Evangelism

The Consequential, Complex and Confounding Legacy of Pope Francis

Easter Monday’s death in Rome of Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State, triggers a nine-day mourning period that will be marked by solemn ritual and ceremony.

There will be prayers, Masses, processions and a funeral in St. Peter’s Square. Pope Francis will be buried in the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major.

Within a few weeks, the College of Cardinals will meet, black smoke will billow from the Vatican chimney until white smoke signals the election of a new pontiff.

It’s all very predictable and traditional, but still relatively rare, too. Francis, who was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, was only the 266th Pope. The apostle Peter is considered the first.

Nicknamed the “People’s Pope” for his compassion and focus on the poor, Francis’ parents were Italian immigrants. He thought he might become a chemical technician or make a career in the food industry – but ultimately felt God was calling him to the priesthood. He wasn’t ordained until he was 32 years of age.

Popes tend to take on an oversized role these days, and especially in a social media saturated world. Francis was no exception. His tweets reached tens of millions of people and were translated into various languages.

When Francis was elected, he was hailed as the first Jesuit pontiff, as well as the first from Latin America. He was called “a conservative with a common touch.”

But was he?

If by “conservative” you meant he was committed to upholding traditional teachings of the Catholic church when it came to the sanctity of life, the biblical definition of one-man, one-woman marriage and the distinctives and exclusivity of two and only two genders, male and female, then yes, Francis was largely conservative.

Over the years, Francis often referred to the church as a “field hospital” and emphasized the importance of extending Christ’s grace and mercy to sinners. Evangelicals and Catholics hold to several distinctly different theological doctrines, but they’re in agreement that we’re all sinners in desperate need of help and forgiveness.

But the late pope also had a habit of frustrating many Catholics and others by saying things that he or his surrogates would later clarify or sometimes confuse even more. In fact, at times, he seemed to invite or even encourage ambiguity.

To look at this habit charitably, perhaps he was hoping to draw people into a larger discussion and conversation.

Not everyone saw it that way. Back in 2019, over 1,000 Catholic scholars published an open letter to the College of Bishops that accused Pope Francis of heresy, including the “comprehensive rejection of Catholic teaching on marriage and sexual activity, on the moral law, and on grace and the forgiveness of sins.”

Charles J. Chaput, archbishop emeritus of Philadelphia, remembers warm interactions with Francis, but wrote in First Things on Monday that candor is necessary given the challenges of our day.

Archbishop Chaput suggested Pope Francis could be “temperamental an autocratic” as well as thin-skinned. He wrote:

In the face of deep cultural fractures on matters of sexual behavior and identity, he condemned gender ideology but seemed to downplay a compelling Christian “theology of the body.” He was impatient with canon law and proper procedure. His signature project, synodality, was heavy on process and deficient in clarity. Despite an inspiring outreach to society’s margins, his papacy lacked a confident, dynamic evangelical zeal. The intellectual excellence to sustain a salvific (and not merely ethical) Christian witness in a skeptical modern world was likewise absent.

What the Church needs going forward is a leader who can marry personal simplicity with a passion for converting the world to Jesus Christ, a leader who has a heart of courage and a keen intellect to match it. Anything less won’t work.

Many evangelicals may not take much interest in the election of the next pope, but the leader of so many Catholics matters a whole lot and not only to those who pledge their loyalty to Rome. Popes matter. They set cultural tones, can clarify or confuse, and can help shape generations to come.

Please be in prayer as these next weeks and months unfold in Rome and beyond.

Image from Getty.

Secretary Sean Duffy: Let’s Bring Jesus Up from the Basement

As a former member of Congress, now Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy had a reputation for speaking his mind. Unapologetically pro-life, he regularly chastised colleagues for not standing up for the most vulnerable. From the House floor he talked about the “silent screams” of the preborn.

“Don’t talk to me about cruelty when you look at little babies being dismembered, feeling excruciating pain,” he once declared.

So maybe it’s not surprising that when Secretary Duffy visited the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy last week that he vowed to put back up an historic painting that his predecessor, Pete Buttigieg, had removed.

It’s titled “Christ on the Water” or “Jesus and Lifeboat.”

The painting in question was created in 1944 by U.S. Maritime Service Lieutenant Hunter Wood. Looking for a way to honor Americans lost at sea during World War II, Wood’s art measures 10-feet by 19-feet. He used marine paint, sail canvas and varnish to bring the image to life.

