “daddy, what world are we in?”
Positive, Neutral, Negative
Last February we hosted our first symposium at NAPC. One of our presenters, Aaron Renn, had just published a book called Life in the Negative World. His book length treatment was an expansion of a very popular essay he wrote for First Things in 2021, the most-read article of the year for that publication. Renn argues that over the last half-century, the way American elites view the Christian faith has undergone a revolutionary change. In the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s, to be a Christian was a positive good, culturally speaking. It made business sense to be a member in good standing of a tall steeple church in town, and you might be viewed with suspicion if you weren’t. It was well nigh impossible to be elected to public office if you did not identify with the Christian faith. This was the era of the positive world. In the mid-90’s, things changed (Renn marks 1994 as the transitional year). We entered into the neutral world, an era of true pluralism. In this milieu, to be a Christian was neither helpful nor harmful. Elites did not punish you for publicly identifying as a follower of Jesus, but neither did it win you any points. Two decades later, in 2014, another shift took place, this one more pernicious, and unprecedented in our nation’s history – we entered into the negative world. In this context, Christianity was not a social good, nor was it merely one option among many. No, for those in the highest echelons of society in media, education, and government, to be a Christian was now morally deficient. When same-sex “marriage” was granted full legal legitimacy by the Obergefell Supreme Court decision in 2015, the Christian world-view, by implication, was deemed outdated and in the judgments of many elites, hateful. In a culture where any two people have the “right” to marry, what else could you make of a faith that taught (and, in faithful churches, continues to teach), that sex is for marriage, and marriage is between one man and one woman? Suddenly, the position that Christians have held at all times, the position that virtually every other society in human history has shared regarding marriage, was deemed immoral.
Some Christians, under pressure to compromise and conform, have suddenly found that the Bible actually teaches that men can marry men and women can marry women (it must have been buried pretty deep in that Bible they’re reading). Other churches made the decision to remain quiet, changing the subject (“we should teach on gluttony and gossip instead, those are bigger sins within the church”). Either of those strategies are responses to the new era of hostility to Christianity (we have adopted a third strategy, see below). Welcome to the negative world.
But . . . are we still in a negative world? Most of you noticed how central the Christian faith of the best college football team in the land was this football year. They proclaimed Jesus every time they stepped on the field and in front of a mic. The opposing quarterback in the championship game, Riley Leonard, suggested that both teams were in the final because of their willingness to praise Jesus openly. These young men were far from cancelled. To the contrary, the reporting of ESPN was openly positive about their faith.
And what about Donald J. Trump? Whatever you think of his persona, personal faith, ego, tactics, or his foreign policy, the executive orders he signed into law are without question in line with Christian anthropology. The prevention of “gender transition” via hormones and surgeries for minors is completely in line with the longstanding Christian (and common sense scientific) view that we are either male or female, binary realities that cannot be changed no matter how many body parts are cut off or reshaped. The explicit rejection of males competing against females in athletics, and the mandatory acknowledgment of men for men and women for women in the military – all signs that our cultural transgender fever dream has broken. The return to merit or character-based rather than race-based policies is much more consistent with the Christian view that we are to be judged not by “the color of our skin color but by the content of our character.” The fact that our president and vice-president both offered speeches (one recorded, one in person) at the March for Life this year signals at the very least a sympathetic view of the pro-life mission, one that every Christian should applaud. Whatever you think of Trump, these particular policies are ones that accord with the Christian world-view. We might wonder: don’t all of these examples suggest a return to the neutral or even positive world when it comes to Christianity?
The short answer: no. These are victories, and in the case of outspoken public faith on campus, even signs of revival in our nation. May many more victories and signs come. But if you want to test the thesis of whether those who rule American culture favor Christianity, here are some questions:
- The Super Bowl ads from a month ago – how difficult was it is to find evidence of the old adage “sex sells,” and how often did you hear about gambling?
- What about the typical fare offered on streaming media services for entertainment?
