“There is a…kind of temptation, which, I fear has not passed from me. Can it ever pass from me in all this life? It is the desire to be feared and loved by other men. Saint Augustine
We all want to be in the “in” crowd or as C.S. Lewis called it “The Inner Circle.” We have a desire to be in that circle of men who are accepted and adored. Christians are not immune to this. In fact, I would argue that the desire to be cool drives more men to leave Christ than almost anything else in our age.
And so it is not surprising that Paul Raushenbush, the senior religion editor at the Huffington Post, wants Christianity to be cool. In this article he declares that to his great delight Christianity has once again become cool. How did this marvelous transfer from the kingdom of uncool to the kingdom of cool take place? The Pope declared that he would not judge gays and Desmond Tutu declared that he would rather go to Hell than go to a Heaven with a homophobic God. For Raushenbush it has been a good week for Christianity. Finally, after years of bondage to fundamentalism (aka, the Bible), we can move on and make Jesus, God, and the Bible into our own cool image. Let me point you to a few things of note. (By the way, Al Mohler disputes that the Pope meant what the media and Raushenbush thought he meant.)
First, Raushenbush states very clearly what uncool Christianity is: women are not equal, haters of science, degrading to the LGBT community, suspicious of other faiths, and pro-military. In order for Christians to be cool again they must do the following: deny the Biblical roles of men and women, accept evolution as fact, accept climate change as fact, accept the LGBT without calling them to repent and change, and accept people of other faiths as good, spiritual, ethical people who are all on the stairway to Heaven. These things are battle lines. Here is where the world is attacking. So many Christians, especially pastors and seminary professors, want to fight other battles. Why? They are cowards and like Raushenbush they do not want to be thought of as uncool, backwards, fundamentalist, or traditional. If we refuse to speak out on these points we have run from the battle. Now of course, we can do this badly and in an unbiblical manner. Our desire should be to fight the battle in a way that pleases our Lord. But we must fight. And I would take a man who fights badly over a man who doesn’t fight at all.
Second, do not read the words through your own eyes. Read them through their eyes. Many Christians will say, “Well I would not want to go to a Heaven where God hates gays either.” But this is not what they are saying. When Desmond Tutu says, “homophobic” he does not mean hatred of gays, which most Christians in our day oppose. He means any refutation of sodomite lifestyles is unacceptable. When they say, “climate control” they do not mean “godly stewardship.” They mean population control through birth control and abortion. They mean refusing to take dominion. They mean hatred of God’s established order. They mean a pseudo-pantheism. Notice how his article ends. He invites his gay friends to a disco mass at his church. He notes how they enjoyed it and felt comfortable. Then he says they may never go to church again. “I don’t need them to become Christians.” In other words, he rejects everything Christianity is. He rejects Jesus, mercy, grace, Hell, judgment, the Trinity, and everything in between. When they talk about sodomy, climate control, etc. this is what they mean. Even the “pro-military” swipe, which I have some sympathy with, must be taken in context. Raushenbush does not mean what I mean when we talk about American foreign policy. The author establishes meaning, not the reader.
Third, men who teach these things are wolves. We do not like to say this. We waver. We shuffle our feet and look at the floor. We slink towards dialogue and compromise. But make no mistake. Men who long to be cool and yet still be Christian are hirelings. Men like Raushenbush, Tutu, Jim Wallis, Rob Bell, are butchers not shepherds. They hate the sheep, which Christ purchased with his own blood. (Acts 20:28) All around them sheep are bleeding and dying at their hands. One day they will be held accountable for the slaughter. The men who refuse to confront them will also be held accountable. (Ezekiel 34)
Finally, guard your own heart. Raushenbush is a lost fool bound for an eternity in darkness if he doesn’t repent. It is easy to say, “That will never be me.” But Saint Augustine understood the draw. He knew that his heart could easily be led astray by the desire to please men, the desire to be cool and powerful. The world seduces us with her images of cool, young, sexy people. Our hearts tell us we can follow Jesus and be one of the in crowd. I can follow Jesus and not deny myself . I can follow Jesus and still love the world and the things of the world. I can follow Jesus and still be hip. I can follow Jesus and still be adored by the secular scientific community. I can follow Jesus and not be thought of as bigot or homophobe or hater of women. Brothers and sisters, it is not true. Paul became like scum and refuse. (I Corinthians 4:13) Jesus himself became a man of no reputation. He was despised, afflicted, and not esteemed. (Isaiah 53:3) Our father in the faith, Moses, left the glories of Egypt to suffer affliction with the people of God and live with the reproach of Christ. (Hebrews 11:26) Let us guard our hearts for the lure to be counted among the cool does not just sit in Mr. Raushenbush’s heart. It sits in ours.<>
Well said, Peter.
So the way to save the faith is to turtle up, fear the outside, deny all new ideas, and make sure everyone knows that you are the only true Scotsmen. I don’t want to play God’s advocate here, but it doesn’t look like a winning strategy.
Also, I should have mentioned that you don’t actually have anything to worry about here. Christianity is not becoming more cool. Young people are leaving the faith in greater proportions than ever before. It wasn’t even cool win Raushenbush thinks it was cool. Christianity was last “cool” before the word had taken on its modern meaning. Raushenbush’s article may be the first time that Thomas Merton and cool have ever found themselves in the same sentence.
So, my point isn’t that worries are unfounded, they’re just misguided. As one who has left churches with views like yours, it has nothing to do with being cool. People are leaving churches like yours because, as you say, they see the way you view other people, the actions that you call loving, and the things that you believe, and they think that it’s “like scum and refuse.”