Worldly Pressure on False Religion (and on True)

Two unrelated reports last week illustrate the pressure the world exerts on institutions that fail to measure up to its standards. The first, “Pope Francis’ Supposed Liberalism Isn’t Making Him Less Popular,” reflects polling by the PEW Research Center, assuring us that Pope Francis, despite losing some support from conservative Catholics, remains popular among Catholics overall. The second, “Mormon Church makes history with election of new diverse leaders,” highlights recent changes to the Mormon “Quorum of Twelve Apostles.” The news is that a Brazilian and a Chinese-American “made history” as the “first-ever Latin-American apostle and the first-ever apostle of Asian ancestry.”

Worldly Approval

The stories come from US News and from NBC. They use language that reflect worldly approval for the changing face of Catholicism and Mormonism. Pope Francis maintains his popularity with Catholics overall, despite his “liberal” (USNews uses the “scare” quotes) stances on various issues. For example, on homosexuality, the pope expressed a more open stance in a 2013 statement. This “openness” reflects an evolving view of homosexuality in Catholicism. Though still officially not accepting homosexuality, “more than two-thirds of U.S. Catholics say they favor same-sex marriage.” On climate change, the pope in 2017 issued an encyclical calling for acceptance of “scientific evidence” of the supposed environmental disaster. In 2016, the pope said priests “can grant absolution for abortion,” a significant adjustment to Catholic policy. On divorce, the pope has “streamlined” annulment, making it easier for divorced Catholics to remarry. And in a 2013 homily, the pope preached openness and toleration for atheism, “The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone!”

The world notices these adjustments, and applauds. Except, perhaps, that the pope isn’t moving fast enough. There’s the worldly pressure. The world likes the unworldly to imitate it. And then the world wants more.

On the Mormon story, NBC observes, “The selections of Soares and Gong are likely to trigger applause from a contingent of Mormons who were anxious to see the faith’s global footprint represented in leadership. More than half of the religion’s 16 million members live outside the United States.”

Why are Mormons “anxious” to see these changes? Mormonism constantly presents itself in the world as a wholesome, family-friendly religion, an acceptable moral alternative in a chaotic world. These changes look good in a world that prizes “diversity.”

Still, more change must come, according to worldly pressure. Mormons yet prohibit women in leadership, both in the high councils and in local congregational bodies. Some Mormons actively pressure for change in this area.

A contingent of Mormons have advocated for years for a change in doctrine to allow women in the priesthood — including large rallies outside church conferences in 2013 and 2014 — but the Mormon church remains committed to its patriarchal structure. The nine highest-ranking women in the church oversee three organizations that run programs for women and girls. These councils sit below several layers of leadership groups reserved for men.

That’s worldly pressure yet again.

Relevance for Baptists

So far, I suppose I’ve said nothing new. It isn’t news that these organizations who so crave worldly acceptance are finding ways to bow to worldly pressure.

The reason I point this out, however, is that some Christians act as if the problem with Christianity is its failure to accommodate the world on some of these very issues. The pressure the Catholics and Mormons experience is our daily experience in the world. The world wants us to change as well. In some cases, the world may attempt to force us to change.

While Bible believers should never have any problem with leaders from any ethnic group, as long as they are godly men, we shouldn’t trumpet our “diversity” to the world in hopes of getting worldly approval. We should maintain our own stance for male leadership based on the Bible. We shouldn’t bow to the pressure of the world on this point.

We can’t be open to the notion that “a loving God receives anyone, regardless of belief systems” that papal openness to atheism suggests. Bible Christianity is as exclusive as God is. Which is to say, if you will not repent, the wrath of God abides on you. We understand divorce and the hard hearts of men and women who destroy their own homes. God can forgive these sins, but they also require serious local church attention when church members mar their own testimony and the testimony of their local church by failed marriage. Local church attention means counseling, correction, and ultimately discipline for unrepentant sin. The world no doubt would not applaud a biblical approach to these matters.

I suppose climate change might not be a deep theological issue. However, when climate change denies the biblical worldview of creation, fall, and redemption, climate science may step beyond the pure objectivity of careful research into the religion of “earth-worship,” even heading towards pantheism. When “science” takes those steps, Bible-believers need to stand against the pressure of the world.

And on homosexuality? The pope’s statement in 2013 was, “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” Perhaps we aren’t the judge, but we know who is, and He already issued his judgement in his Holy Word.

The worldly pressure to which false religions bow is the same worldly pressure that Baptists experience. It is relatively easy for Bible believers to know not to bow to homosexuality, abortion, feminism, lax marital standards, and the earth-worshipping tendencies of our world system. Worldly pressure takes many other forms. Some are much more subtle than the ones we are discussing here.

One major pressure point for the world, one that presses on every institution in our culture is pop culture, including movies, music, internet, entertainment – the whole gamut of pleasure seeking that pleases the masses. The music wars churches fight are only a small part of the overall worldly pressure we face. The issues are less clear-cut here. However, we do know this; the world demands conformity and pressures those who don’t conform to fit its mold. Christians need to understand the pressure, recognize where the world is trying to shape us after its image, and instead conform ourselves to the image of Christ. Sometimes this is easier said than done.

If we are to remain faithful to the Lord who bought us, we have to see where this pressure is coming from and learn how to stand against it, without compromise. The pressure of the world is unrelenting. It covers every area of church life. Resisting the world is not legalism. Resisting the world is part and parcel of a faithful Christian testimony.

May God grant wisdom to discern where the world is pressing us and the courage to stand against it.

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Don Johnson is the pastor of Grace Baptist Church of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada.