Fighting yesterday's battles

In 2003, the Japanese government announced they were sending a team to the Philippine island of Luzon in hopes of informing four World War II veterans that the war was over. The Ministry of Health and Welfare received tips from locals about surviving soldiers living in the jungles.

This isn't the first time this has happened. In the 70's, Japan found several soldiers in Pacific island jungles who believed that Japan was still waging war against the United States. One, Lieutenant Michio Onoda refused to surrender until ordered to do so by his former commanding officer.

After some were told, they were able to reintegrate into a totally different Japanese culture. But many found it too difficult to adjust to all the changes that had occurred over the decades they had been in hiding. After all, the enemy they had been "fighting" (America) was now a strong ally of new Japan.

Today, many in Evangelical Christendom are fighting yesterday's battles. They are stuck in the jungles of the 1950's waging war against the enemies of the 1970's. When some are finally exposed to modern culture, they have no idea how to respond except to sink deeper into the safety of their jungle caves fighting battles that are already over.

As I write this post, someone at the Southern Baptist Convention is proposing a motion to remove books written by Mark Driscoll from LifeWay stores. A motion is also made to investigate Southern Baptist who have a relationship with Driscoll. You see Driscoll is fighting modern enemies with modern weapons and he does so in a manner that is different from many within the SBC. As a denomination, we disagree with him over some minor issues. Therefore, the entire convention should condemn his works and ban them from our stores. That'll really show the world how much we love Jesus, when we seek to condemn and investigate other followers of Him both within and outside our denomination.

I recently had a conversation with a friend from a small, country Southern Baptist church far away from all the denominational politics. He was discussing the attitudes within the church as he was working to change the priorities away from "what have we always done" to "what does Jesus want us to do now."

We were talking about the attitude toward the youth. He said, "They are too busy answering yesterday's questions." To which I added, "And fighting yesterday's battles."

To overcome the overwhelming lostness in this world, we need all of our soldiers, SBC and not, on the same page fighting the same enemy. You know, the one who comes to steal, kill and destroy. Not the one that uses video clips in the sermon and drums during worship.

The time has come for some of the brave warriors of the past to come out of the jungles of battles long ago and to the aide of many brave warriors of the present fighting battles today that are just as vital as the previous ones were. This has to happen so that together we can see Satan defeated, the Gospel advance and God glorified.

NOTE: I see that some have retweeted this post (thanks for that!) But I wanted to make sure people understand where I'm coming from. I'm not some hip, young, urban, Calvinist, Driscoll-reading, church-planter.

I'm a 29-year-old seminary student who grew up in a small town at a small country church on a dead end road. I'm not hip. I'm not Calvinist. I've never read a Mark Driscoll book (yet). I have no desire to be a church planter. Oh and just because: I'm a teetotaler who has never drank alcohol in my life.

I don't fit the stereotype that many may have in their mind and that is the point. Just because I do not agree with Driscoll or many of his followers does not mean that I want to put the Gospel of Christ behind a quest to make all Christendom look like me. I think there is room under the banner of the cross for Southern Baptist teetotalers and a Seattle church planter who happens to drink.