Secular Puritains

“A mob of secular Puritans…” 

I read that phrase this morning in a Wall Street Journal article and it really struck a chord with me. It was a write up on the recent hysteria over the fact that the Vice President’s wife, Karen Pence, works at a Christian school that is… well… Christian.

This past week has been both discouraging and maddening. I’m dumbfounded by the ability our culture has to create chaos at will, out of thin air. Take a big ‘nothing-burger’ as my son would say and drop in some phony accusations, half-truths, innuendos and ‘voila!’… you have yourself a scandal. Let’s all be outraged.

While we were all focused on taking some Catholic kids and a Christian art teacher down a notch, something else happened.

They said it was a big deal and it sure is. Read up on it if you can stomach it. See through the loopholes and the fancy language. This is pretty rich coming from a guy who wants the death penalty off the books. In addition to the unimaginable ‘abortion up until birth’ bit, do you know what else these folks did? They redefined what it means to be a person. A person is now “a human being who has been born and is alive.” In order to keep the industry thriving, you have to sanitize it a bit I suppose. If it’s not an actual person, there’s nothing to feel yucky about. And how special that One World Trade Center was lit up in pink to celebrate. You know who else did this?  Slave owners. Actual Nazis.

The mob of secular Puritans is an impossible group to reason with or fight against because they have no real truth other than what they deem good in the moment. Their false righteousness will embrace you one day and slay you the next. You can be a Christian, but you can’t espouse any beliefs that make you actually act differently than the world. You can fully embrace government programs for children while simultaneously celebrating their murder when they are not convenient. This is a sad and pathetic way to live for sure, but aside from complaining about it, what is a Christian to do? I’m genuinely asking here… I certainly don’t have the answers, but here are some thoughts:

• While doing all the fact-checks, make sure you do a heart check as well.
• • Facts mean nothing if we can’t present them with some kind of humanity. “…in humility, correcting those who are in opposition” (2 Timothy 2:25)
• Pay a visit to the issues, but dwell with Jesus.
• • Life still has beauty and worth and God is still good. We can’t be effective disciples if we only surround ourselves with controversy. Shut down the apps, the media, and go hang out with some actual people. “Let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things which one may edify another” (Romans 14:19).
• Remember what’s behind the curtain.
• • The evil can be overwhelming. The battles can seem too much. We don’t need to get tangled up in personal offenses and conflicts that lead to more strife. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).

God is still good.

We can walk in the light and expose the darkness at the same time (Ephesians 5:11).

We can be His children in the midst of a crooked generation (Philippians 2:14).

In Biblical times the people would tear their clothes and put ashes on their heads. I thought of that when I saw that building all lit up in celebration. Things aren’t as “nuanced” as they would like us to believe. God is pretty black and white, and He won’t be mocked. In the meantime, keep on keepin on as they say. Love the truth, love your neighbor, and pray for this great country.