Introduction
Let me introduce you—or perhaps reintroduce you—to Francis Schaeffer (1912-1984). He was an American pastor, theologian, and author. He's most famously known as the founder of L'Abri, in Switzerland. Albeit a prophet of his own day, his voice rings today with piercing clarity through our culture's bipolar spouts of moral indignation and moral relativism. In the nearly five decades since his death, Western society, particularly American society, has seen a further deterioration of what Schaeffer called "a Christian consensus." More on that phrase later.
It should suffice to say that many evangelicals of the last 40 to 50 years seem to have left their Christian doctrine tied up like Aunt Edna's dog on the bumper of their car riding down the highway of social respectability and Christian experience. They're a few miles past the exit of "Evangelicals for Biden" only to realize the "poor little pooch" just couldn't keep up. Their doctrine is as dead as Aunt Edna's dog. For a recent example, look no further than the apparent "fault line" (see Voddie Bauchaum's new book) in the Southern Baptist Convention during their annual meeting. Borrowing a contrast from Tom Ascol, one might describe it as "'the world is watching us' vs. those who were more concerned that God was watching us."
Proverbs 5:21, "For a man's ways are before the eyes of the Lord, and he ponders all his paths."
But all is not beyond repair for the SBC or evangelicals at large. Schaeffer's clarion call in the not-so-distant past of our proverbial rearview mirror reminds Christians to pull over and re-situate Christ back into all of life and not simply leave him tied to the bumper of their life or ecclesiology. I say ecclesiology because many Christians seem to think that Jesus only needs to be part of the conversation in clearly defined Christian circles, events, days, or communities.
Now, before recommending two of Schaeffer's books, I want to tell you how I was first introduced to Schaeffer. My pastor, the late Jerry Falwell, Sr. had him come to speak at our church and would frequently reference Schaeffer on Sundays. While I don't remember seeing Schaeffer in person, Schaeffer had an indirect influence on my life at an early age by merit of my pastor. Here's a clip of one such talk given at the Thomas Road Baptist Church, Lynchburg, Virginia. The full message can be found on their website, Thomas Road On Demand (trbc.org).
Escape from Reason (1968) and A Christian Manifesto (1982)
In addition to this message, let me recommend two books for your reading and use, Escape from Reason (1968) and A Christian Manifesto (1982). I read both books this last year. If you're a Christian parent or grandparent who is struggling to understand how and why your child or grandchild thinks as they do, then the former book will help you connect those dots. We did not get here overnight. Escape from Reason is a bit choppy but worth sticking with it in order to see how thought has developed in the modern era in particular through the medium of art and entertainment (And you thought Frozen was just a movie about a princess with special ice powers—Think again!). The latter book, A Christian Manifesto, will not only be easier to read, but it will also help you address some honest questions regarding your current situation in history. What is your responsibility as a Christian living in a constitutional republic that's lost its way by now embracing a secular-materialist-humanist worldview/religion? How do the ethics of Jesus influence your cultural, social, and political engagement?
Escape from Reason
Moral Relativism. Secular Humanism. Materialism. These are pervasive worldviews in modern thought expressed in art, politics, and even theology. Although written at the tail end of the 1960s, Schaeffer's dilemma and words of admonition have not lost their effectiveness in our present situation. His primary purpose is to help the reader "communicate unchanging truth in a changing world?" (8). In order to do that, we must know where we've been and how we got to where we are now. Modern thought patterns did not give rise to relativism, humanism, and materialism in a vacuum. Schaeffer states it well: "If we are to understand present-day trends in thought we must see how the situation has come about historically and also look in some detail at the development of philosophic thought-forms" (8). Schaeffer's presentation of this historical and philosophic development is what makes his work somewhat tedious to navigate. What makes the work particularly worthwhile is his interaction with the art in each era of development. He shows how artists use their work to popularize ideas with the masses. If you want to see this same pattern at work, look at the month of June. The LGBTQ+ community leverages mediums of art, media, and entertainment to popularize minority positions into wider cultural acceptance. Notice how, throughout the month, they push an agenda to the impressionable minds of children with cartoons, skits, and songs. Human experience and feelings are elevated over natural order and, more importantly, God's law.
