“Jim Edwards addresses crowd at Presbyterian Gathering XI”[/caption]Christians sensing they are almost aliens in their own cultures have a lot in common with the first century believers, according to Jim Edwards of Whitworth University, who taught a Bible study at the closing session of this year’s Presbyterian Coalition 11th Annual Gathering in Newport Beach, Calif., October 15.“If we are going to resist the culture we have to know what we are resisting and why,” said Edwards. Jesus addressed both the questions of who he was and who his followers were in an unexpected way, he indicated. “Caesarea Philippi is a strange place for a Jewish rabbi to take his disciples in order to ask them who he is,” noted Edwards. It was a place on the outer edge, where Judaism met paganism. It was not Jerusalem or Galilee, in the center, but on the edge where things were less fixed. “A lot of conservative churches have found themselves on a journey to Caesarea Philippi, taken out of a situation that we had found very comfortable” suggested Edwards. “We now find ourselves in a very uncomfortable situation because we have walked hand in hand with our culture and now we find ourselves unable to do so.”
But it is possible that this cultural edge is where God is calling the church, according to Edwards. Is this just bad luck, he asked, “or is this perhaps Jesus taking us to a liminal region in order to ask us questions and to press us to come to new understandings of God?”
Part of the problem, according to Edwards, is that we have given the culture more weight than Scripture. “Christianity cannot become something else and retain its offensive ability to save,” he pointed out. “Whenever we try to remove the offense, we undercut its saving power.” The church, insisted Edwards, must decide if it has any beliefs and standards of its own on which to stand.
“I’ve been involved in this fight for a long time,” Edwards admitted, “and I’ve always thought if I could just get the liberals straightened out, help save our denomination from jumping off a cliff, just keep the car on the road, then we will have succeeded.” The problem with that line of thinking though is its focus on the problems of the other side. “Maybe I should worry less about what those who oppose us think and say and do and ask more seriously, what is God doing to me, what is God saying to me, what insights do I need to learn through this?”
Edwards admitted that the idea of leaving, of escaping what often seems like futile gridlock and protracted struggle can often be an enticing one. He is often asked why he doesn’t leave behind the gridlock and get involved in the third world churches that are growing by leaps and bounds. It is a question that gives him pause. “What do I have to give to the third world if I have fled the battle in my own world?” asked Edwards. “If I cannot or will not bear witness to the gospel in the world that I know best, that speaks English, middle class America, the Presbyterian Church, educated,” he questioned, “if this world is one in which I will or cannot bear witness to the gospel in an indigenous manner, what do I have to give if I go to Africa or China or Thailand?”
Edwards suggested that the answer is to be faithful in the current situation. “That may mean being far more risk taking, bolder at presbytery meetings and at General Assembly,” he said — a lesser emphasis on being nice, being liked and a greater emphasis on speaking the truth. The point, suggested Edwards, is to bear witness irrespective of the consequences.
