By Pr. Alvaro Guachalla
In recent years we have experienced very difficult times in terms of politics, society and we have even had to face challenges in public health with the arrival of the pandemic. In the midst of all this and with the emergence of social media, society as a whole and also the Church found themselves immersed in what is known as the “cultural battle”, something that always existed because this is simply the battle for ideas that seek to dominate the behavior of society, governments and even churches.
However, in our time this battle has different characteristics to how it was carried out in other times in which it was often relegated to the academic field in universities and which later grew in influence when it reached the mass media and now it is a battle that is being fought not only in the places mentioned, but now the public square where ideas are discussed and promoted is in the palm of our hands because they are discussed and planted in the minds of each citizen through social media such as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Telegram among others. These are the places where people connect to get distracted but at the same time are bombarded with ideas, images, phrases, short videos full of information, comments of all kinds of people in all parts of the world.
This, whether we like it or not, is shaping the thinking and life of an entire generation, social media and the mass media are changing the ideas and practices of generations, which influences the political, social and even the spiritual realms. It’s in this way that large movements are initiated and many voices are silenced, governments are strengthened or weakened, ideas and doctrines are promoted, as well as others are persecuted and all this is shaping the kind of world we live in today and the world system we are heading to.
In all this the questions we must ask ourselves are: What is the role of the Christian in all this? What should be our role within the cultural battle and the different social events that surround us? To these questions unfortunately many times I hear answers that, like most mistakes in history, tend to go to extremes.
One of these extremes is passivity in the midst of all this chaos, many when seeing all the political and social events that surround us simply respond by saying: “We do not get involved in politics or issues like these, that is not our role, we just we must preach the gospel and pray ”. This answer, although it is not completely wrong, unfortunately it is not realistic and consistent with everything we find in Scripture regarding the responsibility of the people of God, something that I will explain later in this article.
At the same time, as I have already expressed, there is another extreme when we ask ourselves the question: What should our role be within the cultural battle and the different social events that surround us? This extreme is represented by people who believe that the Church should become an organization of social activism, leaving aside the preaching of the gospel and the simple but profound exposition of the Word.
For these people this is not enough because they think that the Church should be fighting to come to power, seeking social justice, training politicians, it should rebel against the authorities and even in some groups it is believed that the Church should demand that the Law of Moses be imposed on society through governments; they also argue that the government should be controlled by the Church as an institution, and it is thus that once again we find an answer that is not completely wrong but that unfortunately is not balanced with regard to the role of the Christian in society.
My proposal in this article is to present a balanced vision about the role that the Church and each individual Christian should play within the events that surround us and the cultural battle in which we find ourselves.
To begin, I would like to first define what the cultural battle is, for which we must first understand that culture is the set of ideas, traditions and customs that are cultivated in a nation, town, family or even social class, which are transmitted through the time and generations in a certain place, so the cultural battle is nothing more than the battle for the ideas that will have preeminence and will direct the actions of a society.
With this in mind now let me ask you, does the Church have no role in this battle to cultivate the thought and ideas of a given society? Brethren, the last time I read my Bible, I found that it affirms that the Church is “a pillar and buttress of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15). For this reason, I sincerely believe that this is more than enough to understand that the Church must play an important role in the construction of the ideas that will guide the behavior of society, since it is the Church which must uphold the truth according to apostle Paul’s instructions. At this point we must then define what is truth.
When speaking of the truth in Scripture perhaps most of the people remember what our Lord said in John 14:6 “I am the truth.” with which I completely agree. Jesus Christ is the incarnate truth, He is the foundation of the truth and even more: He himself is the truth, so the Church must hold the preaching of Christ and his gospel as something of the first and supreme importance, I fully agree with the preacher who said that “A sermon without Christ is like a day without sun or like a sea without water or a night sky without the moon and stars”, I believe in the words of the apostle when he said that he “decided not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2).
But let me remind you that the same apostle who would write those words would also touch on topics such as sexuality, marriage, government, employees and employers, work, the correct behavior of men and women, the role of youth, leadership in the Church, etc. which leads us to understand that the word “truth” in the broad context of the Bible refers to the Written Word of God in its entirety, Psalm 119: 160 says: “The sum of your Word is truth” Jesus Christ prayed saying: “Your Word is true” (John 17:17) and it is in this Word that we find the truth about God, man, family, society, government among many other issues that the Bible explicitly addresses.
Now, I don’t want to be misunderstood and have someone think that the message of Christ is not enough, but we can affirm that the message of Christ is intended to affect our understanding and practical life on all those issues. That is why I just mentioned that the same apostle who would say “I decided to know nothing more than Christ and him crucified” in his writings would not avoid talking about all the issues that concern the ideas that are the origin of our customs and traditions. In other words, Paul would not neglect seeking to change the culture of the people he wrote to, something that Jesus Christ himself did by debating and getting involved in controversies regarding the ideas and teachings of his time.
So, understanding that the Church is the pillar and buttress of the truth and that this truth is based on the message of the gospel but that it also encompasses all the written revelation that we now have, I ask: Where should the world turn to find the truth? Shouldn’t the Church be known for upholding the truth about God, men, women, family, the value of life, the kind of government that pleases God, and the way God wants society to be conducted among many other topics that the Bible addresses?
