When Did We Become Whiners?

There have been a couple of things occurring in current events that have really upset me with evangelicalism in America. The first one is a lawsuit filed by the Christian men’s fraternity Beta Upsilon Chi against the University of Florida which prohibited on campus recognition of the group because they discriminate based on gender and religion. There has been uproar among Christians that the university is performing a great injustice on the group.

I’m beginning to fear that evangelicals are litigating and complaining away any effective witness in our culture. When did we become such whiners? When did we start believing that the world owes us anything in the way of rights, recognition, or privilege? We whine and complain when the world doesn’t treat us as it treats its own. The truth of the matter is that as followers of Jesus we are in opposition to the world – the conclusion then is that we will come under continual fire from the world. Why would we expect any less?

The second event is the kidnapping and killing of the South Korean Christian workers in Afghanistan. I perused several Christian blogs that decried how the mainstream media wasn’t giving this injustice the attention it truly merited. Why are we surprised? Certainly, we should strive to have their stories shared for their benefit and for the encouragement of the saints. But, it seems that evangelicalism has fallen into the same narcissistic compulsion in our culture to have our rights affirmed by the mainstream.

I’m beginning to fear that the result of this attitude has been to forfeit much of our credibility in the greater culture. It looks as if we are just another one of the many special interests trying to defend itself in the marketplace of worldviews. The biblical example seems to be to bless those who speak against us, and allow them to trample over us. Jesus spoke on the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). Time and again history has shown that people are won when Christians endure derision, abuse, and even death with peace, love, and compassion (check out Matthew 5:38-48). I admit that I have no idea if I’m strong enough to do this – I’m a big people-pleaser. God, give me the strength to accept abuse with love. Give us the strength.