Neutrality

Melting Pot

As the kids are beginning a new year of academic education I feel that it is important to remind us of a key distinction between believing and unbelieving thought. The secular world believes, or at least pretends to believe, that the distinction between sacred and secular means that it is possible for us to engage with one another on a neutral philosophical basis. They think that if believers will check their faith at the door, then we will on be on neutral territory. But in actuality, when we agree to step out of our worldview which is defined by the lordship of Jesus Christ we have given them home court advantage (1 Peter 3:14-16).

Our public spaces are often considered a melting pot where various distinctions and disagreements are supposed to melt away. It is ironic that many people coming from a secular worldview have adopted a definition for tolerance that is not actually tolerant at all. Tolerance is when people with differing opinions and perspectives can tolerate each other's freedom to not only have that view, but to also express that view. Most secularists today define toleration as affirmation and acceptance. They will openly acknowledge that they do not need to be affirming or accepting of religious or Christian perspectives but that we should affirm their secular perspective.

Software

A couple of months ago I was engaged in a conversation with a young homosexual man who was wearing the slogan “All are Welcome,” but he quickly told me that my view was not welcome. This is the kind of hypocrisy that the secular tolerance view leads to. The reality is that there cannot be any real neutrality. This is because everyone has to operate with certain foundational assumptions. 

A computer cannot operate without an operating system. I am not a computer scientist, but as far as I can tell even with all the necessary hardware in place you must have the information in the software for actual computation to take place. It is the same way with us. We must function from a basic framework of reality. For the Christian, our God and Lord Jesus Christ is at the center of that reality and we cannot abandon this fundamental presupposition.

Slogans

The danger is that people can easily be taken in by a catchy slogan if they are not grounded in the basic principles of the truth. Paul warned the Colossian Christians to not be taken captive by philosophy, deception, tradition, or worldliness (Colossians 2:8). The point is that catchy and sugary words can be used to trap us into believing things that are not true. But this can only be the case if we are not established in the faith. The myth of neutrality is nothing but a trojan horse meant to catch us unarmed and off guard for the spiritual war that we are all involved in.

Savior

The truth is the person of Jesus Christ. Notice, I did not say the truth is in the person of Jesus Christ. He said that He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). Since Jesus is the truth, all our wisdom, knowledge, and understanding must be based on Him and His revelation in the Scriptures. Again, Paul told the Colossians that in Jesus Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3). As Christians, we cannot abandon the solid ground of the Lordship of Jesus Christ for the shifting sand of secularism, false religion, or even so called tolerant neutrality!

---