In this heightened political season, there are many, including some Christians, who believe the fate of the nation rises and falls on the outcome of November’s presidential election. That is not to say that politics and elections are inconsequential—the nation prospers from good leaders and suffers from the inept—but are government and political leaders really the hope or ruin of a nation?

Regarding politicians and their influence upon the nation, consider two examples. Abraham Kuyper was a prominent Dutch theologian and journalist who served as prime minster of the Netherlands from 1901 to 1905. Kuyper was arguably one of the greatest Christian thinkers of the twentieth century. His dissertations on the application of Christian thought to the whole of life and culture are among the greatest expressions of the Christian worldview; yet despite being one of the most notable Christian political figures in history, his administration was unable to halt the spiritual and moral decline of the Netherlands.

The other example in our survey is Adolf Hitler, who was arguably the most evil political tyrant ever. In less than six years, Hitler would lead the German people into a vision that would force the whole world into an apocalyptic conflagration, killing more than 50 million human beings. Here again, politics are not inconsequential. However, despite such a wicked ruler, Germany survived and quickly returned to being a major economic power.

So what are we to make of these two comparisons, one godly, the other evil? Both seem to have had little long-term effect on the course of their respective nations. Perhaps politicians and political parties are not the saviors we perceive them to be. Driven by concerns over that which plagues our culture, I think we often live and think as if the right political arrangement will “heal” the nation.  However, Jacques Ellul, the twentieth-century Christian philosopher and theologian—himself involved in French politics—rightly points out that politics can at most put “bandages on the wound; it cannot eradicate the source of man’s affliction” (Jacques Ellul, The Political Illusion, p. 234).

If you know anything about me, you know that I am an ardent advocate of cultural and social engagement. I am socially and fiscally conservative; I’m a veteran and patriot and I believe we have a civic duty to participate in the democratic process. So I am not calling for a withdrawal from politics. I am merely suggesting that we have come to rely almost exclusively on political means rather than spiritual means to reform the culture.

I think this is due, in large part, to the fact that politics provides a significant object of interest, able to occupy our thoughts and discussions while really requiring very little of us. We watch the news, read the blogs, listen to the various pundits, wring our hands and fret—but to what end? I know right now who I will vote for in November and I suspect most of you do as well. That process will take me approximately 30 minutes of one day and yet it is possible to spend nearly every waking hour obsessing over the issues and the candidates. My inbox is filled daily with such fascinations. Unless we are actually working in the political realm, why should we spend any time lamenting the issues when doing so does not produce one iota of substantive effect? In this sense, politics can become a major distraction from the Christian’s true purpose and calling. Ironically, it is the liberal who believes in the primacy of politics as the instrument of cultural and social change. For the Christian, it is the gospel! Ellul reminds us that “an unbiased and unprejudiced reading of the Bible shows that converting men to their Lord is the work Christians are called to do” (Ellul, 234).

In Paul’s letter to Timothy, he encourages the young preacher to “endure hardship … like a good soldier of Christ Jesus,” pointing out that “no one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs…” (2 Tim. 2:3–4, NIV). Matthew Henry’s commentary on this passage makes the point that all Christians are soldiers in the Lord’s army and as such, we “must not entangle ourselves with those affairs, so as by them to be diverted and drawn aside from our duty to God and the great concerns of our Christianity.”

Again, I am not saying that being a Christian and having political interest or activity is incompatible; I’m not saying that Christians have no place in politics. I think theologian Donald Bloesch correctly delineates the “great concern[s] of our Christianity” when he writes, “The apostolic mandate is to preach the Gospel, not a political program, but this Gospel has tremendous social and political repercussions” (Bloesch, Essentials of Evangelical Theology, Vol. 2, p. 167). Bloesch is stressing that the political implications of Christianity are indeed important; however, they follow the gospel and the conversion of lost souls. The church must always remain focused on the latter, teaching converts to be disciples, with one dimension of discipleship being social service, which includes politics.

It may be that we are attracted to and over-reliant on politics because it offers a means of cultural engagement without hardship. It’s engagement in the world with ease and without personal cost. We can occupy ourselves so much so that we feel like we’re doing something; we convince ourselves that through this activity we are defending God’s honor and standing for truth. But it’s often just a diversion. In reality, we are standing at a distance from the battle. We’re not actually in it; we’re merely observing while others wade into the muck that is the fallen world. I spend almost every Tuesday in prison where I disciple men whose lives have been nearly ruined by sin and neither politician nor any political scheme can heal their affliction. It is here that light conquers the darkness—in the mud and blood and suffering that sin has wrought—and it is there that we bear witness to God’s amazing grace that transforms people and nations.  

