Straw men cannot save us

A great article in the local paper:

A straw man argument is one that misrepresents an opponent’s position, building instead a “straw man” that is easily attacked and overcome. It sometimes works to convince the uninformed, but a straw man is a pitiful weapon in the hands of those who should know better.

That’s why I was sorely disappointed to read Leonard Pitts’ comments about Christianity at last week’s “Faith, Doubt, and the Media” event …, as reported in the Times-News… He reportedly said, “Under the definition formulated by the Christian Right movement, Christian no longer meant just one who follows Christ, but meant one who follows Reagan, Limbaugh, Bush, Gingrich, Coulter, Falwell, Robertson. It meant he or she believes in tax cuts for the wealthiest, in the dehumanization of gay people, Muslim people, African American people…”

Don’t hold back, Mr. Pitts, say what you really believe. I write this with tongue firmly planted in cheek, as the syndicated columnist continues, “If you look at what Christianity has been synonymous with for the last 20 or 30 years, why would you want to be (a Christian)?”

Finally, Mr. Pitts, who also claimed at this event that he does not consider himself particularly ideological, says, “Some of us would have the rest of us believe that Christ who consorted with prostitutes and lepers, tax collectors and women, who challenged the orthodoxy of the day, was the original conservative. It was as if God was kidnapped in the 1980s and put to work for the Republican field office.”

Let me give Mr. Pitts the benefit of the doubt: Perhaps in his comments he was bemoaning the fact that the essence of Christianity is confused today with political leanings. If that is not the case, then I would submit that Mr. Pitts badly misrepresented Christ and Christianity in his comments. He has built a straw man which is easy to blow apart, but in the process he has drawn a caricature of Christ and his followers that cannot go without comment.

Who are followers of Christ? Are they members of a particular political party? The Bible says those who will worship Christ in heaven come from “all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues.” That sounds like a big tent to me. They will have come out of oppressive socialist regimes, bloody communist countries, and struggling free republics. How will they get to heaven? The Bible says they will cry out, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” They will be in heaven only because they are followers of Christ who have been forgiven their sins freely by the grace that the Lamb of God, Jesus, offered on the cross. He died in our place to make us his children, not to make us Republicans, Democrats, or Independents.

Why would anyone want to become a Christian, Mr. Pitts? Because He is our only hope. He was the only hope of the prostitute and the tax collector and all the other sinners of his day. He did not merely “consort” with them. He loved them enough to confront them in their sins and offer them eternal life through repentance and faith. He did not tell the woman caught in the act of adultery, “Go and join a political group that will not judge you for your sins but will give you the support you need to live your life and try and stay free from disease…” He said, “Go and sin no more.” She didn’t need a straw man, she desperately needed a Savior.

So do we.

Author: J. Mark Fox

---

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

• On Essential Doctrines and Those Who Deny Them
• Purtian’s prayer on ‘Contentment’
• The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World
• Hebrews 1:1-4 (Part 1)