Title: For the Good of the World (8)
Series: On a Missions-The Life of Paul
Author: Patrick Edwards
Text: Acts 25:1-26:32
Introduction
A few weeks ago, my wife Teresa got invited to a cookout by an acquaintance. Not really knowing anyone well she was just making small talk, you know, where do you live, what do you do, where do your kids go to school. Well once the topic of schools came up the woman to whom she was speaking really started to get worked up and animated. In her mind the school system, as well as the rest of society, is under assault from all these Christians who are trying to force their beliefs on everyone else and we've got to figure out a way to somehow to protect ourselves. Teresa just kind of smiled and nodded along, I mean it's not an argument you hear very often that the public schools are too Christian, but whatever. But then the dreaded moment came when the woman eventually calmed down and asked next, "By the way, what does your husband do for a living?" All Teresa said she was thinking was, "Well I'll never see this woman ever again."
I share this story with you, not just because it's funny, but because it confirms that common stereotype, that whether right or wrong, Christians have a reputation in society, at least in American culture, more for what we are against than what we are for. Now that's not necessarily a bad thing, for example if a community says, 'Oh those Christians don't smoke crack because of their beliefs,' I'm ok with that vibe. Growing up in the South, the old stereotype was that Baptists don't dance, drink, or chew or go with girls who do. Sometimes that stereotype was spot on; sometimes it was nowhere near close.
But more seriously, thanks to various iterations of the culture wars over the last 100 years, Christianity has developed a reputation for always being against something. Prohibition, the 1960s, the Moral Majority, Roe v. Wade, Obergefell, the list goes on and on of what society often believes a ...
Series: On a Missions-The Life of Paul
Author: Patrick Edwards
Text: Acts 25:1-26:32
Introduction
A few weeks ago, my wife Teresa got invited to a cookout by an acquaintance. Not really knowing anyone well she was just making small talk, you know, where do you live, what do you do, where do your kids go to school. Well once the topic of schools came up the woman to whom she was speaking really started to get worked up and animated. In her mind the school system, as well as the rest of society, is under assault from all these Christians who are trying to force their beliefs on everyone else and we've got to figure out a way to somehow to protect ourselves. Teresa just kind of smiled and nodded along, I mean it's not an argument you hear very often that the public schools are too Christian, but whatever. But then the dreaded moment came when the woman eventually calmed down and asked next, "By the way, what does your husband do for a living?" All Teresa said she was thinking was, "Well I'll never see this woman ever again."
I share this story with you, not just because it's funny, but because it confirms that common stereotype, that whether right or wrong, Christians have a reputation in society, at least in American culture, more for what we are against than what we are for. Now that's not necessarily a bad thing, for example if a community says, 'Oh those Christians don't smoke crack because of their beliefs,' I'm ok with that vibe. Growing up in the South, the old stereotype was that Baptists don't dance, drink, or chew or go with girls who do. Sometimes that stereotype was spot on; sometimes it was nowhere near close.
But more seriously, thanks to various iterations of the culture wars over the last 100 years, Christianity has developed a reputation for always being against something. Prohibition, the 1960s, the Moral Majority, Roe v. Wade, Obergefell, the list goes on and on of what society often believes a ...
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