It is the Lord who determines the fate of the nations and it is in Him that we trust. Jesus is the Savior of the world, not any politician or political program. And our calling is to love the Lord, our God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength, to love our neighbors as ourselves and to make disciples of all nations. It is nothing less than the pursuit of that which Jacques Ellul says “seems impossible to us: the conversion of an entire population and its government” (Ellul, The Meaning of the City, p. 69).

So we will cast our votes this coming November. But in the meantime, let us not be diverted from our duty to God by an unholy reliance upon politics and politicians.

© 2008 by S. Michael Craven

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S. Michael Craven is the founder and President of the Center for Christ & Culture. The Center for Christ & Culture is dedicated to renewal within the Church and works to equip Christians with an intelligent and thoroughly Christian approach to matters of culture in order to recapture and demonstrate the relevance of Christianity to all of life. For more information on the Center for Christ & Culture, additional resources and other works by S. Michael Craven visit: www.battlefortruth.org

Michael lives in the Dallas area with his wife Carol and their three children.

Last week I wrote about how the moral descent of the American “empire” closely parallels that of ancient Rome. In the Roman Empire, as sexual activity increased beyond the confines of legal marriage, sexual profligacy worsened, sexual perversion was normalized, and the societal benefits of marriage disappeared. Family dissolution increased—fracturing the cornerstone of society—crime exploded, productivity and creativity diminished, cynicism and apathy ensued; the Empire began to crumble.

I also pointed out that Roman officials, recognizing the societal danger of such licentiousness, enacted laws in an effort to arrest the sexual extravagance and decline of marriage. Unfortunately, these laws had little effect as the moral consensus, which was accepting of these behaviors, was well-entrenched within the culture at large.

Unlike the Romans, however, we once had a number of laws in place that were designed to protect marriage by penalizing “crimes against marriage” through adultery and fornication laws. Public policy was supported by the moral consensus that sex was exclusive to marriage. These laws have been ignored or abolished in recent years as the moral consensus has shifted. Later, no-fault divorce was established, which ushered in the era of easy divorce and, along with it, the highest family dissolution rates in the world. As a result, marriage in America has become a “loose and voluntary compact” as it did in ancient Rome. This is particularly true among those under age 35, of which more than two-thirds now cohabitate prior to marriage; the number of unmarried families has increased steadily since the 1970s.

So, here in the face of redefining marriage to now include couples of the same sex, it seems unlikely that we will be able to arrest the ongoing erosion of marriage, when over the course of the last fifty years we have been removing the very protections that have brought us to this point. The current moral consensus simply does not appear to support the desired public policy and the church is largely compromised (which I will get to). Regardless, we should make every effort to pass those measures that promote the well-being of individuals and society.

Returning to our historical analysis, it was at the pinnacle of Roman debauchery that the Christian church appeared. And as I noted last week, one historian observed, “There was nothing in which they [the Romans] did not indulge or which they thought a disgrace.” The apostle Paul, writing to the fledgling church in Rome, commented on the condition as well when he wrote, “…they became fools … because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator [sexual idolatry] … God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those contrary to nature; and men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men … God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness and evil…” (Romans 1:22–29). Roman culture had, by this time, descended into a sexually obsessed state in which every form of perversion became permissible.

It was into this sexually immoral environment that Christians would bring forth a radically different sexual ethic. Believing that sex between unmarried men and women was a violation of the commandment against adultery, the early Christians took seriously the words found in the epistle to the Hebrews that said, “The marriage bed should be honored by all, and … kept pure” (Hebrews 13:4). So strong was the influence of this Christian “creative minority” that by the fourth century, the Roman emperor Constantine “revolutionized the state’s view of marriage in order to bring it more into line with Christian ideas” (Schmidt, How Christianity Changed the World, p. 85). This was the establishment of what we now know as “traditional marriage,” the cornerstone of Western civilization for more than 1600 years—and we owe it all to the early Christians who refused to conform to the world. Famed historian Edward Gibbon noted in his classic History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, “The dignity of marriage was restored by the Christians” (Decline and Fall, p. 813).

