Political Correctness and the Gospel

I am at times astonished at the strength of the perceived need in our society for 'political correctness'. I am not speaking so much in a specific sense about politics, although the term betrays the deeper rationale behind such attitudes and actions. Here I am rather more about talking about spirituality and communicating the Christian Gospel in 2010.

Paul's first letter to the early Corinthian believers (1 Corinthians) begins with repeated exhortation by the apostle for them to rise above the 'cultural spirit level' of the well established ideological building blocks of that city at that time. Society measures out an 'inherent plumb line' to which we become so well accustomed, particularly when we have grown up there. Ideas are passed down from generation to generation, become institutionalised and enshrined as the norms and unwritten rules by which locals live in a 'civilised society'.

My contention, and indeed that of the Apostle Paul as seen in his writings, is that many faulty premises underpin such 'laws of reason' and leave us spiritually bankrupt. A vivid and descriptive term that Paul uses is to call them 'strongholds' of the mind, 'imaginations' that exalt themselves against the Knowledge of God, idols of thought and deed that become the 'norm' in a society where 'crowds lie' rather than lead in paths of greater enlightenment. As Tim Keller, a preacher and writer puts it,

‘When we are completely immersed in a society of people who consider a particular idolatrous attachment normal, it becomes almost impossible to discern it for what it is'

Paul's courage and forthrightness stands in stark contrast to much of my own political correctness, which, thank God, is changing. He is never rude but rebukes the Corinthian believers for being seduced by the Corinthian obsession with 'wisdom','speech and knowledge', oratory flamboyance and in general the applause and accolades of men. The cross, says Paul, must NOT BE EMPTIED OF ITS POWER, and should not be preached with 'eloquence alone' but with boldness and in a 'demonstration of the Spirit's power'. God was drawing the 'foolish' in the eyes of the Corinthians, taking the 'weak' and common man and shining His Gospel deep into their hearts. Although, the preaching of a simple but profound Gospel of Christ crucified as our Saviour was an apparent folly to the 'strong' it would only serve to 'shame' the 'wise' in the long term for running with the crowd.

It seems to me that Paul was afraid of the believers falling back under the spell of 'trying to BE and look like somebody 'important' and culturally palatable' and was exhorting them to follow the rhythm of a different drumbeat, the drum master of which - Christ, transcends the cultures, crowds, opinions, fashions, ideologies and political correctness of that, this or any age.

As for them, so for believers today in 2010, amidst the cities and cultures in which we find ourselves. To hell with political correctness, we should not be rude, but neither silent nor compromised.