Simon Cox Blog: November 8th Is Long Gone, So Where do Christians Find Themselves?

Monday, 16 January 2017

November 8th Is Long Gone, So Where do Christians Find Themselves?

God doesn’t love countries. He loves people.

Many Evangelicals voted for Donald Trump on November 8th, and he is now our President-elect.

Last October and November, I ran numerous articles about Trump and the other candidates. As I posted piece after piece, however, my heart continued to grow pained as I watched fellow Christians do and say things that were not only unhelpful to our call as Christ's ambassadors, but also which tarnished the very name we say we love—Jesus Christ.

So here we are, and as many have moved on to other matters and sometimes even seem to be seeking to sweep our witness problems under the proverbial rug, I have been reminded that this witness problem is not a small matter. It's actually a significant problem.

So at the risk of re-offending many people, let me share a few random thoughts I've had concerning Evangelicals post-election and as we ramp up to Inauguration Day.

First, 20 years from now, we are going to look back at this election as a last gasp in which some Evangelicals thought that they could get their influence and culture back.

After all, in the minds of some, Trump has promised to put things back the way they were.

But culture is not going back to the way it was. And Trump can’t and won’t take it there.

For some, they are reaching for something that has been slipping from our hands for years—namely, the continuation of a commitment as a nation to Christian values.

If we look at trends in Christianity as a whole, and Evangelicals in particular, we cannot deny that many of those who once claimed to be Christian (what we call ‘nominal Christians’) have now become ‘nones,’ declaring no faith at all.

This trend is going to continue. In addition, there's a continual erosion of the ...