What is the Best Way?

We have focused our attention for the past few months on ways Christian believers assess their culture and relate to it.  Some believers find ways to successfully interact with culture as they encounter it on a daily basis.  Others prefer to withdraw from much of what culture has to offer and limit the flow of culture's influence on their lives.  Most of our attention in previous months has assumed that culture is the way it is and devised ways of relating to it on those terms.

But, what about Christians who seek to change their secular culture for the better?  What is the best way to do that?  I've been giving some thought to those questions in recent days as I have been looking at material we are discussing in my class on History of Christianity 2.  We began the course by looking at the Reformation era of Church history.  What caught my imagination on these questions about changing dominant culture was the different methods employed by a couple of the central figures of the Reformation.  I think their efforts can inform our approach today and offer us food for thought for our own efforts.

Method #1

The Frenchman John Calvin read the writings of Martin Luther and readily agreed with his theological conclusions and calls for church reform.  Thus, Calvin found sympathy with the Protestant movement sweeping Western Europe.  Because his homeland remained staunchly Roman Catholic and supportive of the pope, he felt it best to leave France.  So, he relocated to Switzerland where he spent his entire ministry, first in Geneva, then Strasbourg, then back in Geneva.

Calvin pastored a local Protestant church and involved himself fully in the civil life of the community.  He could not be content with preaching sermons to his congregation on Sunday and hoping that his messages translated into more righteous actions by his parishioners throughout the week.  So, he took a bold approach fueled by a bold goal.  His bold goal: to create a visible "City of God" in Western Europe with Geneva as the starting point.  His bold approach: work with the government leaders of Geneva to enact laws that would promote higher ethical conduct of the city's citizens.  So, rather than simply attempting to impose a Christian ethical code on the community through ministerial influence, Calvin sought to craft rules and regulations flowing from city government to reach his desired outcomes. 

How well did this approach work?  From the perspective of Geneva's church members, it may have appeared to be rather successful.  After all, righteous requirements for daily conduct flowed directly from civil authorities.  From the perspective of some of Geneva's civic leaders, it may have appeared that the church was trying to control secular society with religious rule.  Hence, many of Geneva's civic leaders resisted Calvin's efforts.  In fact, some of them resisted so strongly that they forced Calvin to leave Geneva.  That's what prompted his move to Strasbourg.  Viewed from that perspective, we might conclude that Calvin's bold approach did not work.  It is worth remembering that a few years later Geneva's civil leadership came to appreciate Calvin's influence and invited him to return.

This historical event causes us to ask an important question: Can Christians legislate righteousness within their society by enacting laws that, at least to some degree, control citizens' behavior?  The focus of the question lays not so much in "can it be done" as in "does it work?"  John Calvin's efforts in Geneva proved that it could be done; his labor did not prove, however, that it would work effectively to accomplish his goal.  We consider this question because many Christians these days say the best way to impact society for good is by changing the laws of our land.  We see examples of this on the evening news every week.  It certainly is one way of affecting culture, but is it the most productive way?

I grew up in a part of the country in an era where Christian community leaders employed Calvin's method of modifying citizen's behavior through civil law.  For example, we had "blue laws" intended to honor the biblical notion of Sabbath observance.  These laws controlled which businesses could remain open on Sunday and which products they could sell.  General merchandise stores closed; grocery stores were allowed to remain open, but they could not sell "unnecessary" items, such as beer or wine.  The county in which I lived took "blue laws" a step further: they prohibited the sale of liquor or intoxicants in any form at any grocery store or restaurant any day of the week.  Those laws remain in effect to this day, creating a "dry county." 

Did the blue laws cause the rank and file, non-church going folks to honor the Sabbath in their hearts?  Probably not.  Does my dry home county hinder the consumption of alcohol by those same folks?  No.  County prohibition laws simply promote liquor sales at the mega liquor marts located just across the county line and encourage restaurants within the county to have $5 a year "membership" lists which allow them to serve liquor with meals to their "members."  Having said all of this, the question remains: can Christians legislate righteousness within society by enacting laws that, at least to some degree, control citizens' behavior? 

