
“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)
Get ready for a real battle across our nation! There is a real divide, and the battle lines are not usually defined accurately. You could call it a battle between “common sense” and the “idealists” or “utopianists”. Another way to look at it, are those who operate according to biblically-established parameters, knowingly or unknowingly, and those who do not have that absolute standard for a moral compass. From LGBTQ or Pro-abortion ideologies, or those who believe that marriage can be redefined as anything other than between a man and a woman, those who reject a Biblical worldview will tend to accepting anything other than commands given by our Creator God.
Often you can predict the way a person will respond to your reasoning simply by how they answer to the above. These all come from deeper commitments than the issue itself. If human beings are at the center of their world, then human beings should be able to define everything according to their whims! If marriage is designed and defined by our Creator, and there are negative consequences to deviating from that, then I would approach it very differently than the secularist! If He told us to “be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it”, (Genesis 1:28) that will fly in the face of abortion ideologies that consider our planet overpopulated. Most of these issues run together, with fairly predictable outcomes.
But what about when you have churches or denominations deviating from each other on these issues? One could say that it is we who are holding to the conservative views of Christianity, while others are abandoning it in favor of social influences and values. As you drive down Main Street in Elk River, you will find pastors of churches who all claim that they are holding to the key tenets of Christianity. Go back 100 years, and you may find some of the same separate denominations, divided over far less issues in the social arena. I have much more in common with pastors of those denominations back then!
Sometimes churches divide and split over seemingly “minor issues”, particularly to those on the outside looking in, and that is the case from time to time. I believe the fundamental issue lies in one key point: Are we willing to take God at his Word and submit to it, not allowing outside philosophies or values skew how we interpret scripture. For example, someone may say, “A God of love would not send fire, a hurricane, or earthquake to take out peoples’ homes”, when the Bible itself gives numerous examples of God sending “natural disasters” as punishment, or some greater purpose (Consider reading Amos chapter 4) A Sovereign God can do whatever He wishes to His fallen creation in judgment or mercy, (Isaiah 45:9, Romans 9:19-21) though He has tasked us with bringing the Good News of Jesus Christ to all (Matthew 28:18-20), and living consistently with the compassion we have received. (Matt 10:8b)
Want to spark a debate with those in other denominations today? Talk about the death penalty! If we are made in God’s image, you will look at human life differently, both in bestowing love to the “least of these”, and the firm judgments given to those who “shed innocent blood” (Deuteronomy 19:11-13).
If the culture itself does not change dramatically, we will find ourselves increasingly ostracized from our society based on our views, even persecuted for them. What the world needs to see from the Church is consistency in both Biblical proclamation and consistency in Biblical living. Not just a portion of the Bible, but consistent interpretation of all of it.
Our world is clashing over fundamentally opposed views. Sometimes the name of God is invoked, whether rightly or wrongly, to justify taking a certain course. If by God’s Mercy our earthly rulers are looking for real answers to this world’s dilemma, will they have seen and heard enough from those of us who call ourselves “Christian”, to be familiar with and consider what we have to say? Will we have the boldness to let those voices be heard, in private settings, the marketplace of ideas, or before rulers, as Joseph, Daniel and Paul did? I believe those grander moments came due to their simpler acts of faithfulness, and I think the Bible will back that up!
I would love to discuss these further with you as well. Only let us equip ourselves with the Word of God, while we can, so that we can “wage war” by “demolishing any argument that sets itself up against the knowledge of God” and “take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ” (2 Cor 10:3-5). Join us in this battle in 2025!