The concern for the Christian today is that unlike our first- and second-century brothers and sisters, the church all too often appears similar to the surrounding culture. This is especially true among the forthcoming generation. As Christianity Today reports, “Specific studies of sexual trends among Christian teens have been limited, but all indications are that, on average, there is little difference between their sexual behavior and that of non-Christian youths…” (Jennifer Parker, “The Sex Lives of Christians,” Mar/Apr 2003). Mark Regenerus, a sociologist and a Christian, published a study last year called Forbidden Fruit: Sex and Religion in the Lives of American Teens. Regenerus’s study reveals that evangelical teens may actually be having premarital sex at younger ages and more frequently than their nonevangelical counterparts.

Ironically, one of the most talked about subjects in today’s culture is sex and yet it is probably one of the least talked about in our churches. Is it any wonder that the next generation has adopted the values of the culture rather than those of the church when it comes to sex? Knowing this, what hope does the church have of restoring the dignity of marriage?

We need to reclaim the subject of sex by giving our young people a comprehensive theology of sex that is defined in terms of relationship, rather than merely a physical act. We must move beyond our prudishness that simply teaches teens what not to do and celebrate the gift of sex as God intended it to be. The biblical view of sex as the ultimate integrating expression of two persons united physically, psychologically, and spiritually in marriage is superior to the world’s shallow and superficial alternative. But until we start teaching and demonstrating the superiority of biblically defined sex, our young people and the world will likely continue to “exchange the truth of God for [the] lie.”

© 2008 by S. Michael Craven

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S. Michael Craven is the founder and President of the Center for Christ & Culture. The Center for Christ & Culture is dedicated to renewal within the Church and works to equip Christians with an intelligent and thoroughly Christian approach to matters of culture in order to recapture and demonstrate the relevance of Christianity to all of life. For more information on the Center for Christ & Culture, additional resources and other works by S. Michael Craven visit: www.battlefortruth.org

Michael lives in the Dallas area with his wife Carol and their three children.

A Study of History by Arnold J. Toynbee (1889-1975) is acknowledged as one of the “greatest achievements of modern scholarship.” Toynbee’s book, huge in scale, achieved wide prominence but he was more admired by the history reading public than by his fellow historians, who criticized him for contorting information to fit his alleged patterns of history. I believe this criticism stems largely from the fact that Toynbee likely viewed the patterns of history through the redemptive theme of Scripture.

In A Study of History, Toynbee details the rise and decline of 23 civilizations about which he wrote, “Of these, sixteen are dead and nine of the remaining ten—all, in fact, except our own are shown to have already declined.” He did suggest then that we may have passed our zenith. Were he alive today he would likely move Western civilization into the category of those in decline.

Toynbee’s over-arching analysis centered on the moral and religious challenges within a given society, and the response to such challenges, as the reason for the health or decline of a civilization. He described parallel life cycles of growth, dissolution, a “time of troubles,” a universal state, and a final collapse leading to a new genesis. Toynbee argues that our own time of troubles began during the eighteenth-century Enlightenment, which produced a tolerance, “based not on the Christian virtues of faith, hope, and charity but on the Mephistophelian (devilish schemes) maladies of disillusionment, apprehension, and cynicism.”

I dare say that these devilish schemes have, with nearly unabated force, led us to the tolerance of that which was once thought to be morally repugnant such as abortion, pornography, sexual licentiousness and most recently the legitimization of homosexuality at the expense of marriage.
Toynbee added that civilizations arose in response to some set of challenges of extreme difficulty prompting “creative minorities” to devise solutions that would reorient the entire society. When a civilization responds to challenges, it grows. Conversely civilizations declined when their leaders stopped responding creatively or with wisdom. Our culture today is rife with moral and religious challenges and scarcely do our “leaders” demonstrate any coherent understanding of the challenges much less offer real wisdom. Today, the emphasis tends toward technique and methodology instead of real and biblical wisdom. Toynbee points out that in the wake of an inadequate response, the civilizations in question then sank owing to either nationalism, militarism or the tyranny of a despotic minority.

It seems we, as a nation, have sunk to the level in which a “despotic minority” is in the process of reorienting our entire society, that minority being those who advocate a natural and now constitutional right to homosexual behavior. Recent decisions in California and New York demonstrate that the line in defense of traditional marriage continues to erode. While citizens in California were successful in placing a defense of marriage amendment to California’s Constitution on the November ballot, it remains to be seen whether or not the measure will pass.

