Gospel Suppression

It often isn’t meant to be necessarily a derogatory statement but speaks more to the fact that humans are complex creatures with motivations perhaps they themselves don’t truly understand or are even aware of. The Apostle Paul spoke about such struggles:

For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. (Romans 7:15)

As Scripture also says,

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)

We are in a constant battle within ourselves to overcome the constant tug of sin, to do what’s right, and we need to self-reflect as to why we do the things we do . . . including sharing the gospel.

We are in a constant battle within ourselves to overcome the constant tug of sin, to do what’s right, and we need to self-reflect as to why we do the things we do (or don’t do what we should). And this affects everything, including sharing the gospel.

How Often Does Gospel Proclamation Occur?

If you were to ask 100 average believers when the last time they shared the gospel with someone was, you would likely be shocked at how infrequently it happens. And even though we all (myself included) likely have a “good reason” why the conversations we have with the unsaved family and friends in our lives just never seem to get around to what we want, there are some very real reasons this happens.

And a new article1 from Professor David Millard Haskell (associate professor in the Faculty of Liberal Arts at Wilfrid Laurier University), “Discrimination Approved for Conservatives on Campus,” may shed some light into what is shutting down gospel discourse in general. In discussing how conservative Christians were most likely to experience hostility and discrimination on campus, he states,

A 2015 study in the top-ranked journal Sociology of Religion surveyed university professors across North America about their feelings toward different faith groups. Of all faith groups, conservative Christians were the most disliked by professors. A majority of those who answered the survey expressed outright hostility toward this group, viewing them as “intolerant and unscientific enemies to be openly opposed.”

Intolerant and Unscientific

Many Christians may not get it, but the combining of “intolerance” alongside being deemed “unscientific” reveals the real reason a lot of gospel witness is being shut down across the board in the West, and it doesn’t just pertain to what happens on university campuses. This academic mindset is set for the culture and then reinforced through the media and political machinations in society.

Haskell describes the first strike of the one-two punch of gospel shutdown when he says,

Typically, a professor will have brought up a social issue in class. Sometimes it relates to the course content but most times the issue is tangential to the pedagogical topic. The instructor is taking advantage of a captive audience to assert a personal conviction. The conviction, or claim, will include a contemptuous condemnation of one of the university’s approved scapegoats: white people, heterosexuals, men, Christians, or Western society.

If a student falls into one or more of the groups approved for derision, they can either take the abuse in silence or speak up and become a target. Regarding option two, once a student is identified as a heretic, their grades may suddenly and mysteriously decline.

And there it is. Lead with a pervading social issue in society: marriage, abortion, identity, sanctity of life, etc., and should a Christian protest whatever is deemed currently socially acceptable, they are deemed intolerant and hateful.

And there it is. Lead with a pervading social issue in society: marriage, abortion, identity, sanctity of life, etc., and should a Christian protest whatever is deemed currently socially acceptable, they are deemed intolerant and hateful, shamed and dismissed as socially unacceptable and unworthy of public input.

But what is the power-punch follow-up to the constant jab of social issues bombarding believers? Science (so-called). Why? Because for a Christian to argue any social issue with Christian doctrine, they would have to quote Genesis 1–11 as a foundation for those beliefs (because all Christian doctrines are founded in Genesis directly or indirectly), and academia, not to mention much of the church, tossed the book of Genesis into the intellectual dustbin years ago.

By giving up biblical authority and allowing secular scientific ideas (the story of evolution occurring over supposed millions of years of earth history) to supplant the true history in Genesis 1–11, did Christians not only admit the Bible could be “wrong” in the question of origins but that it is wrong in all areas, including moral, ethical, and intellectual arenas.

Self-Analysis

Perhaps it is time for believers to ponder what is really going on in their own minds. Does the idea of having to defend your beliefs intimidate you? Do you feel confident you could articulate why you believe what you believe? If not, it could be the “real reason” many never get around to sharing the most valuable message anyone could ever hear.

Was there really a worldwide flood? What about dinosaurs? Why is there death and suffering in the world? What about evolution? Apemen? Races? Etc.

Biblical apologetics, grounded in the authority of God’s Word is a mandate that cannot be ignored for Christians to be effective personally and publicly.

[B]ut in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect. (1 Peter 3:15)