Many of you will be tuning in on Friday night to catch the 20/20 special that is about Independent, Fundamental, Baptist churches (IFB). Some people believe the environments created in these churches foster abuse, which has led to a few people championing and soap-boxing the issue. It is a sad state of affairs when other Christians start caricaturing other Christians based upon the media—which is unfortunately what will happen from a piece of journalism that is going to air on Friday.
Here is the deal…as Christians most of us know we are hypocrites. We say one thing then act, do, or say another thing which contradicts the first thing we said. Many times this results, if not most times, in sin. When one looks at reality though, it is clear and obvious that we all, Christians and non-Christians alike, are plagued by the sin of hypocrisy. I think one of the chief differences is that Christians know they struggle with this sin while the world has no clue.
When journalistic pieces like the one on Friday air I am always overly pessimistic that Christians are going to be painted in a bad light and the name of Christ will be hindered. Nine times out of ten this is the case with the media’s involvement with Christians. It is sad. Case and point is looking at Fred Phelps and his cronies at Westboro Baptist Church. If you are unfamiliar with them count yourself to be privileged. These guys are a bunch of knuckleheads who scar the name of Christ and do it publicly. Of course they don’t think they do, but when they are in the media it is always negative…rightfully so. They draw attention to themselves to promote a message that is anti-Christian but they do it under the banner of Christian and Baptist. Every time I see these guys in the news I just hope and pray that other people that know me who are not Christians, but know I am, do not associate me with this group. They hurt the name of Christ.
So on Friday I fully anticipate IFB churches to be painted in a negative context. Which for some churches they might deserve, however, it will not help the name of Christ but will harm it. I am not a member of an IFB church but I do work at a school that has a large constituency of students from IFB churches. Undoubtedly churches are going to make mistakes, but my anticipation with this Friday night episode is that all IFB churches are going to be shown to be bad. That is sort of like having a bad experience at a Spartan brand store and writing off all other Spartan brand stores without realizing they are independently owned and operated. That is what the “I” in IFB is all about, independent. These churches are independent from denominations and function under their own autonomy. So please don’t judge a group by the scars of a few.
As Christians we are in a battle. Paul likened our battle to war. The problem with winning this war is summarized well by what Les Ollila, the chancellor of Northland International University has said,
We are in a war and the enemy is coming at us over the hill—the problem is that all the soldiers are fighting amongst themselves in the barracks.
I pray that God gets the glory from Friday night. Humanly speaking it is hard to figure out how that can happen, but one thing I know: “Trust in the Lord with your whole heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6