At the heart of this debate lies the question, “Why does it matter?” Those for homosexual marriage claim that the inclusion of gays in the marital relationship will not affect anyone else and in doing so, the sky surely won’t fall! Those opposed argue that the very act of redefining marriage will ultimately render the institution meaningless and thus nullify its essential societal benefits.

Here again history offers invaluable insight. In Gibbon’s famous History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire we learn that the breakdown in sexual morality began after the Punic Wars ended in 146 B.C. In the ensuing years, sexual immorality became so widespread that it threatened the institution of marriage. As one historian noted, “There was nothing in which they [the Romans] did not indulge or which they thought a disgrace.” So severe was the effect on marriage and society that Caesar Augustus enacted lex Julia de Adulteriis in 18 B.C., a law aimed at curbing the people’s licentious behavior. Unfortunately this law had little effect and the descent continued. I think laws protecting marriage today, while I support them, will fail similarly because they cannot arrest the broader moral decline. 

Alvin J. Schmidt, Illinois College professor of sociology, points out that as a result of sexual extravagance, “Roman marriages had greatly deteriorated; they had become a loose and voluntary compact and religious and civil rites were no longer essential.” (How Christianity Changed the World, p. 80) In essence, marriage became meaningless and its accompanying societal benefits disappeared. Family dissolution increased, fracturing the cornerstone of society, crime exploded, productivity and creativity diminished, cynicism and apathy ensued; the Empire began to crumble.

As if blind to the past, the American Empire (with great support from activist judges) is now following the Roman road to self destruction, proving again what Toynbee said, “Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder.” However, that was not the end of the story, for out of the collapse of one kingdom there arose another kingdom without end: the Kingdom of God. Despite the sexual anarchy of the Roman world, the Christian church (representing the Kingdom of God) stood in stark contrast to the decaying culture and would go on to prosper and flourish while the former would fall. This is the “new genesis” that Toynbee observed, which would proceed to shape and build a better civilization to come. Not perfect but a society in which Christianity would rise to become the dominant religious and moral influence, an influence that at its best would subdue evil and promote peace, mercy and justice!

Just like the Christians of latter day Rome, we may not see the salvation of our temporal civilization. Morally and spiritually, this nation may continue to deteriorate, ushering in an insurmountable host of deleterious effects. On the other hand, the Lord may pour out His mercy upon this nation as he has in prior Great Awakenings. Toynbee himself observed that within history, this cyclical pattern of rise and fall has been broken. Regardless of what the Lord in His providence may do, our mission and calling remains the same: “be diligent to be found by Him without spot or blemish…” (2 Peter 3:14)

Next week, I will address the “spotted” nature of the church as one possible cause of our ineffectiveness in arresting the culture’s moral decline.

© 2008 by S. Michael Craven

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S. Michael Craven is the founder and President of the Center for Christ & Culture. The Center for Christ & Culture is dedicated to renewal within the Church and works to equip Christians with an intelligent and thoroughly Christian approach to matters of culture in order to recapture and demonstrate the relevance of Christianity to all of life. For more information on the Center for Christ & Culture, additional resources and other works by S. Michael Craven visit: www.battlefortruth.org

Michael lives in the Dallas area with his wife Carol and their three children.

Adolf Hitler once said, “It is the luck of rulers when men do not think.” The writer of Proverbs underscores this truth by saying, “Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse.” (2:12) This begs the question; what role does the intellect and scholarship have in our faith? What role does a consciously Christian education play in seeking first, the kingdom?

Scripture makes it quite clear that God places a high value on knowledge, wisdom, and understanding and by implication, the education necessary to obtaining it. Proverbs chapter 4 says “Lay hold of my words with all your heart; keep my commands and you will live. Get wisdom and understanding … Though it cost you all you have, get understanding.”

The Bible goes on to prescribe understanding as a protection against sin: “The woman Folly is loud; she is undisciplined and without knowledge. She sits at the door of her house, …calling out to those who pass by, ‘Let all who are simple come in here!’ she says to those who lack judgment, ‘stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious! But little do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of the grave.”(Prov 9:13-18).

God has made mankind in His image, meaning; we are endowed with certain attributes which are characteristic of God such as creativity, compassion, love and so on. God has also endowed us with intellect. In other words, God has given us the ability to reason and think; it is the mind that is designed to rule the flesh; it is reason informed by biblical revelation that should guide our passions. However, our minds were born corrupt and are therefore also in need of redemption or renewal. (cf. Rom 12:1-2) This too, implies education.

