Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

--Isaiah 5:20

I was telling the GCLI guys this morning about how the New York Times likes to lump all fundamentalists into one big pie. Chris metioned a jiggly blonde on MTV who let a lot of skin pop through her "Jesus" tee shirt. Muslims are outraged at this kind of thing and mistakenly think this has to do with corruption of Christians in America. They see us all as "Christians." The New York Times Book Review likes to review books that threaten the American way of life as if all fundamentalists: Jews/Christians/Muslims will hold hands and bring down Reality TV, Internet porn, and Dunkin Donuts in a sudden raging pogrom born of long conspiratorial plotting.

There are of course several problems with this way of thinking. It is true that both Christian and Muslim fundamentalists are often horrified by MTV. But what the New York intelligentsia seem not to realize (and I emphasize "seem," because I wonder if they really believe it) is that all fundamentalists are not the same. I think it was Ravi Zacharias who said, "People seem to think that all religions are the same and only differ in the superficial, but the truth is religions are very different and are only the same in superficial ways." (This may not be the exact quote). Christians actually have quite different goals for humanity than Muslims and radically different ways of accomplishing them. There is no unity possible here. Followers of Jesus are not comfortable forcing conversions or mandating behavior without the help of the Holy Spirit. You can follow the rules all you want in Christianity, but if you are not born from above it only makes you proud and hellbound.

Another thought occurred to me afterwards: We need to not be afraid of calling what is evil, evil. Just because we don't want to be associated with Islamic jihadists is no reason to shy away from saying women in this society need to cover up and show some modesty. I'm not calling for burcas, only advocationg I Tim. 2:9: "I want women to dress with modesty, decently.." What are the evils in our society that are distracting people from Jesus Christ? We need to pinpoint those and speak out.

In George Whitefield's day (see picture above) it was playing cards and dancing. Those were the things that were getting in the way of a relationship with the living God. This could still be true for some people today, but I think in the 21st century our emphasis is much different. People spend their time watching TV, playing electronic games, interacting on social networks, following sports, addicted to substances, overstimulated by sexual addictions, caught up in false religions. We need to preach both what is pure evil (tafficking in children for slavery and sexual gratifiction, for example) and warn against those things that keep us from learning about and loving Christ (deceptions and potential distractions).

Our problem is we're shy about calling a spade a spade--or a hoe a hoe, as may be the case. We don't want to name sins of individuals or in general lest we be perceived as legalistic. In effect we have let the legalists steal our right and ability to preach repentance for fear of being lumped in with them. Let's not let Muslims or other legalists take away our Biblical prerogatives. Let's not be afraid to name sin as sin and not call it something else. Let's not refrain from telling people to repent. We should call good, good and evil, evil.