Acton Insight 5: “Christians as the New Pariah” (Dr. Gregory Thornbury) On the second night of the Acton Institute, after we finished off a succulent chicken dinner, our host for the evening session walked up to the podium and said, “Get ready for a treat!” He explained how our next speaker was the young President of King’s College in New York City: He is considered both a brilliant scholar and engaging speaker. Even the popular media has taken notice of him describing him to be a mix of “Jonathan Edwards meets Rolling Stone”, another said he was the first “hipster” college president. I wasn’t sure what to expect? But I can tell you, the man who proceeded to step up to the microphone was not what I was envisioning at all. There he stood, Dr. Thornbury, a thin man, curiously outfitted in a grey three piece suit, lopsided bow-tie, and carrying the swagger of a timid Harry Potter. All I could think of was, “You have got to be kidding me?” And then he spoke: Even though he had a high-pitched nasally voice, I was fully engaged because he was saying exactly what I needed to hear, “Christians of today have an Eeyore worldview. We seem to complain about everything - - We claim to have lost our leadership position in culture, we feel like our movement is in decline, and everyone is against us.” Ahh, poor little Christians. This seemingly weak man’s words struck with the power of a Mike Tyson right cross, “Christians, stay the course, because we have a lot of fight left!” His message was simple and to the point: We must be willing to stand strong in a culture of animosity and antagonism because Our Lord did so his whole life. Jesus’ public ministry was directly centered on those who opposed and hated him. So Christians, why do we expect our life and ministry to be any different? Love of Liberty Dr. Thornbury stated that true liberty is nothing more than having the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. We must speak out even if the world is against us precisely because, “The Liberal and Progressive world needs us to be us.” People are always reality testing because they are not quite sure they believe what they say they believe. But as Christians, we do believe what we say we believe! And what they desperately need us to do, even though they don’t like it, is to stand up with boldness and conviction and say “No!” When the world is following the devil, someone has to be courageous enough to call a spade a spade. And that is the Christian’s role. He even said, “We need to start being the kind of Christians that they fear us to be. So learn to enjoy saying ‘no.’” Frankly, we need to quit playing the role of the nice guy. No one really listens to the nice guy. No one fears the nice guy. Christians in our culture are comparable to the nerd in Junior High who wants to be liked by the popular crowd. Always remember, "The cool kids will never like us.” I think this nerdy bow-tie wearing Harry Potter knows what he is talking about! But what people in our world really do fear, especially atheists, is the God of reality. We need to present him as he is. Especially God's view of marriage, it is a sacred union between a man and a woman. If you really want to be a daring and dark person in the world’s eyes, declare God’s marital design to be true. When a man makes a vow that they will commit their life to woman “until death do you part,” that is the real exercise of dangerous liberty these days! The New Pariah As a Christian you have two choices of how you want to be seen by the world. You can be a “Parvenu” or a “Pariah.” A ‘Parvenu’ is a person who downplays who they really are in order to be accepted. And as explained earlier, no one likes a suck-up. Or you can take on the role of ‘Pariah’, the person who is despised and viewed like a dirty, unwanted, street dog. He said the wonderful thing about a street dog is that it has a competitive advantage - - no one else in our society will take that role. Christianity is meant to be a scandal. 1 Corinthians 1:18 makes a clear statement, “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” The cross was never meant to be impressive, nor are we. When we are who we were designed to be, we will be naturally offensive. Why do we want to be liked so much? Why do we care if people don’t accept us? Pariahs are us! Practical Pariahs Dr. Thornbury took the role of prophet by saying in the strongest of terms, “If we want people to pay attention to our role of pariah, we need to start acting like one. And first of all, as the church we need to get our own house in order. We need to live in purity and holiness. We need to make our marriages beautiful so they will make God’s argument for us." Secondly, we need to get the message out of the church and into the marketplace and public square. Don’t just be a Christian on Sunday; be one on Tuesday as well. Carry the gospel to where you work, enter the academy, be a pariah wherever you are placed. And finally, we need to co-opt the cultural zeitgeist and turn it into redemptive symbols of hope. Like the bronze snake in the desert became a picture of salvation, we need to do the same with modern symbols and cultural effects in our world. Instead of always being behind the culture, copying the forms without having real substance, we need to start creating it. Our work quality, and artistry needs to be excellent. So how about you? Are you trying to get people to like you, or are you a pariah? I know for me, I have been called a dirty dog many times, and I think I am actually starting to like it?
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