Anti-Reductionism

I don't know about you, but a long time ago I grew weary and wary of people "reducing" the Bible down to two culture-war issues: abortion and gay marriage.

The good news is that I think we're making some serious progress in changing that mentality. I just returned from the national meeting of the Evangelical Press Association where I heard keynote addresses and attended workshops that challenged such thinking. We discussed "war" as a metaphor and how much it stinks as a label for how to engage the marketplace. People die and get maimed in war.

In the words of Jonathan Merritt, a Liberty University grad and son of a former head of the SBC, "Should the church fight for the lives of the unborn? Absolutely. But can Christians afford to ignore the 3 million already-living who will die from preventable water-related diseases this year? What about the 1.2 billion people without access to safe drinking water? And what of the 1-million-plus Africans who will unnecessarily die of malaria in the next 12 months?"

Can I get an "Amen"?

In one workshop the coordinator handed out a copy of Youthworker magazine in which the above words appeared. I read the entire article and loved it. It gave words to how I feel about politics: "Many Christians...[refuse] to align with either side. Rather than red or blue, many Christians tend to be a comfortable shade of purple."Yup. That's me. Color me purple.

To read Jonathan's article, "Anti-Reductionism: Saving the Bible from Culture Warriors," adapted with permission from his book A Faith of our Own: Following Jesus Beyond the Culture Wars, go here.