How Should Christians Engage A Sinful World?

How are Christians to engage people and things around them they may not agree with because of their biblical convictions?

Sunday, Nov. 1, 2009 Posted: 3:43:45PM HKT

At the crux of much of the conflict, for the better or worse, between the Church and the rest of the world is the question of how Christians should deal with unbiblical beliefs and practices in and around (mostly around) them.

Christians throughout history have expressed their biblical convictions vis-à-vis a fallen world in a variety of different ways. Here is a list of possible modes of engagement:

Firstly, the Church could use violence against perceived miscreants, be it legal or physical. This has been the case with wars and conflicts led by Christians against non-Christians.

Classic examples include the Medieval Crusades, the fierce prosecution by the Spanish Inquisition of non-Catholics, and the prosecution by John Calvin and the Geneva Council of Michael Servetus, who was burnt at the stake for denying the doctrine of the Trinity.

In the days of Jesus, this was the attempt by the Jewish nationalists to establish an ecclesiocracy in which religion and politics were mixed. This actually happened in the days of the Roman Emperor Constantine, when he imposed as a necessary condition of citizenship conversion to Christianity.

This can also happen when Christians practice hatred against those perceived to be sinful, such as, in the case of America, homosexuals, or when they denigrate other religions.

Secondly, Christians could play the game of escapism, exclusivism and isolationism and form their own religious enclaves or hermitages. This happened in the earlier centuries of the Church and is still taking place in various parts of the world.

Thirdly, the Church could take the humble position of a servant in a fallen world.

Granted, the task of the Great Commission is an urgent one. At the same time, the proponents of such a view of Christian engagement are motivated neither by rights, nor honour, nor power, to use the categories of a certain scholar, but above all, a respectful compassion.

Such Christians believe that the Church should be constantly engaged in caring for others and supplying their real needs, whether it be physical, emotional or spiritual.

Shining examples, not exhaustively, of this are the early Christians who took in abandoned girls and raised them so that they could become individuals with dignity, the Franciscans who made extensive efforts to care for the poor, William Wilberforce whose efforts led to the abolition of human slavery, and more recently Mother Teresa and the Anglican and Methodist Churches in Singapore, with their contributions to education, healthcare.

For such believers, non-Christians have real needs.

At the same time, they are individuals in their own right. While everyone has an inherent need to hear and know the Gospel, the Church knows that God has given no human being the authority to dominate the soul of another – this is a prerogative that belongs to God but which even He has decided not to use because of the respect He accords human beings.

For this reason, such Christians are willing to respect the religious choices of non-Christians. They know their role is to lead the horse to the water, but not to force it to drink it; it is up to the horse whether or not to drink it.

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