For 80 years, the painting hung in the Elliot M. See Room of the academy’s administration building. Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Foundation and chief crank of any intersection of faith and government, filed a complaint. On Secretary Buttigieg’s order, the painting was first covered and then relegated to the basement.

Thankfully, Secretary Duffy has reversed course.

“Can we bring Jesus up from the basement?” he asked to cheers last week. “Let’s not put Jesus in the basement! Let’s get Him out! Let’s bring Him up!”

One midshipman told the Christian Post, “I remember many times when I used to pray underneath that painting when I was on the verge of failing a class, or I had big tests or I was worried about something. I’ve prayed underneath that painting when it used to be in Wiley Hall. So to me, it’s a very significant, important painting, and I think it’s an important part of the school’s history.”

Another midshipman noted how appropriate it was to have that specific painting in that particular room on campus, the site of hearings for possible honor code violations.

“That room where the painting was held is where the Honor Board meetings were. And people would look up to that painting and say, ‘Everything’s going to be all right. Jesus is looking after me, just like He’s looking after these sailors who are washed up on a boat somewhere in the middle of the ocean.'”

Back when the Academy covered and moved the painting, Senator Ted Cruz wrote a letter to Vice Admiral Joanna Nunan, the Superintendent of the United States Merchant Marine Academy, criticizing the decision.

“I am deeply concerned by your flawed understanding of the First Amendment to our Constitution,” Senator Cruz stated. “The allegation that the painting somehow violates time, place and manner restrictions is an objective absurdity.”

Over the years, radicals have worked overtime to metaphorically and literally relegate Jesus to America’s basement. Secretary Duffy, who is a married believer and father to nine children, understands both the danger and destructiveness of those efforts. He also understands that acknowledging the Christian faith in a public setting doesn’t violate the United States Constitution.

Thank you, Secretary Sean Duffy.

What’s a Christian to do with Culture?

The thing about culture is that it is always changing. That’s because culture is, in a very real sense, created by humans. It’s the result of what we think, what we imagine, what we change, what we legislate, what we invent, what we relate to, and all kinds of other human experiences. 

There are some moments, however, in which the changes are deeper and wider, the shifts in culture more fundamental. Many sense we’re living in such a time where the changes that have taken place over the last several decades have been substantial, to say the least. My friend Os Guinness calls this a “civilizational moment,” where society isn’t just at a critical crossroads in twenty-first century America. It’s instead at a critical crossroads for Western civilization itself. 

Of course, history tells the story about civilizations, how they rise and fall. There are rules to civilizations, and if those rules are broken, then those civilizations no longer have a future. What Os means when he calls this a civilizational moment is that we’re at a time when our future is unclear. Will Western civilization be renewed? Will it enter a time of revolution? Or will we continue in irreversible decline? 

It’s important as Christians to always remember that the decline of Western civilization is not the decline of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God both predates and will long outlast the history of Western civilization. However, its decline will be significant indeed because so many of the ideals of the Western world were shaped and formed by Christian beliefs—specifically those beliefs about morality and about human dignity. Such ideals aren’t found in other civilizations that have long since been swept into the dustbin of history. 

But here’s what Christians can be sure of, whatever the future holds for Western civilization: We belong to an even bigger story. In fact, given the biblical account of reality from Creation to new Creation, from Heavens and Earth to new Heavens and new Earth, the history of this civilization is more like a moment. 

And that’s the thing about moments that can only be properly understood in light of stories: You can never fully understand a story from a moment, but you can make sense of a moment from the perspective of the larger story. In God’s grace, that’s precisely what He has given us: The Story of reality, capital “T,” capital “S.” 

He’s also given us the truth about who we are and what it means to be a human being, which, of course, is something that has shifted dramatically in these latter decades of Western culture. Untethered from these ideological roots that made Western culture what it was, the future for this society is indeed unclear.  

But there’s good news. The most important thing we can know about this civilizational moment is that Christians don’t find ourselves in it by accident. Scripture reveals something very interesting and important about God Himself, which is that He is chronologically precise. In other words, we’re in this time and in this place by His intention … we’ve been called to it. So then, as Francis Schaeffer and later Chuck Colson asked, how now shall we live in the knowledge of this?  

