“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes;” (Romans 1:16)
Saint Lucia, like the world, is going through times of turbulence and all kinds of changes. While we continue to celebrate Emancipation Day and other national holidays to place our history into perspective, as we honour the great achievements of athletes like Julien Alfred and Daren Sammy, our Nobel laureates and many other persons, there are numerous aspects of daily life that disturb and are cause for great concern. Top of the list must be crime, violence, indiscipline among students, drivers and others, the stubborn refusal to dispose of garbage as directed, noise pollution and many things can be added to this list.
Saint Lucia, like all countries where liberal democracy is practiced, has become increasingly pluralistic in religion, philosophies, political ideologies. and social life choices. These make for much quarrelsome division and contentiousness. In this column, I am interested in the contribution of essential Biblical Christianity to our lives, even as I am aware of the historical crimes of political and capitalistic Christendom. It is a religious article not a sociological analysis of the influence of the Church in its many manifestations. Not even concerned with differing denominational viewpoints within church groups. And certainly not with the positions of other religions. We are a liberal democracy where each citizen is free to choose how they live their lives.
Those who accept the Bible as revelation from God the Creator acknowledge that “the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.” (1 John 5:19). As converted believers, they can no longer abandon themselves to the ways of the world since they know that everything in it, “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life- is not of the Father but is of the world.” (1 John 5:16). For the committed Christian, there is a necessary, discerning separation from life-styles of the surrounding society. They are commanded to “not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Romans 12:2).
Yet, Christians are not to disappear into self-centred isolation. The Lord Jesus was criticised for being friendly with sinners, and He responded that He had not come “to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” (Matthew 9:13). He declared Himself “the Light of the world”, encouraging His followers to be “the salt of the earth and the light of the world.” Our Risen Saviour calls His disciples in every generation to a deliberate, responsible, identifiable position in their communities. “Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lamp-stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:15,16).
The Biblical Christian proposition is that God, through Christ Jesus, is Light, Love and Truth. This world is filled with darkness, hate, deception. It is an abnormal, fallen cosmos of sin and rebellion against God. While we point to social conditions of deprivation as a major cause of crime, yet the Biblical position is that man’s hatred of God and His commandments is the ultimate explanation of cruelty, abuse, murder and all crime. Sin is the ultimate lawlessness.
Since Christ’s historical Ascension, it is through His faithful Church, standing on the authority of Scripture, that God chooses to enlighten the world. Despite the visible fragmentation and denominationalism of Christian religion, despite its failures, the true Church is one and undivided. This Bible-founded Church, with a commission from Christ, brings a message of hope and salvation. “..we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us; we implore you, on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.” (2 Corinthians 5:20).
It is the Church, imperfect in its earthly members, that is the custodian of the Holy Scriptures, the revelation of God the Creator, originally given to prophets and apostles. Despite all the criticisms that can be made, faithful believers are responsible for demonstrating the power of the Gospel, whose centre is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour, the Incarnate Son of God. Where Christ of the Bible is not the absolute centre of the local church’s life and teachings, there is apostasy and no true church. “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12).
Serious Christians are exhorted to make a worthwhile contribution to our communities, according to Bible standards. In word, thought and deed, to be faithful to family, friends, employers, social acquaintances. To hold religious and political opinions without making them cherished idols and weapons of division. We pray for courage to speak against obvious sin, injustice, religious hypocrisy, to encourage higher moral standards, even as we try continually to practice what we preach.
A new generation must be taught to find and hold the eternal Biblical Christian standards of attitude so lacking today. Worldliness, secularism, religious shallowness, state-and-church complicities have marked our modernisms. We should abhor arrogance, a cultural confidence that equates to bad manners, obsession with popular entertainment pornographies, reject degeneration of respect for constituted authorities; economic poverty is no valid excuse for the terrible spiritual poverty so much in evidence. The ultimate reality of life does not rest on political partisanships, religious and class factions, economic disparities. These are finally superficial, temporary, vain, worthless, disappearing into the grave when eternity is announced for each individual.
Ultimately, Christians must remember and proclaim “Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man,” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). Saint Lucia may be a Christian nation by religious nominal majority but not by practice. Biblical standards do not control our lives for the most part. And they probably never have. One can make a case for a clear decline of regard for religious and moral standards. We can only hope that there are enough serious Christians to make a valuable difference. They have a responsibility before God to re-dedicate themselves to setting a true Christian example in life and work. Not easy!!
The issue is the spiritual life of citizens. What do we contribute? The Bible sets out a systematic and logical view of the human condition. It is unsparing in describing man’s sinful state. The Person of Christ is proclaimed as the Incarnation of God the Creator, man’s only hope of salvation and deliverance from present evils. The most enduring and necessary contribution of the Christian church to our society has been the teaching and preaching of the good news, the Gospel of the Risen Lord Jesus Christ, the loving Saviour we desperately need more than ever today. The sobering Biblical revelation also promises that historical time has an end, and God “has appointed a Day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead. (Acts 17:31).