When I was young our church was against. We were against smoking, (in spite of the fact that all of the men did. It looked like the church was on fire between Sunday School and church), drinking and even dancing. Yep, all the kids went to dances anyway.
Times changed. For a period the defining sin seemed to be long hair. A look of disdain would cross many older church peoples face when a long-haired kid in bell-bottoms came in the church. When their children and grandchildren adopted the style it did not seem nearly as bad.
Times changed again. The ultimate sin seemed to be divorce. If you were a Christian and divorced you were at best tolerated but could not be in a leadership position in the church. I even heard of people put off the music team following a divorce. People who had gone through the trauma of a divorce faced it alone. Their support group was gone. My mind changed when I visited a lady hospitalized by a beating from her husband. She still felt it would be a sin to leave him. It happened again. Go figure.
Times changed again. Abortion was the issue. Demonstrations were held at Clinics. Women going to a clinic were screamed at that they were murderers regardless of their life situation. Doctors and workers were assaulted. Politicians ran on the issue. People chose their political party on that issue alone. But there were very few Churches and individuals who stepped forward and offered to help the women and babies who were trapped in their situation. In fact, we dumped huge amounts of guilt on women who were already living with a tremendous burden of guilt. For many women the scars lasted a lifetime.
Gays and lesbians were the next big focus. They were guaranteed a front seat in hell. They were the symbol of all that was wrong in our society.
The point? During my lifetime the sins the church was battling in the name of Jesus seems to have been constantly changing. The most heinous sins changed periodically often becoming acceptable or at least not our focus a few years later. BUT WE WERE ALWAYS AGAINST. We always seemed to have something we were battling in the name of Jesus. To the rest of society, we appeared to be angry hateful people who condemned others with no offer of help unless they became like us.
All the while issues of civil rights, integration, race, war, torture, systemic social issues such as poverty, hunger, drugs, overloaded prison systems and equality were often ignored or reinforced by christians and churches. We did not take prophetic stands on these and other issues but went along with our culture.
We wonder why the “nones” left our churches. It may be because they felt the church failed to be the church. We were against a lot of things but we did not stand positively for much.
The Gospel and the Kingdom of God, as taught by Jesus, were to be something wonderfully liberating. Freeing people from the burden of religion. Freeing people from guilt. About the only things/people Jesus seemed to be against were the religious people who tried to make everyone conform to their standards and rules and heaped guilt on everyone else. He also came down hard on those who took advantage of people in the name of religion. “Sinners” were the people he associated with. He did not condemn them. He was not against them. He drew them to him through love. He offered them forgiveness and acceptance. He offered them a better life, not guilt. They were open to Jesus and wanted to be around him.
That might be a better way.
In The Jesus-Centered Life Rick Lawrence notes, “Jesus told us not to focus our energies on fighting sin but instead to do everything we can to encourage good growth. He is less interested in what we’re against, and more interested in what we are for.”
If you asked the average non-church person what the church is “for”, what kind of answer would you get? What would be the answer if you asked the average churchgoer?