Not Just Catechesis But Fortification

Many Christians lose their faith not because of a spiritual crisis or intellectual doubts but because they cannot handle the social pressure often exerted against believers. When they encounter opposition to Christianity from their friends, their colleagues, or the social set they aspire to, instead of holding on to or contending for their faith, they give it up. It follows that Christians today, especially young people, need from the church not only catechesis but fortification.

So says David French in his National Review piece Another Pop-Culture Christian Loses His Faith. He is discussing Marty Sampson, the former worship leader of Hillsong and writer of a host of popular “praise songs,” who, like Josh Harris, recently announced that he is leaving Christianity. (Actually, Sampson now says he hasn’t renounced Christianity completely, just that his faith is on “incredibly shaky ground,” as he struggles between the Christian apologists’ arguments and the New Atheists’ arguments. So pray for him. But what’s the problem with approaching faith in terms of which side makes the best rational case?)

French puzzles over the particular difficulties that Sampson cites. The Australian singer and recording artist says that “no one talks about” the fall of preachers, the absence of miracles, the contradictions in the Bible, the problem of evil, etc.. And yet, as French says, his evangelical church talks about those things all the time! (I would add that the historical church all through the ages has much to say about them. Perhaps Sampson’s particular Pentecostal church, Hillsong, does not, favoring instead the unbridled happy-talk that characterizes not only the prosperity gospel but other strains of contemporary Christianity, as reflected in so many of the praise songs that have been Sampson’s bread and butter. Preparing Christians to live in the fallen world will require churches to be realistic, as historic Christianity always is.)

Anyway, in the course of his discussion, all of which is worth reading, French says this:

As our culture changes, secularizes, and grows less tolerant of Christian orthodoxy, I’m noticing a pattern in many of the people who fall away (again, only Sampson knows his heart): They’re retreating from faith not because they’re ignorant of its key tenets and lack the necessary intellectual, theological depth but rather because the adversity of adherence to increasingly countercultural doctrine grows too great.

Put another way, the failure of the church isn’t so much of catechesis but of fortification — of building the pure moral courage and resolve to live your faith in the face of cultural headwinds.

In my travels around the country, one thing has become crystal clear to me. Christians are not prepared for the social consequences of the profound cultural shifts — especially in more secular parts of the nation. They’re afraid to say what they believe, not because they face the kind of persecution that Christians face overseas but because they’re simply not prepared for any meaningful adverse consequences in their careers or with their peers.

What would “fortification” look like? Well, you tell me. But here are my thoughts on the subject. . . .

Young Christians need to know what to expect when they confess this faith. They need to understand the consequences they will face and to cultivate the discipline to meet opposition with courage, strength, and grace. This will need to go beyond–though it should include–countering arguments, since the pressures they will feel usually have little to do with arguments. Fortification will entail “counting the cost” (Luke 14:25-33) and building the Biblical virtue of endurance.

The Bible has much to say about persevering in the faith. We need to study, for example, the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13, which describes the one who “endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away” and the one “who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word.” Churches need to teach about tribulation, persecution, the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches. Very often in contemporary Christianity, in Sampson’s terms, “no one talks about” those.

I suspect that the Reformed doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints, in the common evangelical version of “once saved always saved” has become a matter of complacency, as if now that I am a Christian, I should just be able to cruise my way to Heaven. Whereas the Bible indicates that the life of the Christian will be one of struggle and conflict. (Actual Reformed believers of the past tended to understand that point very well, as did Lutherans and others who believe that it is possible not to persevere, so as to lose one’s faith entirely.)

Specifically, the Bible says much about endurance: both enduring persecution and enduring suffering (a major problem for contemporary Christians today, not just understanding intellectually why God allows suffering, but and in dealing with their own sufferings faithfully).

The Book of Hebrews suggests one way of teaching this “fortification.” The author gives a great catalogue of Biblical saints, presenting them as exemplars of a faith that prevailed despite overwhelming trials (Hebrews 11). He then concludes with this:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2)

In his books Why Johnny Can’t Tell Right from Wrong and Books That Build Character: A Guide to Teaching Your Child Moral Values Through Stories, Christian educator William Kirk Kilpatrick says that the traditional way of teaching virtues and building character was through stories. An engaging account of human beings in action, whether fictional or drawn from real life, can inspire children to emulate the characters they most admire. “I want to be like” that hero or that heroine, they feel, and, conversely, they do not want to be like the villain, whose actions they come to despise.

Moral education and character formation are not just matters of informing the students intellectually about what is right and wrong. They also need to be motivated, from the inside, to embrace what is right and to reject what is wrong. There are limits to our ability to be so motivated, given our sinful condition, and, ultimately, only Christ and the Gospel can give us the inner transformation we need. And yet, engaging the moral imagination can be helpful in internalizing the Law in its various uses.

The author of the Book of Hebrews is offering the stirring account of the saints as a way to encourage not so much our morality but our faith. Specifically, to encourage us to “run with endurance” the life of faith. We do that not with our own strength or character but by continually “looking to Jesus,” who has both authored our faith and who will perfect it, as, in the face of all trials, we hold fast to Him. Examples of other Christians who have done this can be helpful in inspiring us as well.

This also shows the importance of the church. In resisting negative social pressure, a key factor is having positive social support. Being part of a Christian community, having Christian friends, and having Christian colleagues can make the disapproval of the world seem irrelevant. Conversely, becoming alienated from one’s Christian community, for whatever reason, can make a person look to the world for a sense of belonging. So making our churches more close-knit and more personally involving–including building up an identity in solidarity with Christians of the past in the historic church–does wonders in fortifying Christians.

How else can we cultivate “fortification”?

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay