The above title is what you might hear at a bar at closing time. It is also the name of a book I am reading by Daniel Okrent. It is called “Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition.” The book is a fascinating read so far. I say ‘so far’ because I am only a small portion of the way through it, but it has already gotten me thinking of many things.
There have been two constitutional amendments which have limited the rights of individual citizens (the others limit the rights of the government): the 13th amendment forbids slavery and the 18th amendment (now repealed) made it a crime to buy and sell alcohol.
What is fascinating in the book so far is how influential American Christianity was to the whole temperance/prohibition movement for almost a whole century before the 18th amendment came into being. Christians were tired of the ‘demon’ alcohol and eventually wanted to remove it from society with the hopes that families would be healthy, prisons would be empty and members of society would be productive.
What strikes me as odd is how it seems (I say ‘seems’ because I am only a portion of the way through the book) that their theology was missing a critical understanding of the source of broken families, prison overpopulation and members of society being detrimental; they forgot about what the Bible calls personal sin, Calvinists call Total Depravity and Sirius Black (think “The Order of the Phoenix” movie) calls the “dark”ness in each person. Instead, legislation and government were turned to in order to correct humanity’s ‘demons’.
There are many parallels today with issues such as “medical” marijuana, gay marriage, abortion rights, etc. Is it really a good solution for Christians to expend time, money and energy influencing government in these issues when a lasting solution can only be found by a change of heart? (I should make a clarifying note here; the topic of abortion does not fit with the other two because government should limit the ‘rights’ of people to kill.) If the Church does not learn how to reach people by correctly identifying the problem, then how can we offer a meaningful solution which is found in Jesus Christ? The Mosaic Law was ineffective against curbing the sinful desires of humanity; will
I am definitely not against Christians being in government, but I do think that if Christians only promote legislation with biblical precepts and do not at the same time share humanities need regarding sin and the Gospel then it will be a waste of time, money and energy. There needs to be a robust theology with a biblical sense of legislation (if at all) and its purpose. Personally, I wonder if some of the issues Christians are pushing for legislatively would be better left alone.
The irony of the prohibition amendment is that it caused tons of problems. People created a black market for liquor and syndicated crime (i.e. Al Capone) came into existence. Thankfully our government realized these problems and repealed the amendment.
I totally agree. We had a pretty heated discussion the other night at a Bible study (one of the ladys was actually so angry she started to turn red). She was adamant that we Christians need to do more in demanding our rights, fighting for godliness in our government and basically forcing American politicians to accept Christianity and to propagate it in their political platforms.
ReplyDeleteI just sat there thinking pretty much the same things you just mentioned. I reflected on how the 1st century Christians acted as opposed to how the 21st century Christians act. Paul never seemed to advocate fighting to legalize Christianity or to force the Roman Empire to accept it as the only true religion (sure one could argue that its different in that we live in a Democracy and DO have the rights to do that). But is it the most effective way to "get the job done?"
It seems like Paul and the other early Church leaders dealt with the heart issue.
I sometimes wonder if Christians feel guilty for NOT sharing Christ and being relational, 1 on 1, with people so they expect the government to do it for them.
Last Call is also the name of a book by Tim Powers. I just erased the phrase "really great" from that sentence since it modified the noun "book" which is also modified by the prepositional phrase "by Tim Powers," making "really great" redundant.
ReplyDeleteI have more to say, but will wait for later, to both increase the quality of my offering by giving me both time to think about it as well as an environment free of Jonathan shooting goblins on the Wii.
It will also artificially increase your comment count.
The book sounds really interesting as does the larger issue of Christian political activism. Thanks for putting it on the radar screen.
ReplyDeleteI was reading an author interview (James Davison Hunter)in Christianity Today where he states, "...law is the language of the state, we should note that law increases as cultural consensus decreases" (May 2010).
We seem to be 'losing' the fight against corruption of all sorts in our culture and we have little idea how to proceed. Hunter argues for 'faithful presence' which he describes as "when God's word of love becomes flesh in us, reaching every sphere of social life. When faithful presence existed in church history, it manifested itself in the creation of hospitals and the flourishing of art, the best scholarship, the most profound and world-changing kind of service and care--again, not only for the household of faith but for everyone" (May 2010).
Hunter's book is called 'To Change The World,' and while I have not yet read it, it is on my list.
The early church engaged their world in a number of ways. Christian apologists wrote defenses of the Christian as a good citizen of the Empire while common people demonstrated their love of Christ by loving each other (while enduring varying degrees of persecution). Our engagement will depend on both an intellectual engagement with the culture and the cultivation of real relationships within our churches.
Stephen, you make me laugh. I hope you are well and look forward to seeing you when you return to the mother-land.
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