Method #2

Sir Thomas More found himself in a unique place in England in the 16^th century.  Through a strange turn of events orchestrated by King Henry VIII, More found himself head religious counsel to the King as the King withdrew the pope's control of the Christian church in England.  More experienced the double bind of wanting to remain loyal to his king and, at the same time, wanting to support proper religious authority as established by the Bible (which did not support the king's control of the church).  More's spiritual, ecclesiastical, and political advice had little impact on the king, since Henry VIII turned a deaf ear to everything More said which did not agree with what Henry wanted to do.

In the midst of the political and ecclesiastical upheaval which tore at England during this time, More wrote a book which still influences our thinking today.  His original book title was a rather long one - A truly golden little book, no less beneficial than entertaining, of a republic's best state and of the new island Utopia.  I doubt that such a long title could ever make it on a book cover today!  Because of its length, people refer to the book as simply Utopia.  More coined the English word "Utopia" which has an interesting hidden meaning.  The book told a story of a fictional island with its religious, social, and political customs.  Some think More wrote the book as a satire of all the political and religious ideas circulating in his day which simply would not work in real life.  Others think he had a vision of a better society than the one Henry VIII was bringing to England. 

What interests me for our current discussion does not require us to deduce More's motive in writing the book.  Rather, I want us to look at that little word "Utopia."  Christians often envision what a perfect society would look like in this present world.  John Calvin tried to move his city toward that vision by enacting civil laws for Geneva's citizens.  Thomas More cast a lofty vision for us in his little book then dashed our hopes for such a society with the book's title.  You see, "Utopia" derives from two Greek words that mean "not" and "place," or "no-place-land."  In other words, Utopia cannot exist in this world.  A perfect earthly society is unreachable, according to More.

Does that mean Sir Thomas More gave up his efforts toward religious reform and let King Henry VIII do whatever he wanted to do?  No, More resisted what he considered to be the king's unrighteous actions to the point that he found himself imprisoned for his convictions.  The king gave More amply opportunity to change his mind and go along with the king's plans.  More continued to resist the king, first through refusing to verbally support the king's initiatives, then by outright condemning his actions as unbiblical.  The king ended the resistance by having More beheaded.

So, what do we learn from Sir Thomas More's example?  More reminds us that we can openly resist the positions taken by our culture or government.  We can take our stand against them.  More started with passive resistance then turned to active resistance.  We can refuse to participate in commonly accepted practices of our culture or government; we can withhold our vote of acceptance from them.  Or, we can openly work to change them.  More had the insight to realize he might as well not envision a perfect society, with a perfect religion and a perfect government.  Nothing like this will ever be realized this side of eternity.  But, that doesn't give us an excuse to do nothing.  Like More, we have to take our stand; we have to get involved in the battle.  We may even pay a price for our stand, as did More.

An Answer

So how do we change our culture for the better?  These two examples from history offer us two different approaches.  Examples of various approaches abound throughout church history.  The Anabaptists, during the revolutionary period of their history, tried expelling everyone who did not believe as they did from the city of Münster.  They thought they could create "The New Jerusalem" on earth by simply ridding the land of everyone who did not see things their way.  Needless to say, their method did not work.

John Wesley, on the other hand, changed his society for the better by concentrating on one convert at a time.  As converts to the faith grew, they soon reached critical mass and lifted the entire society to a higher level.  Social researchers refer to it as the "lifting influence of the gospel message."  We can talk more about that in a future article.

This article offers not so much "the answer" to our question as it offers a new look at it through history's eyes and a new look at what we're trying to do in our day.  Now that you've given some thought to the question, what do you think?  What's the best way?  What are you doing that is working?  What might you add to your efforts to make them more successful?  Blessings on you as you continue to lend your positive influence and bring about positive change to your culture.