Tuesday, April 7, 2020

For Some, the Current Crisis is Merely an Authoritarian Test Run

But apathy about cancel culture is very damaging to the Christian cause. Christianity is supposed to be spread by persuasion. If people are to become Christians, they have to be persuaded of the truth that the crucified and risen Jesus Christ is the divine saviour of the world from sin and its consequence – which, according to the Bible, is eternal death. As the Apostle Paul summarised the Christian message in his letter to the Romans in the New Testament: ‘For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.’ How can people be persuaded of this wonderful message of salvation if the persuaders are not allowed to speak freely and publicly?
When the mayor of New York states he can "permanently" close Christian and Jewish houses of worship [he can't, of course, but note that the specificity of his dictatorial desire is limited to only two of NYC's several religions] and there is no vigorous response from our leadership, that is a semaphore of their acquiescence and surrender.  In fact, there almost seems to be a gleam in the eyes of some of the church's powers-that-be when they state that this pale, wan, desiccated thing that is "remote worshipping" is the future of the church.

Please, you just want to sit on your prat at home and show off your book collection as a background set.  By all means, Mrs. Future, pursue that course.  The rest of us will re-build a muscular, active sense of worship that actually permits people to be together.  Then we'll show you what the future looks like.