10 Issues That Divide Christians

Foreword

BY TONY PERKINS

President, Family Research Council

Taking a stand—and taking action—in the world of politics is hard. Progress is slow and partial. Criticism can be fierce and personal. Your motives are questioned, your judgment challenged, and your principles demeaned.

This hardly sounds like an inviting environment for serious Christians! Yet it is a forum where the Lord calls His people to stand for truth, graciously but firmly, for His sake and for the sake of our fellow image-bearers of God (see John 1:17; Eph. 6:13).

Alex McFarland is one of the most penetrating and committed Christian thinkers of our time. He has carefully weighed the claims of Christ in the balance, and concluded they are trustworthy and true. As a result, Alex’s burden is to equip the church to win men and women for Jesus Christ and to follow Him faithfully in an increasingly troubled society.

That burden has led him to write this book. Christians are called in Scripture to defend the vulnerable, protect human dignity, honor family, and do justice. But the question many Christians face today is summed up in one word: How?

Alex not only provides a road map for how we can faithfully represent Christ in public life, but he also provides a biblical basis for political action that is true to God’s Word and illustrated by stories that show how that action can have a profound practical effect on culture and government.

Foreword

BY JOHN STONESTREET

Host, Breakpoint This Week radio show

The Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview

America is deeply divided. While the more obvious (and often obnoxious) of our divisions are political, of even greater consequences are our deeply held moral differences. As Ross Douthat points out in his book Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics, the cultural consensus that once was is no more.¹

At one time, the cultural center was held by beliefs and assumptions rooted in historic Christianity. While there were certainly doctrinal and denominational battles, some quite intense, there was still fundamental agreement across the spectrum of Christianity on such issues as the definition of marriage, helping the poor, sexuality and Christian exclusivism. In the last fifty years, not only has Christianity’s place in the cultural center been lost, but fundamental agreement on many of these issues has also been lost. It’s almost as if once the larger culture started to doubt Christian certainties, so did the Christians.

So now, on issues that were once quite obvious, American Christianity is divided. One factor that has been exacerbated has been the triumph of what the eccentric French theologian Jacques Ellul called the political illusion. This has primarily taken two forms. First, many conservatives seem to measure the spiritual state of our culture by how elected officials are governing in Washington, D.C., rather than how they are living out their faith everywhere else. While politics matter, as do all cultural arenas, an inordinate amount of attention has been placed on political victories.

On the other hand, in reaction to the so-called Religious Right, many younger, more liberal Christians now talk as if even the most consequential of moral issues are mere political distractions. The largest gatherings of missional and innovative young Christians will often feature plenty of sessions and speakers on causes such as clean water, helping the poor, and ending human slavery. But suggest a speaker on abortion or recovering biblical marriage and suddenly you’re just being political.

It won’t do us any good to proceed as if these deep divisions in the church do not exist. They do. On the rare occasion these divisions are mentioned, they are quickly cast aside as insignificant by calls to unity and love. In effect, these calls to stop making such a big deal out these issues devolve into if you would just agree with my position, we could move on. Of course, Jesus prayed for unity and commanded us to love one another, but He did not leave these concepts undefined or without a larger context of truth.

In this book, Alex McFarland confronts these divisions head-on. He understands that these issues first call for careful theological consideration. He understands that if Jesus is indeed the Lord of Heaven and Earth, then we must first and foremost be beholden to what He thinks about these matters. Where there is room for disagreement, Alex acknowledges the options and what’s at stake. Where the Scriptures are clear, Alex understands that so is our responsibility to them.

Second, Alex demonstrates in this book that he understands that while truth is personal, it is not private. Ideas have consequences, and not just for us. If life is infinitely valued from the moment of conception, then it must be defended publically. If Christ is the exclusive path to God, then it is far worse not to point that out in love than to point it out and be thought intolerant.

These issues matter, and Alex is a helpful guide through them. You may not agree with him on everything, but go with him anyway. Confronting our differences in truth and love will be far better than ignoring them.

Introduction

WHY THESE 10 ISSUES SHOULD MATTER TO CHRISTIANS

Alex, I am enjoying your book and learning a lot.

I see the need for apologetics and the importance of standing up

for God and Christianity. Reading your book has helped me a lot,

but I’m just hoping my brain doesn’t melt!

