Advance or Retreat?
Chuck Colson
BreakPoint June 15, 2010
Can you imagine being suspended from work for walking out on
a homosexual sensitivity training session? Or for saying “God bless you” on the
job? What would your church do if it were forced by a law to hire practicing
homosexuals?
Well, just ask Christians in Britain. Because this is what
they are facing. As one British religious freedom lawyer told CBN News,
“There’s been a massive move by the secularist lobby to privatize religion. You
can have faith . . . just make it private. It can’t affect what you do in the
public square.” And unless American Christians wake up, she warns, “This is all
coming to America.”
It sure is. We’ve already seen it in our courts, and I’ve
warned many times on this program that the gay “marriage” agenda is a direct
assault on religious freedom.
For all of the past 18 years on BreakPoint, my message has
been simple. Politics is just an expression of culture. So long as we continue
to lose the culture, we’re going to lose politically. But the great moments in
church history have been when Christians have gotten engaged. And as a result
of their work, the culture was transformed.
Well, there is a new book out now, which is getting a lot of
play. The author singles me out, critical of my message that we should be
trying to change the culture. It’s getting favorable reviews from theologians
and scholars. The author suggests that we just take a break from the political
wars, and simply be a faithful presence wherever we are. I can’t imagine a
worse idea for the times we live in. As you know from the Manhattan Declaration
and other things I’ve pushed hard, I believe Christians must speak out more
clearly and more persistently today than ever before.
Now, you hear from me every day. Well, I need to hear from
you. Is anybody listening when I do these broadcasts? I really want to know
whether this message that I have been preaching for 18 years is getting across.
Are you getting it? Is your church getting it?
So I’m starting something on BreakPoint today that I urge
you to take part in. It’s called “Speak Out with Chuck.” Go to BreakPoint.org
or ColsonCenter.org, look for “Speak Out with Chuck,” and tell me what’s going
on in your church. Is my message on BreakPoint making a difference? Is it
getting through? Please give me some examples.
Tell me whether you think this is the right time for the
church to be engaged and speaking out about the issues. Could the writer of
this new book be right? That we should simply sit back and take care of
ourselves and the church? That is totally contrary to my theology, but I really
want to know what the reaction is in the church.
And tell me the kind of resources you feel you and your
church need to be better equipped if you are committed to defend the truth in
the public square.
I need to hear from you. I promise you I will see every comment
at “Speak Out with Chuck.” And on coming radio broadcasts, I’ll respond to many
of those comments.
This is your chance to get started and get engaged—and we
don’t want to stop there. I’m a great believer that societies are changed from
the bottom up. By movements. The vital work of God has always been accomplished
by people engaged at the grass roots, networking with one another.
So please let me hear from you. Go to BreakPoint.org or
ColsonCenter.org, and “Speak Out with Chuck.”
-----------------------------
Chuck:
There is little from this BreakPoint entry that suggests
that you have read with care James Hunter’s To
Change the World
as you completely distort his point.
as you completely distort his point.
Hunter writes that our current over reliance on politics and
the coercive power of the state to achieve our own agenda has created a
situation where Christian political rhetoric is Nietzschean in character. He
does not call for a disengagement from public life, rather an engagement based
on self-sacrificing, incarnational compassion for the common good rather than
self-serving, arms-length coercion for our own tribe. Nowhere does Hunter say, “Sit
back and take care of ourselves and the church.” Rather he says, following God’s
guidelines to the Jews in Babylon, get engaged in the Babylonian institutions
for your flourishing is dependent on their flourishing. This is the opposite of
what you claim that he has said. Best check your sources and do your own
reading.
For a thorough consideration of this conversation, in which
you are an important participant, please see www.faithfulpresence.com, where a
number of comments and reviews, including your own in Christianity Today, are assembled.
Hunter’s point is that the public square is more than
political and that our response to public issues must be more than political.
Put simply, the cross is being obscured by the flag. The price is the gospel.
Warmly,
John Seel
President, nCore Media
The Visual Supercomputing Company
jseel@ncoremedia.com
[Reprinted with permission of John Seel.]
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