In the story of the Early Church recorded in the Book of Acts chapters 4 and 5 the Apostles twice use the same phraseology to describe their reaction to the attempts of the authorities to silence their witness to the Christ. In chapter 4 verse 19, Peter and John say to their accusers and judges, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking what we have seen and heard.” Then again in chapter 5:29 Peter restates the Apostles position to their judges when he says, “We must obey God rather than men!” They were unequivocal.
The New Testament strongly insists that Christians should be good citizens and should obey the law and submit to the authority of duly constituted Governments. So Christians should be loyal and exemplary citizens who are known for their good works and integrity of life. At the same time the New Testament makes it a priority that Christians should serve God first and obedience to His Laws and requirements takes precedence over every other duty. There is no tension here at all unless the Government begins to require Christians to act contrary to what God has said.
That situation is now coming about in our society and it is time
for Christians to be ready to pay the price for their obedience to
Christ. Several items in this week’s news make this eventuality seem
most likely. The issue at the centre of several of them is once
again ‘gay rights and equality regulations’. So a Government
minister, Equalities minister Maria Eagle, has made it clear that
the new Equality Bill will force churches to accept practising
homosexuals or transsexuals in youth worker posts and other similar
roles. She makes the astounding statement that religious believers
should push ‘gay rights’ in their communities, but in the meantime
the state would do it.
There is an amazing assumption in the minister’s approach that
religious people must be in favour of ‘gay rights’. That same
confused and sadly ignorant argument is made in the Media when
discussing the furore in the Church of Scotland over the appointment
of an openly homosexual minister. The argument runs that to deny
this man his right to minister is to lack compassion. And, of
course, compassion must over-ride principle. Trevor Philips,
Chairman of the powerful Equality and Human Rights Commission,
showed a similar confused and prejudiced way of thinking when he
expressed concern over the appointment of Joel Edwards, an
evangelical Christian, to the Commission because it had caused
distress to gay and atheist campaigners.
Gay rights’ values are now seen as being the acceptable norm and
anyone who differs from them is immediately labelled as homophobic
(a much misused and distorted concept) and retrogressive. That sort
of language was used this week by Theo Grzegorczyk, a campaigner for
the Equality Bill and advisor to the openly gay peer Lord Waheed
Alli. He was attacking Canterbury Council for failing to support and
fund a gay bar in the city.
Why should such views prevail in our society? These views appear
on the surface to be promoting tolerance and equality, and these two
issues are the pre-eminent ones in the public discourse at the
moment. These will always be the values in a pluralistic society.
But the one thing they do not promote is tolerance and equality. As
Matthew Parris, the Times columnist and aggressively gay atheist,
has observed, you cannot be promoting tolerance and equality if you
deny rights to others. And that is what is happening around the
country in respect of Christian values. Matthew Parris’ solution is
that all talk of tolerance and rights for people of religion should
be stopped. So he speaks strongly against religion and especially
Christianity. He is honest enough to see that the philosophies he
espouses cannot conceive of true equality and tolerance because they
have no substantive foundation for such concepts.
Can there be equality and tolerance? The answer is a strong yes.
The American Declaration of Independence states this very clearly -
We hold these truths to be-evident, that men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator certain Rights, that among
these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Out of
such basic values come freedom of speech and freedom of association.
These are Christian concepts arising from the teachings of the
Bible, and they have undergirded the conduct of Western society for
hundreds of years. But now they are under severe threat.
What then should Christians do? They should not be downcast and
become terribly negative about the situation. There has been what is
called a ‘paradigm shift’ in our society and now we who hold to the
teachings of the Bible are under attack and face all kinds of
potential difficulties. So what’s new?
What Christians must do is stand up, speak out and declare the
liberating news of Jesus Christ. Our society is not benefited by the
values we have been reviewing. It is more divided, more unequal and
more intolerant than ever. Wholesome values are found supremely in
Jesus Christ. He opposed sin not because He lacked compassion but
because He truly loved people and knew what was best for them. He
sets our values for us. He tells us what is right and wrong. We
listen to Him. And then we say to our intolerant and unequal society
with the Apostles of old, “We MUST obey God rather than men.”