Persecution! Really!?

Everyday I open my social media news feeds and it seems that there is a new perceived persecution of Christians in America. The American Christian is apparently under heavy attack, our very way of life is being threatened on all fronts.

Except where it really matters.

Just about everyday I open my Bible in public to read and study. Every week we gather openly in my home for worship and community. We even post it on Facebook and Twitter. We take pictures and celebrate the beautiful things that God is at work doing in our midst.

We keep using the word "persecution" but I don't think it means what we think it means.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhXjcZdk5QQ

This Sunday I had the briefest of interactions with someone who is heading to a country that is hostile to Christianity. This person cannot create a Facebook page about their ministry. This person cannot talk about the call of God on their life in specifics on social media. Their email has to be secured.

My wife works with our denomination's world mission organization. Before she can send out financial reports to some missionaries she has to scour the spreadsheets to make sure that there is no sign of "christian language" on them. Why? Because every attachment is read in these countries and if these missionaries are found out it could be deadly.

If you are checked into the world at large you know about countries where Christian pastors are being imprisoned and killed (North Korea, Nigeria, Kenya...). The persecution of Christians in these places is real, violent, and ongoing.

Yet, we in the United States cry persecution because a law we don't like gets passed. We cry persecution when a president we don't like gets elected. We cry out, "persecution" when celebrities do something "ungodly".

We need to reorient ourselves to what persecution is. It's when one's faith is being eradicated by direct oppression. We simply are not experiencing that in the United States. What we are experiencing in the US is simply multi-culturalism. Our relative mono-culture is becoming more and more diverse. We are not being persecuted. Our worldview is being challenged. We are misunderstood in the public square, but we are not being persecuted.

Since the inception of the culture war in the 1980s,Christians have in large part been stating what they are against. This has led us into a posture of conflict. We must change the conversation and narrative. We must begin to speak and write about what we are "for". As we do, the beauty and truth of the gospel will ring forth. Will it be met with cheering crowds? Probably not. However, there is a better chance of being heard if we will change our tone from one of conflict to that of grace.

11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. -- 1 Peter 2:11, 12