Earlier in our nation’s history, it was the Christian life and worldview that dominated social and cultural life – almost every aspect of American life and culture was shaped by the Christian worldview. Christian values and principles formed the social and moral consensus and the institutions of culture were largely led by Christians. This was due, in large part, to the educational system of their day, which was rooted in the Christian interpretation of reality.

Every university established within the first century of American independence was done so by the various Protestant denominations or Catholic Church. This commitment to intellectualism, scholarship, and academia was a fundamental part of the church and central to the religious life of that day. This was not an unintentional act by a culture that just happened to be religious. That generation of Christians understood and fulfilled the biblical mandate to exercise dominion, to advance the kingdom of God, and to be salt and light, and thus they did so with determined, and I might add, competent effort. They understood that Christians had a duty in a literate world to be among the intellectual elite and that by being educated they would, in turn, shape the culture and show forth the kingdom of God.

Contrast that with the state of the American Church today. Not only have we surrendered virtually every culture-shaping institution -- we have essentially abandoned this once-held commitment to developing the Christian mind. Numerous studies reveal astonishing levels of both biblical and theological ignorance so it isn’t surprising to learn that less than 4% of American adults have a biblical worldview as the basis of their decision-making, according to Barna Research.

Therefore, the degradation of American culture that has taken place over the last fifty years shouldn’t surprise us – this is the natural consequence of a culture in which the biblical view of life and reality—rooted in the redemptive mission of God—has been replaced by alternative systems of human thought—interpretations of reality which are rooted in the redemptive efforts of man.

To the graduating class of 2008, the vast majority of your peers are intellectually ill-equipped to defend their faith against the formidable onslaught now common to the university, much less thrive and grow as Christians. With the loss of Christian influence within our culture-forming institutions over the last century, there has been a fundamental shift in this nation’s public philosophy. Every aspect of public life and culture has been thoroughly and almost completely secularized. This is the world into which you now go. It is a world in which, the whole current of the age is arranged against those, who today, bear the Christian faith.

This may sound like a bleak and foreboding future. However, it is the truth. Nonetheless, Christians, throughout the ages, have faced far more difficult circumstances. These “thinking” Christians, with fearless fortitude, and intellectual commitment bore witness to the in-breaking reign of God (i.e. the gospel) producing great social and cultural change. This is the task, which now falls to you!

You stand upon the precipice of adult independence ─ preparing to cross over the Jordan, as it were, to take possession of the land. For those who plan to continue their formal education, I would say this: determine now what the “purpose” of what your education will be. You can, like the world, pursue education as merely a means to an end – in other words: a job. This is a shallow purpose, which tends to reduce the object of life to nothing more than acquiring personal peace and financial security.

However, the goal of learning, wrote the great Christian poet Milton, “is to repair the ruins of our first parents.” I challenge you to make this your goal as you pursue higher education. Use this time to gain wisdom, to better understand the culture in which you live, and form a consciously Christian approach to life and reality so that you may serve God’s redemptive purposes in the world.

I would also challenge you to pursue Christ with reckless abandon -- risk your whole life on the reality of eternity! Take no small steps in service to your King, but bold strides that challenge the world’s careless and casual dismissal of her Lord and Savior. Whatever direction your studies may take you, whatever career you may assume – whether it be education, politics, the law, science, technology, media, the fine arts, or business – pursue these areas as one who is on mission to incorporate these spheres into God’s kingdom.

These words from Deuteronomy, chapter 30 seem a fitting conclusion on this momentous occasion in your lives:


To the graduating class of 2008 – I challenge you – take possession of the land you are about to enter and claim it in the name of Christ, for His glory and his Kingdom. This, I assure you, will lead to a truly successful life, rich with purpose and meaning.

© 2008 by S. Michael Craven

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S. Michael Craven is the founder and President of the Center for Christ & Culture. The Center for Christ & Culture is dedicated to renewal within the Church and works to equip Christians with an intelligent and thoroughly Christian approach to matters of culture in order to recapture and demonstrate the relevance of Christianity to all of life. For more information on the Center for Christ & Culture, additional resources and other works by S. Michael Craven visit: www.battlefortruth.org

Michael lives in the Dallas area with his wife Carol and their three children.