Relevant Magazine: “The Church Should Listen to non-Christians in order to Understand how we can be a Light to the World”

Last we heard of Relevant Magazine, that liberal rag slurped up by seeker-sensitive 20-somethings that populate megachurch corner offices, along with Emerging Church ex-pats wanting to relive the glory days, it was to talk about the fact that one of their regular contributors is a pro-choice ‘Unitarian Universalist’

The magazine will claim they’re not “that progressive” and push back on claims that they are outside the bounds of the Christian faith or have descended into a vat of crippling heresy, while at the same time platforming and promoting the theological musings from, and I repeat, a Unitarian Universalist. Even after he was exposed, they still have him on the books, writing articles for them, the revelation of this theological scumbaggery and heresies not disqualifying.

In a new article on “the benefits of listening to non-Christians“, author Ben White laments the fact that Christians have become associated with Trump, being indifferent to Black Lives Matter, associated with the anti-vaxx movement, and have refused to close their church doors during the pandemic, explaining that this is akin to “wearing noise-cancelling headphones as we roam the streets of America, preaching and shouting.”

Using the latter example, he blast John MacArthur for opening Grace Community Church up and fighting against California for months to stay open, noting that “his actions suggested to the secular media that he “doesn’t care about…[people’s] wellbeing.” 

He goes on to explain that actions like these “damage evangelicalism’s public credibility” and show a disregard for God’s Word. As a result, Christians are not seen as “reputable to outsiders.”

If American evangelicalism is to improve its witness in the 2020s, we need to cultivate a special kind of listening, where we do not simply endure the opinions of non-Christians to be polite. We listen to learn how to embody Jesus to our world. 

White ultimately surmises that we need to listen to what pagans are telling us is making us look bad, and incorporate their perspectives into our considerations in how we act, using Romans 12: 17 “not return evil for evil but consider what is good in the sight of all people” to explain that Paul “allows the world’s perception to play a role in what Christians do.” We need to not just be about advocating for “prolife causes” but rather find something the world is against and join them in that. He concludes:

“We have to pay more attention to the world and more often be its loving advocate rather than its sworn enemy.”

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3 thoughts on “Relevant Magazine: “The Church Should Listen to non-Christians in order to Understand how we can be a Light to the World”

  1. “Be holy for I am holy” appears several times in the Bible including in Leviticus and 1Peter. “Holy” is the Hebrew word “qodesh” and means “set apart, separated, separated out for use by God.” The church owes the world nothing except to proclaim Christ and him crucified.

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