Ambiguity, A Whitewash That Fills Chasms

The church you attend is divided politically. The larger your church is, the more this is true. Furthermore, the vast majority of your church is just fine with this division because it pertains to politics, and politics don’t belong in church.

I was about a decade into my Christian walk when I began to realize that there was a total disconnect between the world that I lived in through the week and the words I heard spoken on Sunday mornings. I began to realize that there was a reluctance to speak and address the evils being adopted by our governments. I also realized that there were people worshipping right next to me who supported those evils. That’s when I began to pay attention.

A thing I’ll call the cleverness of ambiguity began to materialize in my understanding. Here is an example of what I’m talking about taken from a Facebook page on my feed. It was posted by a pastor of a typical conservative-ish church in my local area:

As a critical observer of Christian leadership, one of the most valuable things I’ve learned is to be suspicious when church leaders take bold stands for things that no one is against. Hilborn is the pastor of, as far as I can tell, a typical conservative church. Neither those in his church who support the evils in our society like, say, the legalized murder of unborn children, or those who oppose these evils are going to find any reason to disagree with this “bold” post. So, while this has the appearance of a bold proclamation on the surface, in all reality it’s not. What it is is either a weak attempt to get praise from men, or it could very well be a coded accusation. I’ll get to that later.

But in defense of pastor Hilborn, I will give him kudos for entering the arena of the hell-hole that is social media where ambiguities can be openly challenged. Does your pastor post and defend articles? (update: Hilborn never responded to this article on FB. That is a common tactic by the way. Ignore, ignore, ignore.)

The Church of Jesus Christ in the West has fallen on very hard times when it comes to thoughtful considerations of the mostly ignored but profound events going on all around outside its four walls. Most Churches are held together by the relegation of everything political, and thus potentially divisive, to a category not to be discussed. Unfortunately for the flock that attends church an hour or so a week, there is a price to pay for this dismissal. These poor folks are sending their children to a schoolhouse that is more than happy to indoctrinate their children into a Godless revolutionary Utopian politic for seven hours a day. And know that in that schoolhouse, they have no problem talking about politics. So to be bold, a pastor who loves his sheep might try clearly shouting that fact. Yes, there would be a stink to high heaven about it from half his congregation, but at least he wouldn’t be taking a “bold stand” against nothing.

The ambiguity in this meme example can be found in the word Jesus Christ. Is he the Jesus Christ that boldly states that many will come to him in the end and he will tell them, away from me you workers of lawlessness? Or is he the Jesus Christ that takes his cues from culture and has learned that he has been totally mistaken throughout history concerning homosexuality? Is he the Jesus who pointed out that a great light has come into the world and that the world hated that light because it exposed sin? Or is it the communist Jesus who now defines injustice as one neighbor having more wealth than he deserves while other neighbors don’t seem to have enough? Who knows? Who could possibly know? But I do know that no matter which of these Jesuses an individual in his congregation worships, that congregant can easily join hands with pastor Hilborn and give him a hearty amen for his bold statement.

The starting point in seeking the truth ought to be with the truth itself. Make no mistake, no matter where you attend church, your pastor knows that the congregation is divided, and he has learned to speak in ways that appeases the divisions and to remain silent when he can’t. That is a starting-point fact.

Now, back to the “coded accusation”. Your pastor has become adept at speaking in code. I am suspicious that, in his own mind, pastor Hilborn is actually not taking a bold stand against nothing, but rather, is taking a bold stand against people like myself who see through the vague and ambiguous language pouring out of the modern pulpit. As the shepherd of what I suspect is a fairly conservative flock, I would be surprised to hear that he has gotten no pressure whatever to speak to the issues of our day from a thoroughly Biblical perspective. And we know that this would necessarily mean venturing into a land where the congregational chasms would be brought to the surface for everyone to see. This is the subconscious reason I believe that silence is the chosen course for the man who prefers peace through ambiguity. It is this very silence that leads me to see this “bold statement” as more of an accusation against those who see what is happening and desire that their leader would actually address them from the pulpit.

Somewhere along the line, your pastor has convinced himself that, to speak in any way to the political powers that are destroying your land is to cede to government that which belongs to God. “Government can’t save us.” is the refrain. Or, “If you are trusting in a political party to save you, you are misplacing your trust.” Which political party? Though we know he’s referring to the Republican Party, ambiguity is his language. Or, you might hear, “If we take our stand anywhere other than Jesus Christ, we will fall”. I can’t help but wonder if he’s ever thought about turning that around; as in, “We are falling, so maybe we should check where we’re standing”.

Another starting-point truth is that we are living in an age where homosexual marriage has been legalized, confused boys are allowed into the girl’s locker rooms, babies are legally crushed and dismembered by the millions, and those who survive the womb are shuffled off to the local schoolhouse to be indoctrinated into a mindset that approves of all of it. In other words, you are living in a very dark time. So it only stands to reason that bold proclamations that do not raise the ire of the culture are not bold proclamations at all. They are appeasements and code accusations.

This is why one side of the chasm is happy with vague and ambiguous terms and with a language that speaks mainly to the emotions. And the other side knows that something is very wrong, but they just can’t put their finger on it exactly. If the latter is you, pay attention. While I’m sure there are pastors out there who are not speaking in code and ambiguity, they are by far in the minority. Our culture is proof of that. To see through the ambiguity, simply pretend you are a leftist “Christian”, and listen to messages and watch your trajectory from that perspective. If you would not be offended as said leftist, then you can bet that holding together the “incorporated” side of the little non-profit business you’re sitting in is the number one goal at the end of the day. Still, that said, good luck finding something better.