Semper Ubi Sub Ubi

When the Conservative Makes the Same Errors Charged to the Liberal's Account

Dave Black, at his website makes the following sound observation about the state of "conservative" politics today. I wonder if anyone is listening?

How much longer will the conservative majority continue to hail the state as the Messiah, the fulfillment of its hopes, the perfecter of its faith? The efforts of the Gnostics in the second century to accommodate Christianity to the culture of their day is no different than an American pastor telling his flock to support their “conservative” president because he prays or reads his Bible. For all too many Christians in the United States, George W. Bush has become the great crusader whose policies matter not as long as he pays lip-service to the Bible and the church. All conflict between Christ and culture has evaporated; cultural tolerationism has become the new orthodoxy.

As my wife and I prepare to leave for Ethiopia we are often reminded of the famous statement that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. One cannot doubt that the Ethiopian church is much stronger today for having suffered under Marxist rule. But that statement is, at best, a half truth. The seed may have been healthy, but the crop may become so infested with insects and disease that the plant grows up incurably fetid and therefore worthless. If in the ancient world men were impressed by the courage of Christians who refused to yield to populous custom, men today seem less attracted to the message of radical monotheism, which confesses Christ alone as the Messiah of culture.

All of this will not become moot after November 2, 2004. The fact that professing Christians have found kinship between Christ and the prophet of Mohamed may be indicative that the church in America has reached a cul-de-sac from which it can never extricate itself. It becomes more or less clear that it is not possible honestly to confess that Jesus is the Christ unless one can confess much more than this. This “more” will occur only when we as Christians renew our links to the past and address candidly the theological illiteracy of our churches – and our leaders. If we cannot recover an understanding of the essential role that truth plays in the Christian faith, no honorable purpose will be served by allowing the name “Christian” to remain attached to our churches and ecclesiastical associations.