In Memoriam: Jerry Falwell

There have been many blog posts on the death of Jerry Fallwell. Most that I've read honor the man, but do not agree necessarily with his political methods. I am among those, as I've posted many times before. My objection concerned what I perceived the Christian Right doing - replacing conversion with political power and laws. I tried to show that the "prohibition mentality" doesn't work. However, I want to take a different tack to honor Rev. Falwell by telling you what he was up to in the last few years.

There are two leading Christians, in recent years, who have changed direction just before they died. One was John Wimber who apologized for bringing in the Kansas City Prophets to the Body of Christ. And the second one is Falwell. From what I've read in recent years, he began to see the futility of trying to change people by changing laws. He wanted to concentrate on conversions. He did this two ways - by plunging himself into preaching the gospel at his Thomas Road Baptist church, and transforming his Liberty Bible college into a first class Christian University. For instance, the university's debating team is one of the best in the country defeating some of the top schools like the University if Pennsylvania. Falwell realized that it takes well-educated Christians to convert people at the top of society, not laws. Hmmmm.....I think I've been saying the same thing for almost 45 years. Happily, and finally, the evangelicals have discovered the upper-middle and upper classes and their children.

There are two other blogs that I thought were rather good on Falwell. You might wish to check these out.

Bob at Totem to Temple writes A Change Has Begun.

And at Resurgence, Peter Jones Jones asks the important question - now what will happen in the Christian political arena? You can read his post at:
The Renewed Question of Church and State.
Here is a snippet of his post:

Christians should now decide if the clash we desire should be essentially political, an ugly, even violent struggle for earthly power, or ultimately and clearly religious and spiritual. To be sure, Christians may not give up on a deep commitment to the culture, but our Lord's injunction to be salt and light is a different injunction than to be political sword and shield. Indeed, he warned quite specifically that "all who draw the sword will die by the sword." The only sword we wield for the coming kingdom is the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God.