And so began an email that was in my inbox one day, sent in response to an earlier book I had done, The 10 Most Common Objections to Christianity. It is humbling for me as an author to receive correspondence from anyone gracious enough to spend time reading what I have written. As an author, minister, broadcaster and educator, it is always my goal to present my subject matter in the most understandable way. This can sometimes be challenging, because my interests and calling led me into the field of apologetics and the study and critique of worldviews. Apologetics (devotion to a rational defense of the Christian faith) and worldviews (belief systems) deal with some very heady issues—questions such as Where did the universe come from? Is there a purpose to life? Is there a God? Why doesn’t God end all the pain and suffering in the world? (Topics not too different from the ones in this book!)

Even though my books necessarily deal with some fairly deep subjects, I have always tried to write in such a way that I would be easily understood. I once read that many of the major American newspapers and periodicals are written at around the eighth-grade reading level; to make my books accessible to the largest group of readers, I’ve worked hard to keep my writing at about that level. It isn’t always easy to do. Some readers are new to important theological subjects like the Trinity or Jesus’ deity, atonement and righteousness. Ditto for complex philosophical questions (the answers to which usually come along with their own special vocabulary list), like How do we know things? (epistemology); What is language? and Do words really mean things? (linguistics); and Do humans truly have freewill? (autonomy vs. determinism).

With the help of some experienced proofreaders and a few select computer programs, it has always been my goal to produce books that would be accessible even to middle-schoolers. So I had to scratch my head when the writer of the aforementioned email said what he did and then added, I am using your book as part of a sermon series in my church.

It turns out this email had come from a pastor. I guess he was trying to give me a compliment by mentioning his brain melting, supposedly indicating that my book was deep. While each of my books has been an attempt to try to unpack some timeless subject for modern readers, the content of each one isn’t really that tough to grasp. Deep describes the writings of Thomas Aquinas and Saint Augustine. Alex McFarland is coming at you using the vocabulary of a seventhor eighth-grader. Let’s put on our thinking caps, people! It’s time the Church once again embraces the concept of the life of the mind.

Deep reflection on important issues requires mental effort. We owe it to the Church and to this generation to handle key issues carefully and to arrive at biblically informed conclusions. I don’t mean to sound critical, but in recent decades huge segments of the American Church have not invested in Christian thought—not, at least, as it applies to trends in culture and how the gospel of Jesus may be defended in the face of growing secularism. The American Church must recognize that our culture (and government) is embroiled in a battle of worldviews, and this is very much a spiritual battle. To fruitfully address for the cause of Christ’s Great Commission the issues of our day, gracefully with love for people and effectively with well-equipped minds, will take levels of spiritual and social maturity that simply do not come about by accident.

Christians are constantly faced with questions that matter. Every single day we’re bombarded by the media, popular culture, and secular ideas that challenge our faith. What can we do about them, especially if we don’t have the expertise or the time to dig into every issue we come across? That’s where 10 Issues That Divide Christians comes in. Drawing from my own experiences of defending the faith for many years—including speaking, teaching, and engaging others in conversations and debates—I’ve come up with 10 key issues to tackle, 10 social problems that are not approached by all Christians in the same way yet are all in need of truly biblical solutions.

Since 2000, more than 20 million Americans have begun exploring alternative forms of worship, including home churches, workplace ministries, and online faith communities. . . . Over the next two decades, traditional churches will lose half their ‘market share’ to these alternative start-ups.¹

Barna Research Group

What happens when Christians disagree on important points? What do we do to handle our differences? Why even focus on areas that divide us? These are good questions. I definitely agree that we need to remember what unites us. There’s a definite set of core beliefs that the Church has held to for some 2,000 years. Core beliefs are found in the pages of Scripture and in the historic creeds—summaries of belief—that the Church has produced throughout the ages. I’ve written about some of these important areas of unity in my book Stand: Core Truths You Must Know for an Unshakable Faith. What are these powerful areas of Christian unity? They include the inspiration and authority of the Bible, the virgin birth of Jesus, the deity of Christ, Christ’s atonement, Christ’s resurrection, and the glorious return of Christ.

What Core Truths Unite Christians?

•  The inspiration and authority of the Bible: Our faith is only as certain as the Bible is trustworthy. Fortunately, there’s lots of evidence demonstrating the reliability of God’s Word.

•  The virgin birth of Jesus: Christ came into this world miraculously. God the Son entered human history both dramatically and miraculously.

•  The deity of Christ: Jesus wasn’t just a good moral teacher or a man who showed us the right way to live; He was God in the flesh.

•  Christ’s atonement: Jesus came to pay for our sins by suffering and dying for us.

•  Christ’s resurrection: Jesus really rose from the dead in a physical body, not as a spirit and not as some liberal symbol of the human spirit.

•  The glorious return of Christ: Jesus will come again. We don’t know exactly when the Second Coming will happen, but human history is moving in its direction. One day everyone will see the glorious return of our Savior.