The only way to do that is to get our hands, our minds, and our hearts around four fundamental realities of the Christian worldview, starting with hope. Scripture says that Christians are people of hope, but that means we must fully and rightly understand what hope is and not misdefine it as some sort of wishful thinking. Jesus is our blessed hope.  

We must also wrap our minds, hearts, and heads around what is true, not just the individual truths of Christianity, as important as those are. We must not just know the moral truths of how we ought to behave, but the truth of the Christian story and how that story is so radically different than all the other worldviews that are vying for our hearts and minds right now. 

A proper understanding of identity is another key point to navigating this civilizational moment. The Christian worldview offers the only accurate definition of what it means to be human, made in the image and likeness of God. We must know exactly what it means to be “made in the image of God” and how that impacts our relationship with the world around us, with God, with others, and with ourselves.  

And finally, we need to have a clear sense of calling. Especially in a time like ours, it’s easy to feel like victims against the forces of history. We feel as if we have no say in where civilization is headed. But remember, we have been called to this civilizational moment, and we have the truth about reality and about the human person at the ready in Scripture.  

If Christians can be clear on these four things of hope, truth, identity, and calling, that’s a pretty good roadmap for this civilization. The next Lighthouse Voices event will explore these guidelines with our “A Christian’s Guide to this Civilizational Moment” lecture. The Lighthouse Voices series is a joint project from Focus on the Family and the Colson Center designed to help Christians think well about the culture they live in, especially when it comes to those issues that intersect with family.  

Are Liberal Pastors Hiding in Conservative Churches?

“There are pastors in this denomination who do not believe in the bodily Resurrection of Jesus Christ,” said my pastor, Dr. Jim Singleton.

That statement didn’t come from the pulpit but rather from inside a leadership meeting back around 2010.

The Presbyterian Church (USA) has been theologically sliding for decades, a tragic trend that has triggered a mass exodus of both members and entire congregations.

To be sure, the decline hasn’t been isolated to one denomination. The American mainline Protestant drop has been in the headlines since many of us were children. Demographic shifts and suburban spread are often cited as reasons. But the main driver of the decline has been churches very deliberately deviating from or outright denying the truth of God’s Holy Word.

Shortly after arriving in Colorado Springs in the late 1990s, I began attending First Presbyterian Church, located in the heart of our city. It was led by Dr. John H. Stevens, a longtime pastor who had arrived in the late 1960s. A dynamic preacher dedicated to the faithful teaching of the Bible, the three morning services were regularly filled. Extra chairs were often pulled out.

Dr. Stevens retired in 2004, and Dr. Jim Singleton became senior pastor. It’s difficult to follow a legendary figure, but Jim deftly accomplished the challenge. His teaching was inspiring, convicting and engaging. Like John, he was always faithful to the Scriptures.

Ordained as an elder, I began attending monthly session meetings. In addition to typical church business, we began talking about grave concerns with the church’s denomination – Presbyterian Church (USA). While these issues had been bubbling up for years, our congregation was largely unaffected thanks to pastors holding the line and remaining true to biblical doctrine.

But Dr. Singleton had developed a relationship with numerous other conservative pastors over the years and had been navigating a rising discontent and frustration across the denomination. They formed what became known as “The Fellowship of Presbyterians” and began dreaming and discussing the formation of a new denomination.

Jim Singleton was warning about heretics within a dying denomination and helped us work through plans to break away from the PC(USA). It was also where he shared about the wolves in sheep’s clothing (my words, not his) – the pastors he knew who were concealing their true beliefs in order to keep the peace – and protect their pensions.

The First Presbyterian Church of Colorado Springs congregation eventually voted to leave the PC(USA) and join the newly formed Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians (ECO). There are now nearly 400 congregations in the denomination – many of whom transitioned from the PC(USA).

Even given significant theological differences, many Christians struggle with leaving a church congregation in which they’ve been long established. It’s more than just loyalty. It could be family history. The late Dr. Adrian Rogers used to say that Christians would tell him in reference to their now liberal church, “I can’t leave. My parents are buried in the cemetery behind the church!” Dr. Rogers would tell them, “Listen, if they could get up and move, they would!”

At the same time, even conservative denominations are not immune from liberal infiltration. Search committees review sermons, ask questions, and check references. But it’s not a one-and-done process. Instead, it should be an ongoing conversation. Ministers are not immune from pressures and cultural persuasion. Accountability and support are critical components of any successful pastorate.

