Is Christianity safe? A local radio station with a contemporary Christian music format uses the tag line, "Safe for the whole family," but frankly, I find that far more offensive than reassuring. Since when has following Christ been safe? Last I talked about it with anyone, taking up your cross and following Christ the crucified was anything *but* safe.
The Bible uses all kinds of radical language to describe the Christian experience, and none of it can be described as safe. On the contrary, we are not only constantly in peril, but we are given armor and a fortress for the battle. We are never told about the community of faith as a great place to hide ourselves or our children from the world. Rather, it's the locker room in a sweaty, dirty, often painful combat arena where we are encouraged, healed, cleaned up, and dressed to go out.
So why does this radio station believe this tag line makes a good selling point? I'm pretty confident the radio station is not the problem. They are doing what all successful businesses do -- catering to their customers. It follows logically then that the station's choice is merely a symptom of a larger problem. Clearly their (presumably large) target audience wants Christian radio that, however they understand it, is "safe" for their children. There are so many layers of questions here.What does it mean to be "safe"? Why is "safety" such an important value? Why should we look for safety in our choice of radio stations? Why do we look for a Christian radio station in particular to be safe? Why do we think Christianity is (or should be) safe?
What does it mean to be safe? Obviously a radio station isn't just referring to physical safety. In what ways could a radio station be *un*safe? There are three distinct (albeit related) possibilities ... and then a fourth possibility ...
(1) On a simplistic level, perhaps all they mean is that kids won't hear vulgarity such as cuss words and explicit sexual comments. This is both the most likely and most excusable reason. It is not necessarily an effective way to insulate kids from such things, however. The reality is that bumper stickers, billboards, friends, schoolmates, and nearly every mile of city street confronts kids (and parents) with all manner of vulgarity, and the radio station that plays in the car contains but a small fraction of the vulgarity children are exposed to every day.
(2) On a somewhat more complex level, perhaps parents are seeking safety from competing world views. For some of these parents, the danger isn't the filth of vulgarity but the corruption of non-Christian and anti-Christian points of view, perhaps even of other Christian theological views. Perhaps they don't want their kids to hear music that says there is no heaven or hell. Perhaps they are avoiding disc jockeys that ridicule Christians or Christian beliefs. Perhaps they are afraid their kids will ask why they do/do not have a pope or infant baptism or faith healers or people speaking in tongues. Whatever the reason, the implication is that the kids are vulnerable or weak-minded in some way, even though their parent(s) are (presumably) supervising and available to discuss, interpret, or even censor. Are we not competent enough, are we not respected enough to teach our own children in the face of disagreement? Perhaps it is the *parents* who are too vulnerable, too weak-minded.
(3) The third possibility is that parents want to protect their children from truth they don't want them to hear. No parent wants a child to live in fear of the very real evil with which every newscast confronts us. Parents shy away from those uncomfortable questions about murderers and molesters, politicians and terrorists, celebrities and sex symbols, and the "why" for which there is never an adequate answer. Moms and dads pale at the nightmarish stories and their first instinct is to build a fence around their children. But can one ever build a fence high enough to keep the world out? Is that even a useful or helpful strategy? Are the children being protected or deprived of the opportunity to grow into the full armor of Christ?
Why would a parent seek safety in the world, and in particular, in a radio station? The obvious answer, simultaneously shallow and profound, is that loving parents instinctively act to keep their children from harm. It is more than a desire; it is a duty, even a compulsion. However, parents who try to insulate a child from danger may very well end up with a child who eventually succumbs to it. Failing to build up a child's immune system can result in a child who is more vulnerable to illness later in life. Failing to educate children about potential threats can result in vulnerability to those very same threats as teens or adults. In the case of very serious diseases, vaccination is far more effective than isolation, and the protection it provides lasts well beyond the moment of isolation. For dangers of the mind, this is almost always the more sound approach. Smallpox and other simple diseases have wiped out entire populations of those whose immune systems were unable to fight them off.
BUT ... there is yet a fourth possibility. Perhaps our society is so coddled by our current slate of rights and freedoms that the notion of "safety" has deteriorated. There is great danger in this. If a parent cannot teach their children to defend against the leaves of immorality that blow around in every breeze, how will the children find safety when the hurricane or the tornado of persecution comes?
Persecution is a very real threat, at present hunting quietly and stealthily in the United States but roaring and trampling Christians throughout history and around the world today. Today the faithful are dying for their faith. Today God's people are sold into slavery, executed, shunned, tortured, and raped for what they believe. Today servants of Christ cannot get jobs, cannot speak freely, cannot tell the truth lest they lose their positions, their means of support, their ability to feed their families. And today, this threat is growing more and more real even here in the United States.
Canada has now passed laws that make it illegal to preach from the pulpit in a church that homosexual sex is wrong in God's eyes. Their law has classified this as "hate speech" and their government has arrested shepherds of the flock from their pulpits. (Since this article was posted, they have stepped back somewhat from that stance.) The current president of the United States and his allies are attempting to get legislation that requires church employers to pay for all forms of birth control and abortion. Many church-sponsored agencies working hard to ensure that all children have good homes are now closed because they would be forced to place children in homes with two "mommies" or two "daddies." Christianity is now listed by the department of homeland security as something that spawns domestic terrorism. All across North America, the persecution we have dismissed as something that only happens "over there" is coming home to roost right here.
When that happens, will this radio station still be "safe for the whole family"? Perhaps at that point, it will not only stop being safe, but it will become a marker by which people put themselves in great danger.
In fact, there is only one source of safety: Jesus Christ. Our only safety is in putting on the full armor of God. Our only safety is knowing that even if the battle is lost, the war for our heavenly home is won. The only way we can keep our children safe is to ensure that they know their Lord so well that no assault of mind or heart can breach that mighty fortress.
As Casting Crowns sings,
We were made to be courageous!
We were made to be courageous!
The only way we'll ever stand
Is on our knees with lifted hands.
Make us courageous!
