The Hope in People Who Make Culture

 

Reason for Hope

There was once a culture far worse than ours—the city of Nineveh. Yet when Jonah finally preached there, something remarkable happened:

Jonah 3:6–10 (ESV)  The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

Let us be careful not to see the people around us as such enemies that we react the way Jonah did to their salvation. Stonestreet and Kunkle remind us:

“If we despair for our cultural moment, we’ll lose sight of our responsibility for the culture. Throughout history, Christians have found themselves in the midst of cultural breakdowns, many far worse than the one we’re in today. In those moments, Christians have been forces of restoration, hope, and redemption in ways that saved lives, both physically and spiritually.”  — Stonestreet & Kunkle, A Practical Guide to Culture

The book goes on to describe how early Christians rescued infants abandoned to die through the Roman practice of “exposure.” They adopted those children and raised them in the church. Because girls were most commonly abandoned, Christian families soon had far more eligible young women than pagan ones—and many Roman men converted in order to marry. According to sociologist Rodney Stark, this is among the factors that explain the explosive growth of Christianity in the second century. The faithfulness of ordinary believers reshaped an empire.

What Opportunity We Have

That same opportunity exists today. San Francisco Giants pitcher Landen Roupp demonstrated this when he wore the team’s Pride Night hat on the mound and wrote Genesis 9:12–16 next to the logo—as did several other pitchers. When asked how he’d respond if someone from the LGBTQ+ community took exception, Roupp said:

“First of all, as a believer, I would push them to read the Bible. I think God has blessed me in so many ways, and I don’t think I would be here right now if it wasn’t for him. There’s no hate in it at all. I’m just thankful that God has put me in this situation and that I can go out and share his kingdom.”  — Landen Roupp

That is salt and light in action.