I have heard many different ideas of what a Christian should look like in his or her society. Passages expounding on salt and light, the great commission, God healing our land, and being ambassadors of Christ are just a few of the many different ideas given to us by Scripture and clergy. Each passage has its place in creating a complete picture of the Christian in their society, but unfortunately we rarely understand the complete picture.
We see this lack of a complete picture from Christianity's history. Catholics have traditionally focused on social justice while justice with God is found blurred. Protestants have focused so much on justice before God that they have neglected social justice. Obviously these are broad generalizations, but I think it is safe to say that, traditionally, both sides lean their own ways. Just look at each side in their prime - St. Francis and John Wesley.
Today evangelicalism is still plagued with the stigma that they care about numbers of souls in heaven and not the poor soul downtown who needs bread to eat. This is simply not true in its totality, but the stigma exists for a reason. I am convinced that if Christians understood their role in their society, they would find an understanding society towards Christianity.
What is the Christian's role in society? What does the Christian look like in his or her society? Let's Discuss!
1 comments:
I think you're definitely right. If you throw megachurches into the argument, you have an even better case to make. I've had a lot of people I've worked with who are not Christians tell me that large churches seem to care more about how many people they can brag about in their services, but don't seem to reach out to the community. In other words, they are being selfish and hypocritical because there are plenty of non-Christians doing their part to help the community.
I've observed that a lot of non-Christians are more benevolent towards other people than some Christians are - just out of human decency.
Of course, there needs to be a healthy mixture of both. If a church can accomplish evangelical goals while fulfilling its societal role, then it is leading by example, the same way Christ did by washing his disciples' feet.
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