in my defense...

i listen to talk radio all the time. all music radio stations in atlanta suck, and i find that either learning something or defining how i feel about something at least makes my drive worth it both to and from work. one show that i've discovered lately is The Bible Answer-man on 970 AM at 6:00. The guy's amazing. I think he has the whole Bible memorized and people call and ask him theological questions and he gives them answers from memory. Most of the time I really like his answers and enjoy the show, but on occasion his show turns into a commercial for a product that his company, the Christian Reseach Institute, is selling. He'll have a guest on that wrote a book or created a computer program or whatever the product is to talk about the merits of that product and explain how necessary it is.

On Wednesday he had a man named Greg Koukl on the show to talk about his new product Tactics in Defending the Faith. It's a CD and DVD set to help Christians argue the merits of Christianity with people who don't agree (this practice is called apologetics). Most of what I heard were basic Debate Club tactics, but what really bothered me were his examples of how to have these conversations. The two example conversations that I heard were arguments for the merits of capital punishment and the immorality of homosexuality (I really don't want the comments on this blog to turn into a debate on either of these topics, so if any comments are made concerning either point of view on either of these subjects they'll be deleted).

Although both of these are relevant topics when discussing morality or ethics, neither are central to the Christian faith. It concerns me that Christianity, when looked at from the outside, is merely a blanket term used to define one who is against abortion and gay marriage and who is for the war in Iraq and the death penalty in capital crimes (again, more topics that aren't up for discussion in this blog; if you want to start an argument on any of this, post your own blog about them).

I'm curious as to where the idea of "defending our faith" came from. In the United States we talk all the time about "defending the faith" or "defending our Christian rights" which both seem to me to be in direct opposition to Jesus' teachings. Specifically, Jesus tells us that in becoming a Christian we give up any rights which we may have, and make ourselves a servant rather than a master. The only instance that I can think of in the New Testament of defense of the faith would be Peter defending Jesus in the garden when he cut off the soldier's ear. He was reprimanded pretty harshly for it and Jesus put the guy's ear back on. If Paul, who wrote the majority of the New Testament, felt that defending the faith was necessary, wouldn't he, in some of his letters written from prison, have urged other believers to come and bust him out?

I have several friends who are turned off of the idea of Christianity because it doesn't jive with their political or ecological or humanitarian convictions. It seems that during my parents' generation the ideals of the conservative right somehow came to be associated with Christianity. The idea of a Christian and a Republican became interchangeable, and the stances on certain issues politically were married to the faith and argued as God's viewpoint and argued on God's behalf.

I don't place my faith in the war in Iraq; I don't find hope in the justice of capital punishment. So how is the defense of my stance on these issues viewed as the defense of my faith? I do so because it's easy to focus on the marginal things rather than the central theme, and if you want to do that in your personal life, fine. But I can't use those fringe issues as the basis for your discussion with other people, because it gives the appearance that those things are the basis of my faith.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that if we really want to talk about our faith, let's not blur that with our political or moral views. I want to focus on what my faith is actually in: A higher calling for my life. The promise of an abundant life now and a perfect heaven later. Forgiveness for my faults. Jesus Christ as Savior.