Why We Engage in the Culture Wars by Dr Michael Brown for Ask Dr Brown
Have you ever wondered if the Church should continue to engage in the culture wars? After all, we will never eradicate evil from the world, and sometimes it feels like the water is pouring into our boats faster than we can bail it out.
Plus, every time we gain ground on one front, we seem to lose ground on another.
Why bother fighting these time consuming, emotionally draining, financially costly battles? Wouldn’t it be better if we put all our efforts into winning the lost, thereby making an eternal, irreversible impact?
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Some would also argue that things will only get worse before Jesus returns, and since we know He’s coming very soon, there’s no use trying to slow down, let alone stop, the onslaught of evil. We’re just trying to ‘forestall the inevitable.’
How should we respond to these objections and concerns?
When it comes to the theological objection, namely, that things will only get worse before Jesus returns, I have two responses.
- First, although there are verses that speak of darkness and apostasy before the Lord returns, there are also verses that speak of a glorious harvest of souls coming into the kingdom at the end of the age. Some passages even speak of light shining brightly in the midst of gross darkness.
In short, as I understand the relevant portions of Scripture, the end of the age will be characterized by parallel extremes of good and evil, of divine activity and satanic activity. I hardly see a picture of only gloom and doom.
- Second, none of us know how soon the Lord will return, which means that we can’t say, “We know this is the final generation, so why bother to impact the culture?”
I came to faith 51 years ago, and we were told Jesus was coming any minute back then. The prophecies were all lining up and the bestselling Christian book of the day made it clear that we were in the tail end of the last days. That was more than one-half century ago!
Just think of how completely paralyzed the Church would be if every generation had this same mentality. “Why bother taking a stand? We’re out of here any minute now!”
That cannot possibly be a biblical way to think.
Having addressed this theological objection, let me respond to the larger question of why we as followers of Jesus should engage in the culture wars at all.
