Extremes: Kevin H

So are only some of us predestined unto salvation and chosen by God or is God’s offer of salvation unconditionally available for any and all to choose to receive by their own free will?

Are we already in the millennium or do things need to keep getting better to usher in the millennium or are they going to keep getting worse before the millennium comes upon us?

And are baptism and the Lord’s Table sacraments or ordinances, all the more, what is the proper mode of baptism and should infants be baptized?

There are tons of theological issues that have long been debated by many in the Church.  Some issues have been widely agreed upon as essential to the faith, therefore, it is commonly accepted that one cannot deny the deity or bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ or deny the reality of the Trinity and still rightly call themselves a Christian.  These things are black and white in the Christian faith.  We can still be friends with those who may insist otherwise, but we cannot accept them into Christian fellowship.

Far many other issues, however, aren’t quite as clear or agreed upon, and people can hold a variety of opinions on them and still be considered Christian.  Yet, historically we know that there have been Christians and/or Christian bodies who have insisted, or at least acted like that their position is the only acceptable stance on these issues of lesser clarity and importance, and subsequently condemn those who believe otherwise, even to the extreme in some cases of killing people at the stake.  These believers have taken things that are varying shades of unsettled gray and colored them black and white, taking them to unnecessary and harmful extremes.

Taking things to the extreme is a very common practice in our culture today and it has been detrimental to society.  Worse yet, is that many of us who are supposed to be the salt of the earth and light of the world have enthusiastically joined in on these ruinous extremes.  Unfortunately, many Christians have contributed to the degradation of our society and the dishonor of our faith by doing so.  These Christians, rather than being salt and light, have instead in many ways have lost their saltiness and clamored for darkness.

For years I endured a church experience that flirted with the extremes on the application of theological beliefs and practices.  I regularly saw and heard condescension, if not even condemnation, towards those who worshipped in liturgical fashion, or didn’t take prophecy and the End Times seriously enough, or weren’t supportive enough of Israel, or believed that evolution could be possible, or didn’t teach the whole counsel of God (because they didn’t faithfully teach “verse by verse”), etc.  Such smugness and expression of extremes have long existed in the Church, many times far worse than what I experienced.

In recent times, however, it would appear that many in the Church additionally have been attracted to harsher extremes and increased black and white thinking regarding our culture and politics.  Salt and light have been traded for a measure of power, control, revenge, and self-satisfaction.

The Democrats are godless!

Biden is evil and Trump stands for righteousness!

Our country is going to hell in a handbasket and we need to get back to when it was great and righteous and Christian!

Illegal immigrants are destroying our country and turning it into a third world country!

COVID was all just a big scam and an attempt by the government and the elite to control us and steal our freedoms!

The election was stolen!

I could repeat the extreme mantras and attitudes from the other side of the political aisle which many times can be just as harmful, but the actuality is that there is nowhere near the quantity or voraciousness of mixing extremes with the Christian faith on the Political Left as there is on the Political Right.  Thus, I am primarily speaking to Christians and their churches and organizations on the Right that have gone hot and heavy in adopting extremes.

If I’m trying to save my child from a kidnapper who is actively trying to steal her, I will gladly employ whatever extremes necessary to save her.  There is a time and place for extreme activity, but discernment and well-being exhort us to employ them sparingly and judiciously.  What many Christians are doing today is anything but discerning, healthy, and wise, and the state of our society and the Church are all the worse for it.  That such a foolish, reprobate man as Donald Trump is so admired and acclaimed by so many Christians is more than enough proof that this is true.  May God have mercy on us.

“Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.” – Philippians 4:5

“Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.” – Titus 2:7-8

“Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.” – Revelation 3:19

Let us be zealous in our repentance and reasonable and thoughtful in our interaction with others and society.