Sanitized...

“There is not a single instance in history in which civil liberty was lost, and religious liberty preserved entire. If therefore we yield up our temporal property, we at the same time deliver the conscience into bondage.”
John Witherspoon

[John Witherspoon (February 15, 1723 – November 15, 1794) was a signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of New Jersey. He was both the only active clergyman and college president to sign the Declaration. ]

For a soldier's uniform to be “sanitized” it is not washed in bleach or any other germ killing cleansers. A “sanitized” uniform is one that is stripped of any and all reference to anything that would identify the origin of that soldier. In the book by Tom Clancy, Clear and Present Danger , the special operations troops fighting the drug cartels wear “sanitized” uniforms to aid in confusing their enemies and to allow the government to deny knowledge of the operation.

Christians are increasingly being “sanitized” as well. We can do what we do as long as any reference to the king we serve is removed or covered. Hide the cross. Remove scripture references. Don't let on that it is because of Jesus that we have the good things we enjoy, the institutions we have built, or the services we use. Recently I read an article about chaplains in the Armed forces of the united states being told to pray but to pray without using Jesus' name. We would never require a Muslim chaplain to eschew the name of Allah. And while it may be argued that Allah is simply Arabic for the generic term, God, For the Christian to refuse to pray in Jesus name is to deny the very reason we can pray in the first place. We do not pray on our own merit, because God has to hear us, or because our clergy are sanctified and made clean to enter the presence of God. We can pray because we are all made clean by the blood of Jesus, purchasing forgiveness of sins and giving us free access to the “throne of grace.” To pray in any other name or no name at all, is to deny the very source of our ability to pray.

Now I will admit it is perhaps fair to submit to some “sanitization.” Sometimes going and doing what we do without waving a banner will gain us access to those who might not hear the gospel. But this is not true sanitization, but more like discretion. When it counts, when the opportunity arises, or when it is necessary to do what we are doing, we unashamedly and clearly share the gospel. But again this is at our discretion and led by the Holy Spirit. It is recognizing that to certain audiences the name of Jesus must be introduced after we have shown that Jesus and his people (most often his people) can be trusted.

We cannot however willingly allow ourselves to be bullied, legislated, or otherwise made to silence the name of Jesus from our lips. When we abandon the freedom to declare the source of our freedom, we abandon any hope of retaining our own clear conscience, that we might live as Christians.

In Christ and on the Shepherd's path,
Mark

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