You are correct, my friend. I wrote this to Joel Miller:
How far can the church go in pushing its moral agenda in society?
Glad you asked that one, Joel -- it's a question upon which I've been meditating for awhile now.
It seems to me that we can't push our moral agenda at all upon civil society. There's no benefit to it for us -- what's the end result of such laws being passed? Even if such laws were followed (a dubious point), the net reduction in the volume of sin in the world wouldn't please God a whit. Angels don't celebrate when a hooker stops turning tricks -- they party when a lost soul returns to God. That's the redeeming part -- the voluntary turning to Christ -- that is our mission. If a person stops sinning yet doesn't know Christ it's worth nothing.
I've seen some argue that creating a "Christian" society would make evangelization easier. I disagree -- I think that the immoral are more likely to see their need for Christ than those who can claim to lead a moral life. In any event, it's immaterial -- we have the power of the Holy Spirit on our side to bend people's hearts. Furthermore, I don't recall reading anywhere that evangelization was supposed to be easy.
Of course, the biggest reason people clamor for a Christian society is "for the children", as if youth were insulation from the responsibility for one's soul and from the power of the Holy Spirit. As a parent it's my responsibility to raise my children to glorify God; it's not society's. I'd be shattered if they grew up without knowing Christ -- yet I know in the end it's their decision, as guided by the Holy Spirit (and Dad). Parenting is yet another part of life that I can't expect to be easy.
Finally, I am amazed at the Christians who bemoan the "degradation of society", yet who talk of Christ's return. We've read the end of the Book; we know how it's going to end. Society will fall -- we *know* this. We also know that's why we're supposed to be in the world, not of it.
I think most of the moralistic meddling we do is because of laziness. It's easier to complain about sin in society than to go out and preach the gospel. It's easier to bemoan changing morals than it is to raise our children well. It's more comfortable to force Christian morality upon others than it is to show them the humility of Christian living.
Right. Christians who make these arguments are ignorant of the New Testament AND of history, and they insult the Holy Spirit.
The efficacy of the gospel historically has been stronger, not weaker, in corrupt times and cultures. "The blood of the martyr is seed."
Funny, also, that the Epistles don't fret about the influence of society on the children in the church. It is ASSUMED the world is evil, and that the church is an adversarial counter-culture, and that we parents will bring up children in the admonition of the Lord. Just do it. It was hard in Athens and Corinth, too.
Churches focus on cultural reform to the degree they have previously conceded the NT counter-cultural stance.
These Christians also badly misunderstand the persona they say they have met in the gospel narratives. Jesus clearly is not an ethicist, nor a moralist, nor is He a reformer. These are all concerned with behavior. He is not an ascetic even, like John the Baptist, come to call to repentance. These are well known types of charismatic figures.
He is, rather, of the type revolutionary: the person who calls for a radical and instant and uncompromising switch of allegiance from one kingdom into another.
He would view legislation as striking at the leaf and leaving the rotten root intact. Not worth the trouble.