Brothers and sisters, we must understand that if the Church is the one that must uphold the truth then it is it’s duty to get involved in discussions that concern all the truth that God has revealed to us, at this point I recall the words of the late John Stott who in one of his lectures said: “If a house is dark it is not the fault of the house or the darkness, but of the lack of light”, a phrase that I cannot forget, as it confronted Christians with their lack of impact on society and its negligence in engaging in a society full of darkness.
John Stott expressed those words when exposing the commandment to be light and salt in this world, a command that we received directly from our Lord but that unfortunately is not reflected in the lives of many Christians and the church, since we see each day as the darkness advances in our world, we see how we are being invaded by doctrines that seek to destroy the family, the Church and the individual and unfortunately the attitude of many Christians is simply to complain and isolate themselves using prayer and the sovereignty of God as an excuse not to act. However, in Scripture we not only find the command to turn away from evil but also to expose or confront it. In Ephesians 5:11 we read: “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them”, it is in this way that we are not called to be passive when seeing the evil in our world but to expose it.
At this point I would like to use as support the concept of the renewal of mind that we are asked to have in Romans 12: 2, the mind being the source where ideas are shaped, ideas that ultimately control our behavior, what Paul is asking for in that passage is that we must first enter a cultural battle with ourselves, a battle that is fought by discarding preconceived ideas and behaviors and that by acquiring more knowledge and with the guidance of the Holy Spirit we understand that we must change, because there is still an old man in us accustomed to a way of life contrary to the truth of God, something that we must renew.
That is why in our Christian walk it becomes customary to recognize more failures or wrong ideas than when exposed to the Word of God come out to light and they are the foundation of a constant renewal within us, that is why in the Church we see people who once defended feminism and even participated in that movement but that when they knew Christ and his Word they had to abandon it. The same happens with people who get to know the truth and abandon all idolatry, immorality, or any form of thought and behavior that rose up against what God has revealed to us. According to his Word, this process in which we change the ideas and thoughts that govern our behavior (culture) as I have already said is something that happens to every true Christian, but could it be that all this change in the believer would remain secret and not influence their social environment?
Sincerely, with all that has been exposed up to this moment, it should be clear that this change of thought and behavior that the believer experiences not only has an individual purpose but also has the purpose of enlightening a society that is drowning in darkness, this being a battle that we are commanded to fight because let me remind you of the words of the apostle Paul:
“For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.”
2 Corinthians 10: 3-5
Paul clearly expresses to us that our struggle is to seek to destroy all lofty reasoning that rises up against the knowledge of God. Now, I recognize that the apostle Paul is dealing with the message of the gospel and its impact on the Corinthian Church, which is why I now propose to show what relationship the cultural battle has with the preaching of the gospel.
In the preaching of the gospel there is a fundamental part of the message which is to expose the sin of the listeners, that is why the greatest evangelist of the first century said: “For we have already charged that all are under sin” (Romans 3:9), and guess what? What we are doing when we get involved in the cultural battle: what we do is accuse the sin of those who have deviated from what God commands in his Word regarding any of the issues already mentioned. Jesus Christ himself did this because we read in the Gospels:
“The world cannot hate you,
John 7:7
but it hates me because I testify
about it that its works are evil.”
This, dear brothers, is the part of the gospel, which has sadly been lost in our day. However, despite the negligence of many in giving a complete message, the Bible clearly commands us to confront sin with the goal that people understand its evil and understand their need for a savior.
When we get involved in the cultural battle, the battle for ideas and practices in our society from a Christian worldview that is exactly what we are doing, that is why the prophets in the Old Testament did not hesitate to rebuke sin not only individual but that of an entire nation and its rulers, that is also why we see in the New Testament someone like John the Baptist confront Herod Antipas with his immorality, that is why we see the psalmist call the rulers not to rebel against Christ and submit to Him (Psalm 2).
It is at this point that we find a characteristic in the mission of the Christian that no one else in the world will have, because everyone in society discusses ideas just for the sake of imposing the ideologies that each one defends, but we do not. Our motive is soteriological, our goal is that governments, society, families and individuals understand their evil and in that way guide them to the Savior.
Before concluding, I would like to address and confront those who still do not believe that Christians should be involved in the battle for ideas, let me tell you that your family, Church and yourself are and will be affected by the battle that is being waged by all days in our society. Perhaps you do not believe that as Christians we have this responsibility, but I assure you that those who teach falsehoods every day in universities, on the streets, on social media or on television, they do believe that it is their responsibility to influence with their ideas and teachings to your children, your community and even your Church, and they will do everything in their power to make this happen, that is why today we see so many Churches that allowed themselves to be subjugated by feminist, progressive, evolutionist, Marxist ideologies, and even by the immorality of the LGBTQI+ community.
This is because we have abandoned or perhaps ignored that the Bible tells us not to hide our light but to shine in the midst of darkness, to uphold the truth in the midst of deception, and to individually and collectively confront sin seeking that it is “They shall turn to you, but you shall not turn to them.” (Jeremiah 15:19)