Within the church, a similar problem exists. Contrary to the tenor of Scripture, there's a greater concern for Christian experience over against Christian doctrine. Phrases like "live the gospel" are in vogue. And Christian experience, particularly in contemporary worship music, is influencing the way evangelicals crave and value experiences over and against doctrine (see Matt Merker's article, here). While belief in core Christian doctrine is under attack, the buffet of Christian experience continues to multiply. Unfortunately, none of these experiences seem to have a coherent rebuttal to the question of why the secular experience should is less valid than the Christian. Praise God, we have not been left with mere experience and bare reason to stumble our way into some knowledge of meaning, purpose, and destiny in this life. Because of God's revelation of himself in Scripture, we have what Schaeffer terms, "True truth about God, true truth about man and something truly about nature." While it is true "on the basis of the Scriptures, . . . we do not have exhaustive knowledge," we do, however, "have true and unified knowledge" (21). Christians looking to engage the culture should not shy away from Scripture as the basis for knowing true truth about God, man, and nature. Leaving the Bible out of the discussion is like the ballplayer who left his glove at home. Schaeffer encourages the reader to remember, "Let us notice that the system of the Bible is excitingly different from any other, because it is the only system in religion or philosophy that tells us why a person may do what every man must do, that is, begin with himself." His next point, I think, is significant for our engagement with others. "There is, in fact, no other way to being apart from ourselves—each man sees through his own eyes—and yet this involves the real problem. What right have I to begin here? No other system explains my right to do so. But the Bible gives me an answer as to why I can do what I must do, that is to begin with myself" (85-86). In this way, "The Bible's answer is totally unique. . . . it tells [man] the adequate reference point, the infinite-personal God. This is in complete contrast to other systems in which man begins with himself, neither knowing why he has a right to begin from himself, nor in what direction to begin inching along" (87).
A Christian Manifesto
Schaeffer opens with this piercing appraisal:
"The basic problem of the Christians in this country [the United States] in the last eighty years or so, in regard to society and in regard to government, is that they have seen things in bits and pieces instead of totals" (17).
If Schaeffer were alive and writing today, I have a hunch that he'd simply change the last 80 years to the last 120 years. We have compartmentalized Christian belief and the Lordship of Christ to the sector of the church. Like I said earlier, we’ve left Jesus tied to the bumper of ecclesiology. He’s not relevant to the rest of the car. Of course, evangelicals will say that Jesus is relevant to each day of the week, yet he's only welcome in the conversation on Sundays. He shall go no further. We have taken the Ten Commandments down off walls of courthouses. But before we removed God's law from the courthouse, we removed His law from conversations at the kitchen table. Save that God-talk for Sunday.
Schaeffer continues,
They have very gradually become disturbed over permissiveness, pornography, the public schools, the breakdown of family, and finally abortion. But they have not seen this as a totality—each thing being a part, a symptom, of a much larger problem. They have failed to see that all of this has come about due to a shift in worldview—that is, through a fundamental change in the overall way people think and view the world and life as a whole. This shift has been away from a worldview that was at least vaguely Christian in people's memory (even if they were not individually Christian) toward something completely different—toward a worldview based upon the idea that the final reality is impersonal matter or energy shaped into its present form by impersonal chance" (17-18).
The shift has been from what Schaeffer termed a "Christian consensus" which assumed a creator to a materialist or naturalism worldview. In this light, God is no longer the center of all things with His word as the standard for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (as Thomas Jefferson aptly phrased it in our Declaration of Independence). In place of God, our naturalism has placed "Man at the center of all things and making him the measure of all things," i.e., humanism (23). Herein lies the problem. As Schaeffer states, "Humanism, with its lack of any final base for values or law, always leads to chaos" (29). Well, that at least answers why windows were smashed and TVs were flying off the shelves in mostly peaceful protests around America in 2020. But what is the road back for those not content to see chaos or tyrants reign?
