Just Call Me a Tool

"Why is American culture so friendly to Islam?" friends often ask me. "The icons of US society are utterly and completely offended by Christianity! So why does Islam always get a pass?"

Here's my answer: "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." American elites consider Christianity the Archenemy. They resent us because we talk too much about self-control, purity, chastity, and eternity, and it hasn't escaped their notice that Islam resents us as well. So just like the Pharisees and the Herodians who united to oppose Jesus Christ, Hollywood and NYC are more than happy to elevate the Muslim religion at the expense of the Christian faith. If they can just get rid of Jesus, they figure Mohammed will be a piece of cake later on.

Nowhere is the clash of cultures between the World and the Church more evident than in the topic of authority. Rock legends and TV celebrities use the airways to champion the simple ethic of "Do your own thing!" There's a basic reason why motion pictures routinely make heroines out of prostitutes and strippers, and why TV talk shows headline the most sordid and excessive forms of behavior: nothing is normal. In a world that celebrates the civil right to express yourself and find your personal groove, there is no such thing as a norm.

And there is no such thing as a Lord! This is where Jesus Christ comes in, of course. As much as Americans would like to chill with someone of such notoriety, Jesus calls us to surrender and confess him!

• In John 14:15 he directs us, "If you love me, keep my commandments."
• In Matthew 11:28 he invites world weary men and women to submit to his yoke, using imagery that suggests oxen laboring for their master.
• In Luke 6:46 he asks "Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord' when you don't do what I say?"

Don't miss the irony here! The more Americans reject authority and insist on absolute personal liberty, the more powerless we feel. We allow callous, governments to assume more and more control over our lives, because existence is so compicated. We feel less able to maintain a healthy marriage, to train up our children, to face our problems, to find true satisfaction. We demand more and more options and alternatives because it feels as though nothing is really working!

I love that gospel account of the respected Roman centurion who asks Christ to heal a trusted servant who is extremely ill. When the Lord offers to follow the man to his house, the centurion replies, "Oh no, Lord. I'm not worthy to have you under my roof. Just speak the word and my servant will be healed." Then he goes on to explain that he is also a man under authority. Because he is under the authority of more powerful people, he can order his subordinates to go and they must go- not because he's so strong, but because of the authority of Rome. (See Matthew 8.) Jesus marvels at the insight reflected in that confession: the centurion realizes that Christ has power because he, too, is under the authority of Heaven.

The icons of evolution take pride in the idea that we humans are merely advanced flotsam and jetsam adrift in a random universe. Why should microscopic space dust like us aspire to meaning? But the Bible counters that we are precision tools custom fitted to a master craftsman's hands; organs perfectly designed for the Body of Christ. Only when we are connected, coordinated, and in sync with his divine mind do we finally understand why people need the Lord.

Selah!