Pastors who might conceal their more progressive or liberal opinions from the pulpit to keep their jobs is a sensitive and highly volatile concern. If you have such suspicions, you should meet with your pastor and talk it through. What might seem like theological liberalism today might well be a misunderstanding. It could be a lack of confidence or a reluctance to offend. In turn, our encouragement might go a long way. Said Dr. Billy Graham, “When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened.” 

This hour calls for strong and courageous pastors who will unapologetically proclaim the truth of God’s Word. Ours is a confused world that’s reeling and hungry for guidance. Our pastors hold an oversized role and responsibility to help lead the charge and show how Jesus Christ can revolutionize and redeem the culture. 

Image from Shutterstock.

The Problem with Christian ‘Worldview’

Every so often, a book or article will denounce the concept of worldview for Christians. The claims, which vary from writer to writer, are usually a mix of legitimate critique and odd straw manning.

Some argue that the German rationalist history of worldview makes it wrong, misguided, or even unbiblical for Christians. Others suggest that it reduces authentic faith to something too cerebral, too impersonal or too formulaic. Perhaps the most common critique is that it just doesn’t “work” in today’s cultural environment. 

That last critique extends to all Christian intellectual work, especially apologetics.

For decades now, last rites have been offered for Christian intellectual pursuits but, to paraphrase Mark Twain’s comment about rumors of his own demise, rumors of the death of worldview and apologetics have been greatly exaggerated. In just the last few months, millions witnessed Wesley Huff use apologetics to share the Gospel with millions on Joe Rogan’s podcast, as well as Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger proclaim a new faith in Christ and attribute it to a long intellectual journey which involved a popular apologetics and evangelism website. The long history of Christian intellectual work includes philosophy, science, medicine, art and virtually every area of human understanding. People still have questions, and the Bible provides answers. The life of the mind is a non-reducible aspect of the Christian faith.  

The most common criticisms of Christian worldview as a concept have come from those who doubt objective truth, objective morality, and Christianity’s clear doctrinal stands, and yet still wish to identify as Christian. In the past, these critiques came from those who embraced more culturally and theologically liberal views.

Just recently, however, a critic from the dissident Right complained that Christian worldview ideas, such as image of God and knowable truth, undermined their views about race and nationalism. He’s right. They do. There are clear implications of the Bible’s truth-claims about God, the universe, human dignity, and many other things. 

A smaller set of criticism comes from Christians who found that a formulaic understanding of Christian worldview hadn’t “worked” the way they had either been told or thought. In their experience, the Christian worldview was presented as obvious, and the others as nonsense. Perhaps they were taught objectively that certain sins were, in fact sins, but understanding that didn’t keep them from struggling. Or perhaps they had run-ins with obnoxious Christians who used worldview like a club to badger people into submission on narrow political opinions. 

Worldview has been done badly but, as a movement, it’s been largely self-corrective. Some of the earliest champions of Christian worldview, such as Herman Bavinck and Herman Dooyeweerd, pushed worldview thinking away from the confusions of German rationalism. Almost every popular champion of Christian worldview, from James Sire to Nancy Pearcey to Francis Schaeffer to Charles Colson, argued against reducing faith to cerebral formulas. More recently, many have worked to maintain the political ramifications of Christian truth without allowing the faith to be reduced to political partisanship.  

In his short book on the importance of creativity and art, Francis Schaeffer wrote: 

“If Christianity is really true, then it involves the whole man, including his intellect and creativeness. Christianity is not just ‘dogmatically’ true or ‘doctrinally’ true. Rather, it is true to what is there, true in the whole area of the whole man in all of life.”

Christian worldview is about the realization that if Christianity is true, it’s about everything and it changes everything. As Scottish theologian James Orr, among the earliest Christian thinkers to talk about the Christian worldview, wrote,  

“He who with his whole heart believes in Jesus as the Son of God is thereby committed to much else besides. He is committed to a view of God, to a view of man, to a view of sin, to a view of Redemption, to a view of the purpose of God in creation and history, to a view of human destiny, found only in Christianity.”

While I agree that the term “Christian worldview” or “Biblical worldview” is clunky, every alternative I’ve heard (like “Christian social imaginary”) is far worse. Perhaps we should just call it Biblical wisdom, this quest to incarnate Christ’s claim on reality, as articulated by Abraham Kuyper, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!” Our job, Chuck Colson often said, is to go anywhere and everywhere and cry out “His!”