So what is the solution? Schaeffer's answer is Lex Rex. Lex Rex is actually the title of a book influential in the shaping of America's government. "Lex rex means law is king—a phrase that was absolutely earthshaking," according to Schaeffer when written by Samuel Rutherford in 1644 (32). The book influenced John Locke's thinking, who likewise influenced Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson actually borrowed that little phrase I used earlier from Locke--"the pursuit of happiness." Nonetheless, Schaeffer's point is clear. This new dichotomy, that is between rex lex (king is law) and lex rex (law is king), deeply influenced the formation of our government. The recovery of our nation's freedom depends on this form of understanding. "This linkage of Christian thinking and the concepts of government were not incidental but fundamental," Schaeffer argues (31-32). Remember that phrase? Life. Liberty. The Pursuit of Happiness. Who gave those rights? Why did the founding fathers find them to be self-evident? Schaeffer would have you and I look at a coin in your pocket. What do you read? "In God We Trust." Hence, "They" (the Founding Fathers) "publicly recognized that law could be king because there was a Law Giver, or Person to give the inalienable rights" (32-33). And if we are to recover the sanity of our nation, this form must be recovered--Lex Rex. Law is king. Whose law? Not just any law. And certainly not a law given by a king or state. The state is to preserve what God has given. We must return to God's law.
That makes me think of an opening line from Carman Licciardello's music video Great God:
"When the word of God is eliminated as the standard for life. People don't know right from wrong. God becomes evil. Evil becomes good. All because they have no standard to measure truth by."
Okay. Back on track...
If the solution is a return to lex rex, then what does such a return look like? Elites in the state who have embraced a humanist, rex lex posture won't welcome your proposal for God's law as the standard. Schaeffer for this matter has whole chapters on "The Limits of Civil Obedience," "The Use of Civil Disobedience," and "The Use of Force" (chapters 7-9, respectively). Using force, I should note, Schaeffer states is only to be "in the defensive posture...This was the situation of the American Revolution" (117). As he says rightly, "The Christian is not to take the law into his own hands and become a law unto himself" (117). Doing so would replace one form of rex lex for another more egotistical rex lex. Yet our own Declaration, as Schaeffer states, "goes on to declare that whenever civil government becomes destructive to these [God-given] rights, 'it is the right of the people to alter and abolish it, and institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness'" (127-28).
Schaeffer felt that (at least in his initial printing) that there was still a window left open to recover what we had lost. Some may look at the situation today and think the window is totally shut. And it may be. But the latch is not locked. There are still legal and political means in addition to the "Christian alternative(s)" available. Schaeffer argues that we must be use them all simultaneously with one another. Hoping that Christian alternatives alone--like funding/manning crisis pregnancy centers as an alternative to abortion--is enough is "absolutely utopian" (133). We must use all the means available to turn back the tide. Thus, Christians should pursue legal and political means to ending abortion at the same time as providing an alternative. To claim opposition merely by voting and not providing Christian alternatives is likewise folly. A return to lex rex thinking requires effort in the political and legal efforts in addition to Christian alternatives. These efforts, perhaps now more than ever, will be "costly in money, time, and energy" (133).
"Poor little Pooch"
Back to Aunt Edna's dog. So your theology of Christ as king was left tied to the bumper last year. And now you realize your theology just couldn't keep up with how fast the naturalists and humanists wanted to drive on the Highway of Anything Goes. Maybe you're a Christian who voted for Biden. Or maybe you quit going to church during COVID because you "love your neighbor" and thought Romans 13 meant rex lex. It may cost you money, time, and energy but take a U-Turn at your nearest local church--preferably a church that's got a firm grip on the Bible and already decided they won't be shutting its church doors again because of an executive overreach. If that's their stance, then more than likely they'll be able to help you recover God's law in your life. They'll help you go back where your poor little pooch theology couldn't keep up. They'll help you recover a theology that places Christ in all of life and not just tied to the bumper of your car. Lex Rex.
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