How The World Views The Church

The world has always viewed the Church as a part of society which is out of step or not in tune with those outside of the Church. How the world views the Church is important for Christians to understand. We need to understand why they would consider the Church or Christians the way they do. Christians must also understand what they believe about the Church, Christianity or individual Christians. Are those people who are not saved really in opposition to our Biblical world view? Do they consider us as ignorant, uninformed bigots and narrow minded fools?

Let's consider for a moment who we are talking about on both ends of this discussion. First, the Church is made up of the Christians in this world or on this planet. Christians, true Christians, are those who have believed Jesus Christ died on a cross to pay the price for their sin with His shed blood. There are many people who claim to be Christian but have not accepted this truth concerning Jesus. I do not include these people in the Church because they are not truly saved.

The other side are those who are not saved. They might be people who live a good clean life or they might be atheists who hate and detest anything concerning God. Many unbelievers don't care one way or another. But there are many who absolutely hate the mention of the names God or Jesus. They will go into a rant at the sound of those names. They will proclaim Christians to be bigots, fools and liars. Recently, John Piper came under attack by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation for his latest book, Coronavirus and Christ. It was read by an Army Chaplain in Korea and he emailed it to the chaplains under his command. Well, 22 of these chaplains were upset about him emailing this material to them and they contacted the MRFF. The head of the MRFF is Mikey Weinstein and he referred to Piper's book as drivel. That's a lot of Army Chaplains who are opposed to receiving Christian material. Of course, not all chaplains in the Army are Christians only anymore.

Now, we are facing a virus and pandemic which has affected far too many people just in this country alone. It has led to massive shut downs by state governors which has led to an economical collapse and has also put society in a very sensitive position on many levels. But now, many states are beginning to allow businesses and recreational facilities to reopen. Some have allowed the churches in those states to reopen but some have not. Many Christians in many states haven't been to an 'in person' church service for over two months and their respective state governments refuse to allow churches to open for live services. This has led to some churches opening against their state's shut down orders and others have filed law suits to have the right to open.

This alone has brought about a schism within the Church with some Christians opposed to opening while others support it. That would be fine if it didn't include the remarks and comments directed at both sides. A group of churches in California have decided they will open on May 31st and against the states shut down order. And, there is disagreement on this decision by those who believe the Church should be obedient to the ruling authorities as it states in Romans 13. It's not just in the state of CA we see this argument but across the nation. Why would Christians attack one another over something like this. If your state allows church services and you don't feel safe, then don't attend. If you feel safe attending, then go. But don't attack the other's opinion or action. I live in Texas; we are allowed to attend live church services. My son-in-law is a pastor in California and has made his decision not to open against the shut down order. I have friends in that state who have decided to go ahead and open against the shut down order. I respect each one's decision but I will not be critical of any of them. I don't live in CA so I don't have to make those decisions.

So, what does the world have to say about all of this? How do they view these decisions to open against shut down orders? Allow me to paraphrase some of the comments I read after reading an article concerning this. And remember these are not word for word but the intent of the comments are. "I hope they all get in there nice and cozy next to each other and get the virus and die." "How stupid can these people be to believe in a fairy in the sky. They all deserve the virus." " They are ignorant and refuse to listen to the science." "They need to open to put more money in the collection plates" And this last one which I copied, "I am not religious, so perhaps I'm missing something - but why can't folks worship at home? Does their God require congregation for salvation?"

The last comment is a question from a person who is not saved and it sounds like a legitimate question. The answer, of course, is no, we don't have to be in a church building to be saved. But the one I want to zero in on is the one which says Christians have to follow the science or listen to science. This is not an idea that has popped up as a result of this virus. Although it has been used so much it has become a mantra by the secular society. And, Christians for a long time have been labeled as ignorant bigots or just simply ignorant. The New Atheists movement uses this always when referring to Christians and anything. Just believe the science. What they are saying, really, is Christians believe in a fairy tale God who doesn't exist and they refuse to believe anything scientific. They just don't believe in science. And of course, many in the secular society have picked up on this and are saying the same thing about Christians when speaking about the pandemic and the virus.

But at the risk of sounding rude, they are the ones who are ignorant. They are ignorant of believing in the God who created science. The God who spoke this universe and the world we live in into existance. The fist chapter of Genesis speaks about the creative process he used and the science of it. The book of Proverbs and Job speak of science. And, to say all Christians are ignorant and have sub intelligence levels is absurd. I will mention a few men who are/were intellectual genusis'. I'm sure most Christians are familiar with the late C.S. Lewis who was an atheists before coming to a saving knowledge of Christ in his life. He was brilliant in the way he intertwined the gospel in his writings of The Tales of Narnia.

There is Henry and John Morris each with a Ph.D to their credit and their ministry, Creation Research Institute. Of course Henry is no longer with us but he is the one who established this ministry which has been a major help in the study of God's creation versus evolution and the Big Bang theory. And, I'd like to mention one more name which some might not be as familiar with, A.E. Wilder-Smith. I mention him because of his brilliance and his study and accomplishments in the world of science. All of these mentioned names are names of men who have all made vast accomplishments in the world of science in one way or another. But Wilder-Smith may stand a little taller than the others. He held three doctorates in the field of science and a Ph.D. I once heard a speaker make the following comment, "I listened to A.E. Wilder-Smith speak for two minutes and he flushed my six figure education right down the drain." The man had been an atheist with strong belief in evolution.

A.E. Wilder Smith had sat in on C.S. Lewis lectures. He had a strong desire and determination to discover how this world was created by science when he realized it was an intelligent being, who he later realized was God, who had created the universe. So, it was the result of his advanced education in science which led him to believe and know that God is real and bring him to a saving faith in Jesus Christ. So, I say to those in the world today, Christians do believe in science. Christians do follow the science. But Christians don't follow or believe the world's version of the science and for that, we are labeled as people who don't believe the science.

The world is blinded to the truth; as Christians, we know, as we look back, we didn't know or understand anything about God before we were saved nor did we want to. The world is going to see us the way they want to or the only way they understand. If they had the knowledge of the Holy Spirit, they would be saved and able to understand God's word. But that only happens when we are saved and the Spirit dwells within us. We don't have to be a C.S. Lewis or a Wilder-Smith. We simply need to know what the Bible teaches us. And be ready to explain why you believe in Jesus (1 Pet 3:15-16). And remember, allow the Holy Spirit within you to do the work. It's not an argument to be won, it's simply about telling them who Jesus is and what He has done in your life and for you. There will always be those in this world who will have a deep hatred for Christians and the Church but remember, they simply don't know who God is and they won't until a Christians tells them.