Eight years ago I wrote a piece entitled “Why I Am A Christian” that generated a lot of response at the time. Now eight years further along the journey, I’ve revised it for those who may have missed it the first time.

I am a Christian because the Biblical story offers the most complete and workable answers to life’s most enduring questions: “Where did we come from?” “Why are we here?” “What’s wrong with the world, and how can it be fixed?” “Why do I love beauty?” “Why do I have a passion for justice?”  While the Darwinists, the Marxists, and the Postmodern intellectuals wrestle to make sense of the world, the Biblical record quietly assembles the pieces into a storyline that offers a full accounting of life and existence. No other worldview even comes close.

I’m a believer because Biblical Christianity produces beautiful and enduring fruit. I’m not talking so much about religion, or the institutionalized church, but Kingdom Christianity as practiced by the early church, and small groups of faithful believers over the centuries. No other worldview has built so many hospitals, fed so many poor, emancipated as many slaves, or established so many organizations to serve, educate, heal, and bless the human race as the true followers of Christ, who recognize that “inasmuch as you did it to the least of these, my brothers, you did it unto me.”

I am a Christian because creation itself demonstrates a wondrous order that points to a loving Creator. Not only is the hand of God evident in the miraculous intricacies of animal instincts, hearing and sight, reproduction, the seasons, the water cycle, and the natural laws of nature, but man and animal alike exhibit a capacity for love and relationship that could never have arisen out of an impersonal time-chance worldview.  It’s just impossible for me to believe that dead matter could somehow spring into life, organize itself into DNA and living systems, become self-conscious, and write a symphonic masterpiece, apart from the work of a personal God.

I am a follower of Jesus because the Biblical worldview offers the best and most enduring foundation for a civilized society.  It’s no accident that without exception the most stable, democratic, prosperous, and technologically advanced nations of the world have all find their historic roots springing from the soil of Biblical Christianity.

And finally I am a follower of Christ because of the deeply personal way God meets me in everyday life; because of the way he steps into my darkness,  despair and separation with a redemptive love and quiet assurance  that I am not alone.

As the years of my life pile up, the certainty of my soul deepens into the experience of C.S. Lewis, who so aptly expressed, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen; Not only because I see it, but because by it I see all things.

Normally I would hesitate to point this out as a matter of manners, but I can’t resist this stunning example of how worldview makes a difference.  The first photo is a shot of the Capital Mall after the January 20th inauguration.  The Second is a photo following the Tea Party on September 12th.  You can draw your own conclusions.  (Thanks to sweetness-light.com for the photos)

Because I passionately believe in the Kingdom of God I am not an alarmist.  I find great encouragement in the fact that King of the Kingdom is not panicked by world affairs.   American politics will not thwart the Prince of Peace who has already made provision for the restoration of the entire cosmos.

But neither do I believe we can sit back and just “trust” everything will be sorted out in the end.  (Or even worse… naively “hold on” until Jesus rescues us out of the mess!)  If God’s people abandon wisdom, reason, and prayer, humanity will reap the consequences of added generations of brokenness and injustice.  So I humbly submit a few guidelines that have helped me maintain a hopeful and responsible equilibrium in an maddening world:

• Daily press into the prayer we’ve been taught:  “May thy Kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.”

• Continually ask God for wisdom and insight to see things as they are, and not as they appear to be.

• Educate yourself about the world and the way it operates.  Believers are called to understand the times, and it is impossible to do so without a basic understanding of economics, government, the causes of poverty, Marxism, Islam, Postmodernism, art, culture, and certainly a Biblical understanding of each of these concepts. “My people are destroyed because of lack of knowledge.” – Hosea 4:6

• Maintain objectivity:  Truth has nothing to fear, and it is on the safest of grounds that we are commanded to “Test all things; Hold onto what is good.” – (1 Thes. 5:21)   We must engage on the level of facts, and not just opinions.   Very few people and ideas are one hundred percent good or evil, so with the greatest of reverence we ought to sift through every idea for the bare facts.

• Don’t be bullied by political correctness:  Once the facts emerge we must present reality as it is, whether socialism, racism, greed, economic irresponsibility, or old-fashioned foolishness, it has a name.  (I, for one, am quite tired of people acting as if the word “Socialism” is a slanderous invective coined by “right-wing nut-cases.” It is what it is – an objective, definable worldview – and we’ll never move on as long as it’s bad manners to call it by its name).   When the whole aim of political correctness is to wrap the truth in harmless euphemisms it’s good to remember that God pronounces “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil.” (Is. 5:20)

• Stand in love.  We must never forget that those with whom we disagree are passionately loved by the Father of Jesus.  All of our truth-telling, regardless of its accuracy, will be reduced to malignant judgment if it is not framed in the love of Christ.