One of the biggest misunderstandings of Christianity is that it is merely a privately held belief. There is a measure of truth to this as we do “privately” believe – meaning we each individually have to come to terms with our sin, repent, and ask for the forgiveness graciously offered through faith in Christ Jesus. In that sense, our faith is personal, but it was never meant to be private. Our “private/personal” faith has to affect our “public” self.
Even the church has bought into this misunderstanding. We are taught to make a “personal decision” and “invite Christ into our hearts” as our “personal Lord and Savior.” Unknowingly, this plays right into the post-modern scheme of keeping our personal feelings and beliefs to be just that – personal.
The only problem is that what we see in the Bible is not a personal faith. It’s a “turn-the-world-upside-down” kinda faith. Case in point? The riot in Ephesus in Acts 19:23-41. The background here is that Ephesus was the home to the goddess Artemis, and she was big business. Thousands of idol-worshipping tourists came into town and that was good for business, especially if you were in the trinket-making business, as a guy named Demetrius was. Mr. Demetrius made a nice living selling silver statutes to people wanting to worship Artemis at her temple.
…that was until people started hearing the gospel and getting converted. You see, Christians know that the first commandment is literally “You are to have no other gods before me,” and the second is that you aren’t to have any other trinkets of any other false gods. So, that meant that (a) worshiping Artemis and (b) having a little silver trinket of said Artemis worship was totally out. The more Christians there were, the worse it was for Demetrius and his trinket sales, and he didn’t like explaining that to the stockholders – but don’t believe me, here…see for yourself:
“About that time there arose no little disturbance concerning the Way. For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen. These he gathered together, with the workmen in similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth. And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods. And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing, and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship.”
(Acts 19:23-27 ESV)
Bravo, Mr. Demetrius! He is really laying it on good there. He is worried that “the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing and she might even be deposed from her magnificence…?!?!” More like he is worried that his wallet might be deposed from its magnificence because Christians don’t buy trinkets of false gods.
He incites the crowd to riot and Paul is (again) nearly sucked into the incensed crowd. Anti-climactically, the crowd dies down and dissipates when they fear they will be arrested for rioting and they all go home. BUT, profits are still down…way down…why? Because Christianity isn’t private. Trinket sales are in the toilet because the gospel actually changes people’s public lives…that’s what we see in the Bible.
So what about us? Shouldn’t Christianity have this kind of effect in our culture? If more people became Christians (like actual, legit-kinda Christians) what things in our culture would disappear? I can think of a couple, there are many more:
- Abortion
- Divorce
- Addictions and all other related things like accidents, overdoses, arrests, etc.
- Abuse of all kinds
- Depression/Anxiety cases and meds
- Crime
- Pornography and other sexual sins like prostitution, adultery, etc.
You get the idea. Imagine a faith so public that it affects real public stuff! Imagine porn sites going dark. Abortion mills closing. Divorce lawyers closing up shop. Cops are bored on duty because crime is way down. Why? Because there are more Christians. Think it’s crazy? That’s exactly what happened in Ephesus. Trinket sales were way down…why? Because Christianity affected culture.
That would be a better world, right?
Mike Ruel 