Church in America

Whose Business Is Your Faith?

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Rev. R. J. Rooney
Senior Pastor, Verona (MS) UMC
April 28, 2001

Since the day I embraced Jesus and became a Christian I have been aware of a tension that is sometimes subtle but is more often blatant concerning the proper balance between religious belief and public expression of those beliefs. I certainly know where secular society stands concerning this dilemma but that is not my concern here. It is my perception that there is a large contingent of the Church who feel that religious expression of any kind is only desirable in a religious context and setting. More than that, however, there is often a contention that faith is a private matter between the individual and God and that inquiries into the nature of one’s relationship with God are not only objectionable but completely inappropriate. In other words, “Your faith is none of my business.”

I read a commentary last week by a national religious figure. He was defending himself against other Christians who were angry that he was criticizing our new President. He was talking about the Constitution and his rights and duties as a Christian to defend it no matter who was attempting to weaken it when he said something that was absolutely appalling. He said that the President’s personal relationship with God was none of his business but that his public policies were. It was then that I realized just how far down the road of privatized faith we have actually gone. When national religious leaders begin to concur with secular society that a person’s relationship with God is private then the end of tolerating any religious expression at all is in sight. There is a vast expanse between one’s personal relationship with God and a “private” relationship with the Almighty.

I fully understand the concepts of intimacy and discretion and how they fit together with a personal relationship (especially with God). However “privacy” is not a Biblical principle when it comes to how I or anyone else relates to God. As modesty is a function of intimacy so secrecy is a function of privacy. For modesty’s sake a husband and wife consummate their marriage behind closed doors even though the act of their consummation is not only acceptable to God but ordained by Him. For secrecy’s sake do lovers consummate their lust behind closed doors considering their deed private precisely because God has already registered His disapproval of such behavior. When Christ said that nothing is secret which shall not be made known (Mark 4:22 & Luke 8:17) He was clearly saying that things done in secrecy to hide would be revealed for all to see to the shame and embarrassment of the perpetrators. What has any child of God to hide behind doors of secrecy?

When we blindly accept the premise that our relationships with God are private we inadvertently open the door for detractors to insist upon the constriction of our beliefs and demand the restriction of openly expressing them. I am hearing and seeing this more and more in the Church. I heard a caller to a Christian radio program complain that Christians are too politically active. According to the caller we should all just sit around talking to other Christians about Christianity. A religious leader told me that organizations like the American Family Association are problematic because they go looking for trouble. I was sure that when Paul wrote Timothy to “correct those in opposition...” so that God would grant them repentance so that “they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil” (2 Timothy 2:25-26) that one must first be willing to confront a person about their relationship with God. The privatization of faith and religion scream out in defiance of Biblical mandates! It is precisely because the Church is allowing herself to be privatized that so many of her adherents and leaders are succumbing to dirty little secrets. If my faith is none of your business then my behavior (which is directly related to my faith be it for the good or bad) is off limits too.

What has happened to the New Testament understanding of the corporate nature of the Church? Have we forgotten Paul’s mandate that “if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it…” from 1 Corinthians 12:26? When Paul chastised the Corinthians for not “remov[ing] from your midst” those who were engaged in sexual immorality from the church was he not indicting them for taking the nonchalant “its none of our business” approach (1 Corinthians 5:2ff)? When Cain spat at God “Am I my brother’s keeper?” was he not answered by God’s punishment of him and later by the parable of the Good Samaritan? When John wrote “If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin…(1 John 5:16) was he not saying that others’ relationship with God is, in fact, all Christians’ business? Isn’t the individual who sins at peril or is “the wages of sin is death” only for non-Christians?

I’m sorry, but I thought it was the duty of the Church and all Christians to engage the culture and transform it with the help of Christ. I thought the Church was to proclaim the forgiveness of sins by urging repentance and encouraging baptism (Acts 2:38). How do you urge repentance without bringing up the unsavory topic of sin? The privatization of faith robs the Church collectively and Christians individually of both the initiative and the right to ask the question “How is it with your soul?” If your faith is none of my business then maybe John should have written, “If anyone sees his brother committing a sin…don’t sweat it because its none of your business.” That is real love isn’t it? You might as well be saying, “If I see someone in sin I am going to let them go to hell because it is none of my business.”

In an introductory course on basic Christian doctrine the textbook reads, “Love opens men’s eyes to the fact that there are others who have rightful claims upon them, and that they themselves need others” (Introduction to Christian Doctrine by John Lawson, p. 127). Apparently, many esteemed religious leaders missed that class and book. It is starting to show badly and embarrassingly.