Editorial: Where it’s hard to be a Christian

It’s not easy to be a Christian, but where might surprise you.

We publish a lot of news and opinion articles about religious liberty—specifically, violations of religious liberty.

We publish these articles because one of our three core commitments is historic Baptist principles. And one of the most historic of Baptist principles is a dogged commitment to religious liberty.

Baptists arose in a so-called Christian context in which fealty to a conjoined state church and government not only was expected; it was enforced. Some of our forebears experienced the ire of churches and governments who would not abide our beliefs and practices.

Some of our forebears were deemed rebellious, called Dissenters, and were imprisoned, tortured or even executed for believing—and practicing—such things as a person should be baptized only after making a personal decision to believe in Jesus.

Baptists see the lack of religious liberty for one person somewhere as a threat to religious liberty for all people everywhere. And so, we defend religious liberty, not just for ourselves, but for all people.

Much of what we published just this last week tells this story. These stories point to places where it’s hard to be a Christian—at least, in one sense.

Places Christians suffer

We tend to think it’s hard to be a Christian in places where Christians suffer for being Christian.

For example, many of us remember stories of severe repression of Christians in the Soviet Union, which included Ukraine. After the fall of the U.S.S.R. and Ukraine gaining independence, Christian churches and missions flourished in Ukraine.

Today, Baptists and other Christians in Ukraine worry about new religious repression there by Russia. Such repression already is happening in Russian-occupied areas of southeast Ukraine. Even so, Ukrainian Christians report the church in Ukraine is growing. Some say it’s thriving.

Christians in Palestine—the one in the Middle East, not East Texas—have endured significant pressure and worse, and not just for several days. They face a unique set of difficulties related to being Palestinian and Christian in Israel or Israeli-occupied territory.

In addition to news about what is happening with Christians in Gaza since the most recent war began, we have published the viewpoint of a Palestinian Christian living in the Middle East. Part of his view is captured in his Advent series you can read here.

A few days before we in America stuffed ourselves with gratitude, a Baptist in northeast India was arrested for violating the Assam Magical Healing (Prevention of Evil) Practices Act. The charge? That he preached the Bible to children.

Our brother remained in custody for 14 days—while we consumed the leftovers of our Thanksgiving feast.

Christians have faced persecution frequently in various places throughout India, as another story we recently published reports. Search our website, and you will find more recent and similar stories. And not just in India, but also in Nigeria, Myanmar/Burma and elsewhere.

Two senses

No doubt, it’s hard to be a Christian when to identify with Christ very likely will cost you your reputation or standing in the community, your relationships with family and friends, your business, your education, your freedom, your health and safety and that of your family, and even your life or the lives of your loved ones.

In this sense, there are plenty of places in the world where it is very hard to be a Christian.

And yet, we encounter story after story of people living in these places and facing these conditions—not the prospect of these conditions, but the ongoing reality of these conditions—whose trust in Jesus is unshaken, who testify of joy and hope, who praise God even while suffering.

These testimonies give witness to people unmoved from what it means to be a Christian—a committed follower of Jesus, no matter what.

Such stories suggest we may be using the wrong sense to define what makes it hard to be a Christian. Is there another sense in which it is hard to be a Christian, a sense many of my readers and I don’t experience and, as a result, ignore to the detriment of our souls? Yes, there is.

Where it’s hard to be a Christian

The other sense in which it is hard to be a Christian is less about suffering in the world than it is about the willingness within.

The place where I know it’s hard to be a Christian is within the person who rejects Jesus; the person who refuses to believe; the person who is apathetic about following Jesus; the person who thinks he or she has done all that is required; the person who has grown cold, cynical, jaded to Jesus.

It’s hard to be a Christian in a cold heart.

It’s also hard to be a Christian in a distracted heart.

It’s hard to be a Christian when a person doesn’t give a moment’s thought to Jesus; when a person is busy, busy, busy; when a person fills the time with scrolling, video games, and other entertainments and distractions.

God knows. Boy, does God know. God has known since at least the day he went looking for Adam and Eve in the Garden: “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9).

God knew all through the Old Testament: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me” (Isaiah 29:13).

God knew this when he gave his Son—Immanuel, God-with-us—who would be rejected, despised, crucified.

God knows this still.

We who live without struggle in one sense are filled with it in another sense. We may not experience religious persecution like our brothers and sisters elsewhere, but we may be taking our religious liberty for granted. And it may be showing up in a cold and distracted heart.

Eric Black is the executive director, publisher and editor of the Baptist Standard. He can be reached at eric.black@baptiststandard.com. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.