Should Christians Complain?

A lot of events in the world have been troubling me as of late. The censorship and suppressing of Christian expression has given me cause for concern. The recent rumblings of the State dictating policy within the Church is even more disturbing for me. Post-modernism and its offspring of cultural relativism have already taken their toll on Christianity. With all these things going on, we still don't have it all that bad. At least not in comparison to Christians in North Korea, China, and many Middle Eastern countries. In America, our expression of belief is negatively responded to with verbal abuse and the occasional fine or lawsuit. The aforementioned countries respond with prison, torture, or execution.

Quite frequently, I'll read posts from non-Christians or even political liberals who believe that Christians in the U.S. play victim and close their eyes to their dominance within the culture. I'm of two minds on this subject. I think non-Christians, being what they are, cannot see how the Church and its values are being undermined simply because they support the views and causes that are behind that very undermining. They have no vested interest in the survival of Christianity and therefore see no persecution taking place. At the same time, I do think that the Church underestimates itself and resigns to having lost what's termed as the "Culture War".

I really hate it when well-known evangelists and pastors talk about how "the end times are here". I think it's rubbish. It's presumptuous and fails to take into account how much pull the Church still has in the world. Maybe same-sex marriage poses a potential threat toward Christian expression, but abortion has gone down considerably in the US, even in the states with few restrictions. The Church played a big part in that. Or how about the fact that Roman Catholicism hasn't budged on its position of homosexuality and abortion as being sins? Many churches have been swayed on this, but what is arguably the most powerful denomination in Christendom has still stuck to its guns. They haven't backed down. That's something to celebrate. However much controversy Pope Francis continues to generate, he hasn't changed the Roman Catholic Church into some mirror-universe equivalent. Well, not yet anyway.

What I'm trying to say is that the world hasn't been given to hell in a handbasket. The end times do approach closer each day, but that doesn't mean that those days are here. The world hasn't gotten nearly bad enough to warrant using that phrase. Yes, Christians are getting marginalized within our culture, but this is nothing new. Christians were oppressed in the Church's infancy. That this sort of thing goes on just proves that events run circular, that there's an ebb and flow to the persecution of Christianity.

We also need to take into account that this may just be God's way of seperating the sheep from the goats. It's easy to call one's self a Christian when those tenets of faith are without heavy resistance. But a true Christian will stick it out when the world is working against them. Even when receiving verbal abuse, whether we be referred to as hate-mongerers or anti-science or an obstruction to social progress, the true Christian shows his loyalty to Christ and His teachings.

Just for the record, I have no desire to give people the impression that my being a true Christian somehow elevates me above others. I know many within the Church that are far better examples than myself. But having those qualities of a true Christian is something I aspire to. I want God to be pleased with me that I made attempts, though not without stumbling, to serve Him and seek His Kingdom.

-L. Travis Hoffman

6/9/2015