No accomodation

Something has happened to me in the last week or so. I can't explain it well in words, so maybe blogging about it will help me understand what has happened. I've had either a change in attitude or a deeper appreciation of the values that have already been there. My worldview has come into a sharper focus; it's like I'm seeing things with a new set of lenses that were long due for replacement. Looking back I think this has been coming for some time, and I'm going to try and flesh it out online here. Please bear with me as you read, especially since I'm aware that I'll be stirring the pot again. I want to be mindful of how others think and feel, yet at the same time I'm not really afraid of how people will react (another thing that has changed).

I think it started with the very last course I took from Prairie, which was Critical Thinking. Because it was a philosophy course from a Christian college it was intended to help believers develop a Christian worldview. However it did examine several other perspectives like Marxism, secular humanism, eastern philosophy and so on. Although it wasn't a textbook (which I told the instructor it should be) they referred to a book called The Universe Next Door by James Sire. Specifically Sire asks seven basic questions that every worldview addresses: What is real? What is the nature of the world around us? What is a human being? What happens when we die? Can we know anything? How do we know what is right and wrong? and What is the meaning of human history? Several worldviews are examined in the book, and every worldview has an answer to these questions. Ultimately the ideas behind these questions have consequences for everyday life. Another book which I finished reading recently (The Reason for God by Tim Keller) takes things a step further by tackling the objections to Christianity and making the case for faith in Christ. It's probably one of the most intelligent books on Christianity I have ever read, and I highly recommend it to both believers and skeptics.

Another thing that has brought about my new change in attitude is our church's recent teaching series on social justice. Several people at Calvary are actively involved with Micah Challenge, a Christian ministry that gets its name from Micah 6:8: "He has shown all you people what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." Its purpose is to highlight social justice issues in Canada and the world, and the teaching series we did was about how Christians can get involved. It's not simple though; the issues are complex and sometimes the question of what is just doesn't have universal consensus. For Christians justice is not just about issues like poverty (which everyone can agree is unjust) but about more controversial issues like abortion. For secularists (most but not all) an unborn child is not a human being until it can survive outside the mother's womb (the contradiction here is that a baby still can't survive outside the mother's womb unless it is fed and cared for). The issue then is labeled as one of moral relativism, where people should be allowed to make up their own mind about the matter. The problem here though is, if morality is relative then why isn't social justice relative?

The last thing that brought me to my newfound thinking was an interview I heard on CBC Radio. Journalist Marci McDonald has released a book titled The Armageddon Factor: The Rise of Christian Nationalism in Canada. In a nutshell the book suggests that the Conservative government under Stephen Harper (who is an evangelical Christian) has been pandering to the so-called "Christian right" in Canada. Several examples were given, and while Ms. McDonald didn't want to "demonize" Christians she does sound the alarm on what she perceives as a dangerous trend in Canadian politics. As I was listening to the interview one thought seemed to crystallize in my mind - that as far a the secularist is concerned, there is no room for accommodation for anything other than the humanist worldview. All of these things that I listed above - the need for believers to develop a Christian worldview, to be able to intelligently defend their faith and to promote social justice - boiled down to one simple truth: Life is not about making a better world, it's about bringing Jesus to a lost world. We can't make heaven on earth based on a worldview that excludes God, but a worldview centered on God brings heaven to earth.

As I said in the beginning these are things that I already knew, but somehow now they take on new meaning that's hard to put into words. For me it means that I can't play it safe anymore, nor can I have my cake & eat it too. I can't pander any more to the values of the world, but rather I have to make a stand - even if it means that I ruffle some people's feathers. For the secularist there is no room for accommodation, and it's the same for God as well. This world, which as Tim Keller says is becoming more secular and religious at the same time, is not my home. I realize it never was in the first place. I am, as the Bible says, an alien and a stranger in a foreign land. My mission is not to get comfortable here in this life, but to take a stand and live out the principles of Micah 6:8 - to do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with my God.