Marvin Olasky, editor-in-chief of World Magazine, publishes must-read insight into the winsome world view that Christians can display, which should resonate in any discipline in life. Olasky argues that Christians ought to argue what they are for and not just what they are against in keeping with a paradigm much like Paul’s at Mars Hill. Like Paul, we are to firmly reason with principle and truth, but not to be content with showman symbolic victories (i.e. Paul truthfully advocated that the Greeks had a Creator while he didn’t attempt to decimate their temples). In the same way, Christians should be more concerned with being winsome advocates by realizing that the Good News is that the gospel is for sinners, not to win political victories over them. This is not the stuff of compromise. Olasky says that Christians are:
Instructed to take the gospel to all nations and not concentrate on defending one, Christians were free to evangelize and admit to church membership anyone who confessed faith in Christ, regardless of pedigree, past sins, race, or ethnicity. Would some get in who should not, and as a result would the visible church display visible sin? Absolutely, but a Christian understanding of the omnipresence of sin makes even the best screen only as effective as bed nets against malarial mosquitoes in Africa: they will find a way to get in.
Christian conservatives need to apply such thinking to our political processes. In discussing American conservatism a football metaphor seems appropriate: Better to win the game 35-14 than to emphasize the avoidance of mistakes so that the best we can hope for is a 3-3 tie.
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