As I sit reading reviews for a history textbook written from a Christian perspective, I am frustrated (for about the bazillionth time) by the need so many Christian authors/activists/etc. feel to exaggerate truth. It happens when recounting history. It happens when relaying facts about abortion. It happens when arguing against socialism. So often, it seems, we lose sight of the fact that we live in a sin-laden, conscience-calloused world that is not now, nor has ever been, inhabited by righteous, holy, uncorrupted people.
Why taint valid arguments about the role Christianity played in the founding of our nation by twisting truth and attributing false character in order to attempt to augment reality? Why inflate statistics and presume universal heartache when trying to argue the evils of abortion when the unfortunate, uncomfortable truth is that there are some who can experience abortion first-hand and never suffer the ill-effects of it?…not because it is right, but because they have bought into whatever lies the god of this world has peddled to them. Why blindly ignore the sometimes real, tangible “good” points of an opposing argument, while at the same time overstating (or outright lying about) the good points of “Christian” perspective, if your hope is to present Truth?
We live in a fallen world. People need Jesus. Without Him, many of the conventions and institutions and philosophies that surround us can be truly appealing…and being presented with half-baked religious arguments and fabricated “facts” can be offensive to others and contrary to everything we are to stand for as Christians. Moreover, as a Christian, I absolutely do not want to falsely indoctrinate my children so that they are left without a clear, well-informed grasp on how Christianity has impacted history and how it should be appropriately applied to the issues that face the world in which we live.
We don’t need to be afraid of reality. This world is imperfect. People are imperfect. God is still bigger. He doesn’t need for us to try to make Him better than He is. It’s impossible and Christians end up looking like fools.