Upon Observing Some Mormons

Before I was a Christian, I had no interest in being a parent. I thought it would hamper my ability to create cockamamy philosophical ideas that would help empower the revolution against…whatever I was opposed to that day. I wanted to “transform the culture” as an academic.

But, as you can probably tell, God had other plans.

And when he converted me, my desire to be a good father to my children included more than just teaching them how to read, write, do math, chew with their mouths closed, and treat others, especially their elders, with respect. Those things are important, of course, but they are a means to an end. That end is their conversion, if God so wills for them to be saved.

Since, by God’s grace, this desire has still not gone away, I understand the desire Christians have to see their children grow up in a world that is hedged in by values derived from Christianity. I know firsthand how the devil and the world are constantly seeking to devour my children, so I also understand the desire to fight for a “Christian culture” which will reinforce the truth that homosexuality is sin, sex/gender is immutable, and sex is a gift to be experienced and cherished within the covenant of marriage.

I understand why many Christians are looking at “Christian Nationalism” as the way to ensure that their children, at the very least, will have a good head on their shoulders and live a fulfilling life.

But as I was sitting in a fast food place the other day, I watched a group of Mormon teenagers dressed in crease-less clothing, with impeccably neat hair, sit down in front of me and speak cordially with one another, tell silly and clean jokes, and then engage in a studious examination of…the book of Mormon.

I was struck by the realization that these kids were very likely opposed to homosexuality and transgenderism, and that they were also very likely pursuing marriage as the only legitimate context in which they could be sexually involved with someone of the opposite sex. And yet, they were damned. Eternally. Enemies of God who were living a clean and honorable life, so far as it goes, while heaping up wrath for themselves on the day of destruction.

My children, no matter how fenced in they may be by a Christian culture, are still going to have to stand before God, face to face. They are either going to be saved by faith alone in the Gospel, or damned for their sins on the day of judgment. The culture they grow up in is not a hindrance to God’s power to save them, nor is it a help to God’s power. It may testify to the faithfulness of Christians in this age, or it may testify to the desire of hypocrites to act as if they possess the life of God that only comes from him through the Gospel.

I understand the appeal of “Christian Nationalism” to Christians who are fed up with this world’s evil ways. But I understand that cleaning the outside of the cup, while the inside remains dirty, only makes things look nicer on the surface. Not only this, but I understand that “Christian Nationalism” is not actually Christian in origin, but, ironically enough, a political philosophy derived from some of the same non-Christian sources from which Critical Theory, Gender Ideology, and Social Justice are derived.

A political philosophy, even if it establishes a type of Christian culture, will not change our children’s hearts. It will not cause our children to not suppress the truth in unrighteousness. That is something only God can do. We ought to be praying for our children, for reformation in the West, for the Spirit of God to raise dead sinners to spiritual life, and for opportunities to walk according to God’s Law in public — whether in the private or governmental sphere.

Soli Deo Gloria
—h.