The Gospel vs The Culture War
What happens when the gospel comes into conflict with the culture war? but does that even happen? First, we will have to make some definitions.
What is the gospel?
Some people narrow the gospel down to believing that Jesus died for us so we can go to heaven. You would have a lot of trouble finding that statement in the Bible. The gospel Jesus preached was the coming of the kingdom of God. For Christians, the gospel is the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. The gospel is summed up in the person of Jesus.
What is the culture war?
The culture war is a conflict between conservative and liberal elements in society. It is most prominent in the United States but affects the West in general. It overlaps with certain parts of the Church but people outside the Church are actively involved in it.
Where is the conflict?
There are those who see their faith closely connected to this conflict. Some evangelicals see the need to fight for the cause of conservatism and some progressives see the need to fight for liberalism.
I am not saying that the issues talked about in the culture war are unimportant. But there can be a problem when loyalty to your side of the culture war trumps your loyalty to the gospel.
For example, I have come into conflict with some conservative evangelicals about the importance of helping the poor. They saw care for the poor as part of the “liberal agenda” and therefore something evangelicals need to be careful with. It was not enough for them that Jesus speaks a lot about care for the poor because in the end, it doesn’t help their side of the culture war.
I was once rebuked by a conservative evangelical over my work advocating for people with disabilities. Again, he saw it as the “Liberal agenda” as something an evangelical had no right to be involved in. It did not matter to him that the New Testament talks a lot about caring for the marginalized.
I have been talking more about conservatives but I have seen liberals being just as guilty.
I will admit that I do not feel any loyalty to any side of the culture war. I don’t identify as either a conservative or a liberal. I want to be a follower of Jesus who lives out the gospel. I suspect that will get me in trouble from both sides.
Probably the weakest link in the Christian argument for the historicity of the Resurrection is this: The view that the Gospels were written by eyewitnesses or by their close associates. This view is a minority position in modern New Testament scholarship. In reality, only evangelical and fundamentalist Protestant scholars hold this position. Even most Roman Catholic scholars, who very much believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus, the supernatural, and miracles, reject the eyewitness/associate of eyewitness authorship of the Gospels. See this link:
https://lutherwasnotbornagaincom.wordpress.com/2016/11/08/majority-of-scholars-agree-the-gospels-were-not-written-by-eyewitnesses/
Imagine a defense attorney appearing in court, presenting a case using minority expert opinion as a defense. The prosecution would rip his case to shreds when they demonstrate to the court that the defense attorney’s “experts” are considered to be outliers…fringe