If you are my age or older, you may remember the Tareyton cigarette commercials and their memorable slogan: “I’d rather fight than switch.” You know, the ads with the beautiful models sporting fake black eyes. Apparently, during the 1960s, people were looking for issues worth fighting over. In the absence of worthier causes, cigarettes would do. Put up your dukes!

My, how times have changed. Smoking is out of fashion. Cigarette advertisements have been banned. And no cause, no matter how revered, is worth a fight. It’s a Rodney King world—“Why can’t we all just get along?”

Those of us who trace our roots to the American Restoration Movement know that our religious forebears had their bellicose side. They were quick to fight and not very particular about what they fought over. Issues that today are considered minor and peripheral could provoke great passion and incite violent debate: millennial theories . . . instrumental music . . . the recipe for unleavened bread. We look back on this aggressiveness with a certain embarrassment, regarding it as evidence of an immaturity—a lack of sophistication—which we have, thankfully, outgrown.

Saved from one ditch, we promptly drove into another. No fighting for us, thank you very much. No bickering, no to-the-death stands, no debates. No issues, no controversies. Running from a general combativeness at one extreme, we have embraced a prohibition on dispute at the other. In lockstep with our culture, we’ve baptized forbearance and open-mindedness as cardinal Christian virtues and come to view all heated disagreement as evil.

There is one sense in which I’m comfortable with this form of “kinder, gentler” church. Deference and tolerance are Christian virtues, if by those qualities we mean an allergy to quarrelsomeness.

Quarrelsome:

Given to quarreling; contentious. Marked by a combative nature. Synonyms: argumentative, belligerent.

As people who have been called to peace, there is no place for quarreling among us. Paul lamented quarrels in Corinth as evidence of worldliness. He warned Timothy against those who took “an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels.” He told Titus to “avoid foolish controversies.”

But there is another sense in which a conflict-averse church causes me great worry. For the same apostle who warned against quarrelling also talked about “the defense of the gospel” and urged his churches to “stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel.” He commanded Timothy to “fight the good fight of the faith.” He spoke of those who were “enemies of the cross” and “oppose the truth.”

Paul’s use of conflict imagery when it comes to the gospel is striking: war and struggle, wrestling and boxing, contending and conquering, forces and powers, attacks and defense. He speaks of weapons and armor, helmet and sword and shield, captives, ranks, and spies. He encourages his converts to “stand firm” some 14 times!

It would appear that, when the gospel was at stake, Paul would rather fight than switch.

We’re not so sure. At times I wonder if we have drunk so deeply from the fountain of tolerance and its irenic flow that we no longer feel any urge to fight, any mandate to fight. Certainly we don’t want to quarrel. But how quickly that can morph into a refusal to fight, to fight for anything, no matter the cause. I fear we have become pacifists, unwilling to take up the sword even when the gospel itself is in danger.

And the gospel is in danger. Its core beliefs are being challenged. The nature of God, the sinfulness of man, the identity of Christ, the sufficiency of grace, the atoning of the cross, the reality of the Spirit—each of these convictions is being systematically assaulted by those outside the church and by some within.

What will we do about it? There is a core—a gospel core—for which you and I must be willing to take a stand. Attack my worship style all you want—I’ll grin and bear it with all the tolerance I can muster. But attack my Lord? Doubt the Scriptures? Imply that there’s nothing wrong with man that a little self-discipline and positive thinking can’t cure? Them’s fightin’ words!

When Christians rise to the defense of central beliefs such as inspiration, resurrection, the reality of evil, or God’s call to holiness, we are not being quarrelsome; we’re being faithful. When we stand firm against ideas like a random universe or a relative morality or a meaningless existence, we are not stirring up needless controversy; we are announcing there are certain things worth taking a stand on.