- How comfortable would you be speaking conversationally at Starbucks or the Easton food court about the immorality of homosexuality, or the illegitimacy of same-sex “marriage,” or male headship and wifely submission?
The 3rd Strategy
No, we are not in a culture, at the moment, that favors the Christian understanding of the world. We are still firmly in the negative world. But I hope and pray this changes, and that it changes in the only way possible – through men and women being converted by the Holy Spirit to Christ, by families and generations being transformed through the discipleship of local churches, and by Christians being bold, courageous, faithful, kind, and committed to the Word of God. This, by the way, leads to the third strategy in the negative world for churches, the one that we have chosen to adopt: high-invitation, high-challenge. We welcome anyone and everyone who comes through the church doors, showering them with kindness and hospitality. We stress that the sin problem is within all of us. We believe that no matter what people are doing sexually, with their own bodies and identities, whether they have taken the life of their own baby, whether they are in a gay or lesbian relationship, whether they are living together with someone not their wife/husband, whether they are addicted to pornography or drugs or alcohol, they are welcome to the foot of Cross, where they will find grace and forgiveness. But we also clearly and decisively and boldly and unashamedly call everyone to repentance. We don’t dance around sensitive subjects. We equip the saints to know and live by and teach the truth, because you all are the ones who are on the front lines. How can we expect you to share Jesus and the truth courageously in your school or workplace or family, if we are not willing to teach it? We aim to be humbly courageous to confront the lies of our age, calling all to repent and trust in Jesus. This has offended people and will continue to offend people. Should this surprise us? Probably not.
We equip the saints to know and live by and teach the truth, because you all are the ones who are on the front lines. How can we expect you to share Jesus and the truth courageously in your school or workplace or family, if we are not willing to teach it?
Working for Conversions of Sinners and Culture
We are in a negative world. But we should desire a positive world, where the norms of Christianity are understood, appreciated, respected and generally followed. We should long for individual conversions and public Christian ethics. Not only should we desire them, but we should try, as best we can, to make them happen (all by God’s providential grace, of course). This is because Christian norms are good for us, as we would expect if we believe God’s Word is truth. I am a Christian Nationalist. Crazy, I know! But here’s what it means: I am a Christian, and my primary loyalty lies with Christ. He is King and Lord above all nations, and His Word is true. I am also a Nationalist, in the sense that I love my country and am loyal to it, warts and all (as anyone from any country should be towards their own country). I don’t live in heaven, yet. I am a citizen of this country, and so I am loyal to it. I hope to be a model citizen, as any Christian should hope to be, provided that my nation does not command me to disobey Christ, and publicly dishonor Him, in which case I refuse, and further, I want my nation to change, yesterday. I love Jesus and America, and I want our nation to glorify Him. I also believe that people in our country (and any country) will flourish if they are governed by Biblical values and principles, such as: marriage is between one man and one woman, for life; same-sex attraction and action are sinful, and if a temptation, then fight the temptation; a boy is a boy, and not a girl; life begins at conception, and therefore abortion is murder; the government is instituted by God, and is not above God but is accountable to Him; the government exists to serve and protect its citizens, not coerce them to violate their individual conscience. Related to that last one, this would apply to atheists, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, etc. In other words, the state, even a Christian state, cannot coerce anyone to believe anything (by the way, it was the Christian State that invented freedom of conscience). But it can encourage and enforce a way of life that will maximally bless its citizens. That way of life happens to accord with the values and virtues of the Christian world-view and the Word of God. Overall, this amounts to patriotism shaped by an explicitly Christian ethics and culture, which is much better than a utilitarian, anti-life, anti-natal, instrumental view of humans and culture. Remember, it is not whether we will have a public theology in our country’s moral codes and priorities, it is which theology, and which priorities.
In the negative world, NAPC will continue to preach the Gospel of grace for all sinners who repent. We will equip the saints to disciple their kids, and to boldly stand upon the Rock of God’s Word. We will do the things we can do to transform our culture – this mostly happens locally. And we will do it joyfully, because we know that no matter how negative the world gets, the King is on His throne!
Pastor David