There is a class of professional pastors who have decided that to attract an audience, they must embrace political weakness and cultural impotence. They treat silence on the pressing issues of the day as a virtue. Political “neutrality” might feel winsome on the surface, but it is merely cowardice given a religious spin.
I am sickened by the pious ramblings of soft men about the perceived dangers of being intertwined with imperfect candidates and messengers. A recurring theme of Scripture is that God has throughout history used imperfect men and women to impact culture for His glory. Indeed, the disciples and St. Paul were as flawed as any in history!
In the denomination that I called home for nearly 30 years, the Presbyterian Church in America, this moral cowardice is sometimes called the “third way” but goes by other names, as well. Other denominations have their own subgroups that subtly seek to subvert the Great Commission and mute the church’s witness in the real world.
Whatever it’s called, the idea is to falsely reframe a cowardly retreat from culture as winsome engagement. It is, in fact, an abdication of the church’s obligation to provide moral clarity in a fallen world. Sadly, this path is too often taken in order to meet crass desires for cash, attendance, worldly applause, or all three.
In this effort, strawmen are created as pastors malign political conservatives as either “seeking a king” or being “uncharitable” in political discourse. Note the direction: the strawman is always a conservative. Always. It is rare to hear from a “conservative” church’s pulpit any critique of leftwing activists, politicians, or even policies.
I fear that this is because too many shepherds are grooming their right-leaning congregants for cultural and political apathy. Scripture is contorted into an egalitarian mess by weak men lacking the courage of their own (or anyone’s) convictions.
Their maliciously false premise is to argue against “extremism” on “both sides.” Thus, the eponymous “third way.” In practice, that way is an invitation to sin and cultural rot.
So murdering babies in the womb is wrong, but a politician pushing to fund abortion won’t be criticized. Gay marriage may be a concern, but homosexuality itself won’t be condemned. American capitalism is, obviously, problematic … but the building fund needs more cash!
By laying down arms in the fight for the heart of our republic, for the soul of our culture, proponents of the third way would have the church apathetically wave the white flag of surrender as the enemy struts unopposed through our streets. If Christians won’t push forcefully against evil, who will?
Jesus was not interested in offering a “third way” for mankind. He was exclusionary in the extreme, describing Himself as the “way, the truth, and the life.” He offered no alternatives. In scandalously direct language, Jesus mocked the ruling elite of the day with the most culturally vile invectives one could use.
Jesus also had something to say about those who claim His name but stand in the mushy middle of the moral fights of the day. In Revelation 3:16, Jesus condemns the church in Laodicea: “So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.”
The Laodiceans were materially wealthy, but a studied apathy had left their church spiritually impotent.
This is where the “third way” leads. The coffers might bulge for a while, but their impact will be as unremarkable as a feather landing on a mountain. Whoever is left in the pews will hear soothing words wrapped in biblical pablum, but their hearts will shrivel from a lack of moral exercise.
For too long, Christians have allowed weak men to fashion the faith into their own emasculated images. Now, more than ever, the church must speak with strength and clarity. It is the only way to minister to and in the culture … and to save our republic.