So paint a black eye on me. When it comes to the essential gospel, preferring to fight is no vice and switching is no virtue. |L

OTHER COLUMNS:
November 8, 2009 - Why I believe in God
October 25, 2009 - Commuting in days of evil
October 11, 2009 - Poets and don’t know it
September 27, 2009 - How Hollywood proves abortion is wrong
September 13, 2009 - Significance
August 30, 2009 - Dance alternatives
August 16, 2009 - Gluttons for gossip
August 2, 2009 - Truth from Twilight
July 19, 2009 - Visitor-friendly churches
July 5, 2009 - The Shack
June 21, 2009 - When forgiveness fails
June 7, 2009 - Re-imagining Education (Part Six)
May 24, 2009 - We are not alone
May 3, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part five)
April 26, 2009 - Conviction
April 12, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part four)
March 29, 2009 - An evangelistic proposal
March 15, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part three)
March 1, 2009 - He makes me sick
February 15, 2009 - Re-imagining education (Part Two)
February 1, 2009 - Spiritual insecurity
January 18, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part one)
January 4, 2009 - Church and politics
December 21, 2008 - Heaven’s music
December 7, 2008 - The church and marriage
November 23, 2008 - God and the president
November 9, 2008 - A time for courage
October 26, 2008 - Likes and dislikes: the Prince Caspian movie
October 12, 2008 - What’s that noise?
September 28, 2008 - Modesty matters (part two)
September 14, 2008 - All it takes is some TLC
August 31, 2008 - Modesty matters (part one)
August 3, 2008 - Staying through the credits
July 20, 2008 - Honor to whom honor
July 6, 2008 - Tyler Perry and the movies you’re missing
June 22, 2008 - The peaceable kingdom
May 25, 2008 - Another generation grew up
May 25, 2008 - Technology and the Bible (part two)
May 11, 2008 - Technology and the Bible (part one)
April 27, 2008 - What is truth?
April 13, 2008 - And the geek shall inherit the earth
March 30, 2008 - A charactered God
March 16, 2008 - The college choice (part two)
March 2, 2008 - Good news can be hard to hear
February 17, 2008 - The college choice (part one)
February 5, 2008 - Ten suggestions for a godly standard of living
January 20, 2008 - Expelled: that “Bueller” guy’s pro-God movie
January 6, 2008 - Choosing a lifestyle
December 23, 2007 - Teachable TV?
December 9, 2007 - Owners or stewards?
November 25, 2007 - Christians teaching Christians to change TV and film
November 11, 2007 - My money is God’s business
October 28, 2007 - Navigating under the radar
October 14, 2007 - The things God values
September 30, 2007 - Movie moments
September 16, 2007 - God’s economics
September 2, 2007 - The best books to read
August 19, 2007 - There’s a rat in ‘separate’
August 5, 2007 - The art of reading
July 22, 2007 - Atheist chic
July 8, 2007 - Why books matter: the sequel
June 10, 2007 - Books: why they matter
June 3, 2007 - The non-impact of “The Lost Tomb of Jesus”
May 27, 2007 - The universal gospel
May 13, 2007 - Loving Muslims through culture
April 29, 2007 - Hope
April 15, 2007 - God in the dark
April 1, 2007 - The gospel goes to the movies
March 18, 2007 - What the Bible movies can teach us
March 4, 2007 - What will you hurt for?
February 18, 2007 - Why Heroes . . .
February 4, 2007 - Give peace a chance
January 21, 2007 - When fairy tales are true
January 7, 2007 - WYSIWYG lives
December 31, 2006 - What’s coming next?
December 17, 2006 - Mercy, mercy
December 3, 2006 - Proof of evolution!
November 19, 2006 - Hungering for God
November 5, 2006 - Violence and government, war and peace
October 22, 2006 - The mighty meek
October 8, 2006 - The Battlestar and the Bible
September 24, 2006 - Soap for the soul
September 10, 2006 - Right vs. cool
August 27, 2006 - The painful truth
August 13, 2006 - More Lies Hollywood Tells
July 30, 2006 - Christian counter culture
July 16, 2006 - The lies Hollywood tells