As a Christian, I’m pulled in two ways. On one hand, I believe I should concentrate on living a pure life, focused on Scripture study and prayer, relying on God, building up the body of believers and winning people to Christ by personal caring and sharing. We should “take the plank out of our own eye, then we can see clearly to remove the speck out of our brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:5).

On the other hand, I want to shout from the rooftops, “Wake up! Don’t you see how you are killing yourself and your future?” As I see Canadians entrenching policies that kill unborn children and shutting down speech that opposes homosexuality, I want to say, “Repent, for the wrath of God draws near!”

What should we do? Should we stay in our sheltered walls and concentrate on cleaning up our own house, or should we stand on the street corner and declare condemnation?

I have listened to arguments that could convince me either way. Our own house is dirty. We need to clean it up—to teach the Word of God in all its truth and holiness. As people of God, we need to seek Him first. We cannot change the world—only God can. However, we are to be salt. If we don’t stand up publicly for what is righteous in God’s sight and announce our objections to the way our nation and world is going, then we fail our prophetic duty as children of God.

But there’s more to this quandary than my personal indecision. I see many Christians polarized on this issue. The ones who are shouting on the street corner look down with condemnation on those who stay in their houses. The ones who are concentrating on sweeping out the dirt from the church think the public shouters are wasting their time and causing more problems than they solve. “The world is lost,” they say. “We must win them one by one by God’s changing love; not by public political action!”

Politically incorrect

This summer, a group of Christians stood on a busy street in Fredericton, New Brunswick with enlarged pictures aborted fetuses. The display sparked a huge outcry in the city. Citizens were enraged and embarrassed. The mayor strongly suggested that the group leave town—stymied by the fact that they were breaking no laws.

It was interesting that people were enraged by the public display of something that they tacitly approve in abortion clinics. Was the display appropriate or inappropriate? Is this kind of tactic helpful in bringing truth to the abortion debate still in the courts in New Brunswick? Is this prophetic in the same vein as Jeremiah who ranted loudly in the streets about the sin of Israel?

And so the debate goes back and forth.

It is important to ask the question: Why are we ranting loudly in the streets and urging government and the courts to listen to Christian voices?

If we think that by persuasion we can win our country back to Christian values, then we need to be careful. Canada and the United States are not biblical Israel. This is not the promised land. As Christians, we are like the diaspora—God’s people in a foreign land, looking forward to the Christ’s return. We sing the songs of Zion in a foreign land.

We must not try to force others to follow God’s laws. We must point out error, like Paul who debated Greek philosophy in Athens. As Christians, we need to recognize that it is all right to differ in our emphases, as long as we have the same goal of following Christ. But more importantly, we must show by the example of our lives that following God is the true way.