It’s true that Christians have their share of disagreements, but we must never forget the significance of what unites us. C. S. Lewis once said:

One thing I can promise you. In spite of all the unfortunate differences between Christians, what they agree on is still something pretty big and pretty solid: big enough to blow any of us sky-high if it happens to be true. And if it’s true, it’s quite ridiculous to put off doing anything about it simply because Christians don’t fully agree among themselves. That’s as if a man bleeding to death refused medical assistance because he’d heard that some doctors differed about the treatment of cancer.²

So a Christian can hold all the core beliefs of historic and biblical Christianity and still disagree with other Christians about how to approach questions such as religious pluralism, homosexuality, government, war and abortion.

Why Focus on Division?

So why bother focusing a book on what divides Christians? For one, we can’t just bury our heads in the sand and pretend that our areas of disagreement don’t exist. That won’t get us anywhere productive, especially when it comes to engaging the world. For another, staying neutral on these issues is not an option. God has called us to love Him with all our heart, soul, strength and mind. That means we need to use our heads and really think about the serious issues of our day. Neither is ignorance an option. There’s too much at stake when it comes to the consequences of allowing some of these issues to go unanswered.

I’ll add, too, that Christians are called to engage culture and society, not withdraw from it. Christians who’ve tried to avoid the world find out, sooner or later, that the world will always find them. Nowadays this should be especially evident: Television, talk radio, smartphones, the Internet, advertisements, and political forums are just some of the tentacles of communication that are always reaching out to us. The trouble is that we see and hear so many conflicting ideas that it’s too easy for us to become desensitized to the struggle we’re in. We are in a battle of worldviews—beliefs about reality. Christ didn’t go off and start a monastery, separated from His culture and society. Instead, He called everyday people—from fishermen to scholars—to go out and make a difference in the world, not bury their minds or their talents.

"Having interacted with thousands of religious leaders and church members throughout the United States, I have seen that the main source of confusion about topics like abortion and marriage is unfamiliarity with God’s Word.

We would not expect the world to know the content of Scripture nor recognize its authority, but when the church doesn’t do these things, we’ve got a serious problem."³

Fred Wilson,, general manager, American Family Radio Network

We must follow Jesus’ example of going out into the world. Jesus visited with and talked with all sorts of people (think of Matthew the tax collector or the Samaritan woman); He challenged people’s ideas (think of Nicodemus or the rich young man); He sought to understand people’s feelings and opinions (think of Jesus calming the storm or the feeding of the 5,000). He did all this and more without compromising His core beliefs or teachings. But notice the one thing He did not do: sit still and avoid the world around Him.

Who Should Read This Book?

This book is primarily directed at all Christians, because all Christians, in one way or another, have encountered a variety of ideas on these very important topics. The purpose is not to discourage anyone by talking about differences but to encourage my fellow Christians in our faith by offering helpful insights and answers. Non-Christians, too, will benefit from seeking to understand these 10 topics better.

How can this book help the Body of Christ? It’s my prayer that it can move us toward greater understanding of one another, even if we ultimately disagree on some of these questions. I also hope it will bring about in us a greater sense of the need to get involved in the world, doing our best to make a difference for the sake of God’s kingdom. I’ll add, too, that I hope it makes us better thinkers and better people. By exploring a variety of vexing topics, we’ll learn how to sift through intellectual claims and also how to interact with others lovingly on these and other issues.

Why These Particular 10 Topics?

I could easily have picked out 100 topics, so why did I choose just these 10? Based on my observations of culture and the world, these 10 topics represent some of the most significant and recurring areas of discussion in our culture today. They touch on all kinds of important theological questions and moral matters, the direction of our society, and personal concerns combined with matters that impact society as a whole.

The role government plays in our lives, the uniqueness of America, whether abortion is ever right, pornography, environmentalism, and the relationship between Christianity and social justice are all important issues that need to be discussed. Homosexuality needs to be dealt with because it also concerns, among other things, how God made us, human sexuality, and marriage. The topic of religious pluralism touches on the many different religions in the world, while questions about war will be with us as long as nations continue to strive against one another. And the problem of evil and suffering, too, is not just a question for armchair philosophers but a very real challenge that is sometimes a strong obstacle to faith.

In What Ways Will This Book Help You?

My goal is to cultivate three key benefits you as a reader can derive from looking at these 10 issues. First, this book will help strengthen your faith by providing clear and reasonable insights on tough questions about Christianity. Second, by learning more about these topics, you’ll gain new confidence in your ability to share your faith with others. No longer will you have to be afraid