Learning from history
I often hear American Christians bemoan the lack of prayer in schools, Scripture on the walls, and creation in the classroom. From their groanings, I presume that they want these things to be not only permitted, but sanctioned, by the state. We would do well to consider the history of the church, and the words of John Wesley:
Persecution never did, never could, give any lasting wound to genuine Christianity. But the greatest it ever received, the grand blow which was struck at the very root of that humble, gentle, patient love, which is the fulfilling of the Christian law, the whole essence of true religion, was struck in the fourth century by Constantine the Great, when he called himself a Christian, and poured in a flood of riches, honours, and power upon the Christians; more especially upon the Clergy.Is it not clear that the Kingdom comes not with political, but spiritual, authority? Does it not thrive and become refined under pressure? Are we not to expect that the world will hate us as it hated our Lord? From where have we gotten this foolish notion that a Christian nation is a possibility, let alone something to be desired?
I am not saying that we should not value freedom to preach, persuade, gather and publish. We should value these things for all people, but we should not therefore assume that the state will embrace, or ought to promote our King Jesus. (Piper says these things more clearly than I can here, here and here.)
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2 comments:
I think you made your point quite well. I agree about Constantine. It seems that every time the Church and the State have danced together, it has been the Church whose toes were crushed.
I wonder if we do not forget what our redemption cost. We are not saved because we are nice people or because we have correct opinions. How can something so magnificent as the Kingdom of God be ushered in by something so of this world as the political process?
I am grateful to live in a democracy and to have religious freedom. That said, worldwide, the Church is growing fastest in those places where it faces the fiercest opposition.
I've been thinking about it particularly today, Memorial Day. In no way do I want to dishonor those who have died for the freedom of others; quite to the contrary, I want to hold them in honor in so much as they have fought for, and procured, the freedom of others to live according to conscience.
In the same breath I must say that the Kingdom of Christ cannot and does not advance by force, but by sacrificial love. As you pointed out, Renee, its most forceful advances are coming where that love is visibly sacrificial.
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