Question

Sunday night, "On the Christian's Responsibility to Government," you used the example of the Early Church as a standard for the Christian community these days.  Well, about the tenth observation made by the historians, in that day, was that the Early Church was indifferent to the world's temporal materialism and political systems.  Now, my questions is, how does the "Salt Shaker" stand in relation to the example set by the Early Church, which basically segregated themselves from government?

Answer

That's a good question.  We have a little "Salt Shaker" that comes out each month and we are back to this same idea.  The only thing you will find in the "Salt Shaker" are issues related to Biblical truth and morality, in other words, sin as over against righteousness.  We are not going to put in there issues about whether they ought to pave Roscoe Blvd--write your Congressman.  Or, whether they ought to allow certain laws to pass related to schools, or education, or budget, or zoning, in other words, what we are dealing with is moral issues when we feel there is "due process" by which we can articulate the Christian perspective. 

Now, in the last couple days, Sam Erickson (sp.) has been here.  I was talking to Sam about how he fits because you see he is the head of the Christian Legal Society, which basically is a group that functions in Washington; a group of Christian lawyers who go into the courts and lobby for the Christian viewpoint.  Again, what they are doing is taking "due process" of law in an honorable and reasonable way, demonstrating Christian character and Christian testimony, and articulating a Christian viewpoint on these issues--now that's very vital, and that's what we are asking people to do in the "Salt Shaker."  That's not political, that is taking a voice in moral issues that face our nation and giving the Christian perspective.

The editor of the "LA Times" one time said to me (he was coming here--the owner), he said, "why don't you ever use the platform there to 'get on the bandwagon' for some of these really important political issues?"  I said, "Because the only thing that I want to talk about is what God talks about.  Everybody has got their opinion--I think God has the right to be heard in the midst of all of this."  And all we want to do is to articulate the Biblical view, and it is key for us to have Christian lawyers who will go into a courtroom, for example, when a debate is going on and give a Biblical viewpoint to an issue that is confronting the nation.  Right now the Christian Legal Society has three cases before the Supreme Court of the United States, in which they articulate the Biblical view, but they do so with a great sense of graciousness.  Let me give you an illustration.

They put out a magazine "Christian Legal Society" and in it was an ad for an attorney wanted by some law firm.  It said, "A Christian legal firm would like to hire a Christian attorney etc."  One of the Jewish groups, which by the way are behind a whole lot of this stuff because there is that ancient antagonism to Christianity, and we understand that and we love them anyway, but we understand there is an antagonism there.  So, this group called up the Christian Legal Society and said, "How dare you?  It's unethical for you to put a 'Christian Lawyer' in there, that's discrimination, etc."  So, the Christian Legal Society called them back in the next day or so, Sam said.  He said, "I just want you to know that we want to be sensitive to you.  We don't want to be a discredit to the legal profession, and if that is an offense to you in our magazine [then] we won't put that there any more."  And he said, the girl was an attorney who listen to him in the Washington office who broke into tears, that anyone would be that conscientious. 

It doesn't matter to them [Christian Legal Society] because their magazine only goes to Christian attorneys, so they know what they are saying, but rather than make war--they would seek to make peace and express themselves in a gentle way, but when it comes to standing for truth, they need to be there to speak.  So, what happens is they treat those people with kindness on that level, but when they get into the courtroom, and those people are crying for the Humanist viewpoint, they say this is what we believe is right based on the Scripture and the tradition that has been established by Christianity. 

It's a question of morality as over against just partisan politics and views on things that aren't moral issues.