For God’s Sake, Opinion

For God’s Sake

March 28, 2019 | Michael Bannon

I’m a Canadian. Yes, I say “eh?” at the end of sentences, well, at least I used to. Growing up in Canada, I’d always thought that it was you Americans who had the accent. It wasn’t until I moved to Florida that I learned that it was me. People would stop me mid-sentence, ask me to repeat myself, then laugh at my accent. I quickly realized that life in Florida would go much easier for me if I lost the accent and the “eh?” with it.

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I learned something else about myself not long ago – I’m intolerant. I’d always regarded myself as a very tolerant guy. People have described me as easy-going, lighthearted, someone who loves people. You can imagine my surprise when, having expressed an opinion on the same-sex marriage issue, I was reprimanded for being intolerant and a hater! I was quite taken aback; I’d mistakenly thought that I was entitled to my opinion.

It’s ironic that in an age when tolerance is the darling virtue, our society has become very intolerant, and that in the name of tolerance. The rationale for this irrational irony is that tolerance has been redefined. Tolerance used to mean that you respected my right to my opinion just as I respected your right to yours; we could “agree to disagree.” Now, you are entitled to your opinion unless it is deemed “repressive” to others, a term coined by a pioneer of the new tolerance, Henry Marcuse. In short, we can no longer agree to disagree and, consequently, healthy, civil discourse is nigh unto impossible. This should trouble everyone.

I know that it troubles many conservative Christians like me because we find ourselves in unfamiliar territory; we are now counter-cultural. Our conviction that the Bible is God’s authoritative Word puts us and our “repressive opinions” squarely in the intolerant camp, for what the Bible calls evil, society now calls good, and what the Bible calls good, society now calls evil. While this is grievous, I am nonetheless hopeful.

The privileged status Christianity has enjoyed in America was an anomaly. The Bible tells us that we are aliens and strangers in the world and to expect persecution – not for our foolishness, but our faithfulness. The early church experienced it, as do most Christians today in other parts of the world. And while our persecutors have had their shovels at the ready to bury us, history has shown that Christianity thrives in adversity and languishes in complacency. Christianity’s once privileged status here in America has rendered us complacent. “The Christian Church in America,” says Dr. John Piper, “suffers from about 350 years of dominance and prosperity…this has deeply ingrained in us a massively unbiblical mindset…a mindset of at-homeness in this world and in this age.” The prick of persecution promises to wake us from our spiritual slumber.

I predict that this new brand of tolerance will so thoroughly censure every opposing view that its champions will turn on one another and it will eventually devour itself. It won’t be pretty. There are certain to be casualties. I want to be awake when it happens, not to gloat, but to bring what we Christian’s have been called to bring, healing gospel truth.

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