Leaning Forward: The reason I don't talk physics

So, OK. Let's talk quantum physics. You know, waves, particles, motion, energy, random movement, the Copenhagen Interpretation, and the Uncertainty Principle are totally awesome topics. Trouble is, I don't know a single thing about any of them. The outcome? I can't talk about them any more than I can say the name Nils Bohr.

It's not rocket surgery, as the airhead told her friends. Beyond the usual bluff of one with the gift of gab, most of us won't talk about things we don't know. The human species, wired with at least some measure of ego, will maneuver conversations in a generally familiar direction, far away from areas of uncertainty. It's the "cat got your tongue" thing, the awkward silence when the discussion has crossed into an area past our knowledge, away from our interests, beyond our grasp. Silence is most often the answer when we're beyond our depth.

Perhaps the gag in the mouth of the Christian community today is simply a lack of knowledge about what is going on in the world around us. Well, yes, there's the head in the sand thing too, the serious denial that marks our blindness to a growing secularism around us. But, there is also a couple of horrible truths that may better explain why we will not speak to the times.

[1] We are biblically illiterate and cannot bring spiritual truth to the table.
[2] We cannot explain how a Biblical world-view addresses moral and ethical issues.
[3] We tend to classify most front page issues as political rather than theological.
[4] We are not well read about the clash of world-views and culture wars.
[5] Because we are uninformed, we are reluctant to speak boldly.

Sadly, disciple-making is not our long suit. It is the Great Commission Jesus gave His disciples, and does comprise much of the instruction in the New Testament. It's part of the righteous-speak we toss around in our pulpits and classrooms, seminary class- rooms, and in our evangelism rallies. Making disciples is the verbiage of new mission statements, core values, and tag lines. But, a majority of believers can't defend our pro-life position or explain the biblical grounds for combating drug or alcohol abuse, much less the Scriptural background of a stance regarding stem cell research.

How many Christians can discuss the separation of powers as defined in the United States Constitution, or intelligently debate freedom of religion? Few of us can give an apologia (look it up) for the hope that is in us, or explain the role of government in society. Just reading the editorial page and letters to the editor, it's obvious the atheists are more schooled in their religious opinions that most believers. We've been muzzled by our own ignorance. And, that is a really sad note about the state of faith in the United States and around the world.

Jesus send His disciples out into the world. He gave them a pretty bleak picture of what to expect. Sheep among wolves is a harsh image of what it would be. Then, he attached an addendum. He said, "Therefore, be as shrewd as serpents, and as harm- less as doves" (Matthew 10:16, HCSB). Obviously, Jesus didn't want them to be naive and uninformed. Later he told them to "...learn from Me..." (Matthew 11:29), and then taught them parables of the Kingdom so they would know how to live in an alien world. Count the hundreds of times the word "know" is used in the teachings of Jesus, certainly an indication that He didn't expect them to be clueless about the times. Much later Paul wrote a similar vein, "...we also believe and therefore speak" (2 Corinthians 4:13). In the early church they could turn the world upside down because they believed and taught the Apostles doctrine and were confident in their abiltiy to address the abuses of the day.

So, the world is going you know where in a hand-basket and we're so tongue tied we can't speak truth into it. Sadly, Paul predicted just such a time. He wrote to his protege Timothy, "For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear something new" (2 Timothy 4:3).

We better wise up and speak up.