Been painfully working my way through Russell Moore’s book Losing Our Religion. Heard this section on my Kindle in the car today. Seemed fitting in all sorts of ways:
Pay Attention to Means, Not Just to Ends. As you think through your own witness, consider what’s really going on when a great deal of what now passes for evangelical Christianity says that “turn the other cheek” and “winsomeness” won’t work. The argument is often that such things are fine for a “neutral culture,” but not in this, a “hostile culture.” Never mind that the Sermon on the Mount was not delivered in Mayberry, but in Roman-occupied territory. Crucifixion seems hostile. When the centurions of the biblical story start to look more valiant to us than the crucified, then maybe our culture wars have taken us away from the cross and toward something else. If the American church thinks “turn the other cheek” is surrender and weakness, then wait until they hear “take up your cross and follow me.”
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In recent years, it has become popular—especially among a certain kind of fundamentalist Calvinist on social media—to mock the idea of “winsomeness” in Christian witness. As I was writing this page, one figure did so, attacking a revered elder evangelical, as he was in the hospital being treated for terminal cancer. The point was that “winsomeness” doesn’t work in these times. Now, the argument goes, the only effective measure is a gloves-off “fighting” evangelicalism, of the sarcastic and condemnatory sort. The idea is that this figure—and those who similarly seek to treat outsiders with respect and gentleness—does so because it “works.” Almost no consideration is given to the fact that perhaps what is being sought is not “winsomeness” as a strategy but the following of Christ . The commands to “gentleness” and “reasonableness” as well as that a person crucify “quarrelsomeness” and a “craving for controversy” are on almost every page of the New Testament.
…Sometimes we must be ready to “speak a word” into a controversy, but often what is called for is for someone to model the different way of valuing his or her own soul over having something to say. When it comes to those for whom quarreling is a way of life, the way to win is not to win at their game but to play a different game altogether. If you conform to Christ only when the culture is “neutral” enough to allow you to win on their terms, then Jesus is not Lord and you are not his disciple. You are Lord and he is your disciple. Just as culture-warring is easier than conversion, influence is easier than integrity.
(Bookshare edition in Calibre: 74%)