SILVER SPRING, Maryland –
New York Times bestselling author Eric Metaxas says that many Christians in the
United States have adopted an "American version of Christianity" and lack a true
understanding about what it means to be faithful to God's word under the threat
of persecution.
Metaxas, the author of
several books including the recent title If You Can Keep It: The Forgotten Promise of American
Liberty, gave a one-hour keynote speech to kick off
The Bridge, an annual 3-day conference focusing on the persecuted church hosted
by collaboration of groups led by the persecution watchdog group International
Christian Concern.
As Metaxas has authored
biographies of historical, influential philanthropists like William Wilberforce
and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, his address focused on how Bonhoeffer played an
instrumental role in awakening the German church to stand up to the atrocities
committed against the Jews by the Nazis and he compared some of the similarities
between the German church during the Holocaust to today's church in America.
Metaxas said that
Bonhoeffer realized that the role of the church in a functioning society is to
be the "conscience of the state" and challenge the state every time it
persecutes the people and creates injustices.
Metaxas said that the
problem with the German church was that it fell into a "trap" of getting too
cozy with the state and too comfortable with its position in society that it
overlooked the grave injustices committed against the Jews.
Another issue that the
German church faced was "fussy" theological differences that prevented German
Lutherans, Catholics and others from uniting. But just as the church in Germany
was too proud to be German or too proud to be Lutheran, Metaxas said that too
many Christians in America are more proud to be American or Baptist than they
are to be Christian.
"I started realizing that
[Bonhoeffer's] primary mission was to wake up the church because he knew that
the church had the ability in that generation to stand against the Nazis, to be
a powerful force if they would stand, if they would count the cost, if they
would do what God called them to do, to not be afraid of death, to have courage.
In other words, if they would actually be Christian," Metaxas said. "If you are
actually Christian, you don't fear death because there is no such thing as
death. Jesus defeated death. Like he actually defeated death, it is not a
metaphor. You die, you don't die."
"Well, the church in the
bush, the church in the jungle, the persecuted church, they know this stuff,"
Metaxas added. "They know this stuff but the American church doesn't know it and
the German church didn't know it. We have forgotten that these things are true
that people are living their lives in faith everyday and under persecution you
have to decide, 'Do I actually believe this stuff or don't I?' I really think
the irony is that it is the American church and Western church that needs this.
We don't have this and we wonder why we have a lot of problems is because we
don't have this faith. It is a bit of a catch 22 — If you get persecuted, you
kind of find this kind of faith."
As far as Christians in
America, Metaxas says they face a "conundrum of success."
"In America, we forget
that we have brothers and sisters in Christ around the world. We have kind of
bought into an American version of Christianity and we can't even imagine that
there are people around the world that have never heard of Republican or
Democrat," he said. "They have heard of Jesus but they don't know anything of
our politics. They kind of live life in the faith of Jesus. They have completely
different categories. That doesn't mean that those categories that we have are
not important, but you have to take it into perspective but when someone calls
on the name of Jesus, that is my brother or sister in Christ."
As Christians are being
killed for their faith in many different corners of the world, Metaxas says that
the church in the West has an "obligation" to do something.
"Now, what is our
obligation, that is the big question," Metaxas said. "There is a theme in
Scripture that we are 'blessed to be a blessing.'"
In fighting for freedoms
around the world, Metaxas argued that American Christians must also fight to
protect their rights at home.
As secularism in society
rises and governments are trying to force conservative Christians to accept
secular views on marriage, abortion and gender, Metaxas says Christians must not
let their voices be censored and must stand up for "what is right"
"We have been blessed in
this nation and we need to fight for our freedoms in this country because it is
a sin against the Lord when a people in a country like this do not stand up for
what is right," Metaxas said. "What we are talking about is right. We are not
talking about protecting our rights as Christians, we are talking about what is
right."
Furthermore, Metaxas said
that any imposition that Christians must defy their biblical beliefs — even if
they are florists or pharmacists — is a violation of the First Amendment's
Establishment Clause.
"The government has to
step back and let the people be free and decide. Once the government starts
saying that they have this view of sexuality, they have this view of the human
person and say 'We are going to go with this view and your view is a parochial,
religious, backward idea and we are going to push against that and we are going
to promote this and we are going to fine you for living that idea out.' That is
the establishment of a religion," he explained. "That is the unconstitutional
establishment of a religion by the state."
Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/eric-metaxas-american-church-lacks-faith-that-only-comes-from-being-persecuted-166177/#K4ZmyM3eOjmBx7ul.99
Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/eric-metaxas-american-church-lacks-faith-that-only-comes-from-being-persecuted-166177/#K4ZmyM3eOjmBx7ul.99
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