Instead of throwing rotten tomatoes at our opponents, try offering a nice fruit basket
Whereas the current "culture war" strategy is failing to change the world as we know it and . . .
Whereas the current strategy is simply polarizing and solidifying opposing sides . . .
Resolved that a new and totally radical strategy be implimented. (Okay, it's actually a two-thousand-year-old strategy.)
1. Love your enemies
The current "culture war" strategy attempts to vilify anyone not in agreement with its position. Yet,
Jesus Christ, the most radical person who ever lived, tells us to love our enemies.
Two thousand years later, Martin Luther King, Jr., promised, "Love is the only force capable of transforming an
enemy into a friend."
St. Paul would further argue that the current strategy is targeting the wrong enemy! He writes—in a
culture rife with political corruption, idolatry, violent ?entertainment,? homosexual behavior and child sex
abuse—?For our struggle is not against
flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and
against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms? (Ephesians 6:12).
We have only one enemy: the devil himself. All the so-called ?enemies? in the culture war are prisoners of war.
And according to the Geneva Convention, you don?t shoot POWs. Rather, they need to be liberated from their captivity.
2. Speak the truth in love
For instance, Norma McCovey is the "Jane Roe" in the landmark Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.
Everyday she walked past Operation Rescue's headquarters on the way to her job at an abortion clinic. She had
learned to ignore the picket signs, the sit-ins, and the shouts of "Baby Killer!" But at this rescue office,
volunteers would smile and tell her to have a good day. They told her they loved her.
McCovey could resist the anger and accusations. She couldn't resist love. She became a Christian and
an anti-abortion crusader. At a Senate hearing McCovey said, "I am dedicated to spending the rest of my
life undoing the law that bears my name."
3. Overcome evil with good
Rather than loudly attacking what is wrong, hundreds of organizations have quietly worked to create a positive
alternative.
Instead of rioting against the cruel conditions in England during the 1700's, John Wesley and his "Methodists"
set up free clinics, opened the first employees credit union, and revolutionized the country. And did it without the
bloodshed of the American and French revolutions!
Instead of calling pro-abortionists "baby killers," pro-life supporters began setting up Crisis
Pregnancy Centers which provided compassionate care for pregnant women by providing maternity clothes and
baby supplies. Crisis Pregnancy Centers now outnumber abortion providers and the abortion rate is declining.
Instead of complaining about Hollywood movies, a group of believers has established Act One: Writing for Hollywood
conferences to raise up Christians in the industry.
Prison Fellowship, rather than complaining about crime, has become active
in justice issues. But most important, thousands of volunteers
are taking the Christian message into prisons and discipling converted convicts.
And, rather than complaining about X-rated Internet sites, I've written extensively online about
the joys and pleasures of sex by following our Creator's sex manual.
The whole point of overcoming evil with good is to provide a postive, godly alternative to the evil (Romans 12:21).
Does it work?
While the picketers and boycotters are, as a whole, very sincere, they are sincerely missing the strategy that
Jesus and Paul proposed. And the strategy worked! Within three hundred years, the Roman empire had collapsed and
Christianity was declared the official religion. (Notice that this strategy is slow, but it is
effective.)
Copyright © 2000, 2008 James N. Watkins. All rights reserved
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