Maybe it’s because I don’t have a diploma from an elite, Ivy League university…I don’t even have a piece of paper from a diploma mill. Maybe it’s because I’m just a backwoods baby breeding machine. Maybe I just don’t read the right books. But I prefer plain speaking.

I’ve read many things written by Andrew Sandlin. I have heard him preach in my church and been one of the people whose head was nodding vigorously up and down in agreement. But the things he has been writing lately have me befuddled.

The latest article from his Christian Culture newsletter* is the reason I am perturbed. It is a mix of hard truth and false dichotomy. I think Reverend Sandlin has the same goal for Christian cultural dominion that reformed families like ours do, but I get the feeling that he thinks we are not on the same team. I would like to take two or three posts to address this. My purpose is not just to vent, but to clarify our “strategy” so that the other Prairie Muffins out there will not become discouraged when they hear some of the ad hominem attacks from those they thought were kindred spirits.

In the first paragraph of his article, Reverend Sandlin admits that there are many “strategies” Christians use to press the Lordship of Christ in every area of life, and he says, “it would be an arrogant mistake to summarily dismiss any of them.” Well, he doesn’t summarily dismiss the strategies at odds with his own…he takes a dozen or so paragraphs to dismiss them.

Claiming their hostility to elitism is the motivation for what he sees as the reticence of certain Christians to subject themselves and their families to an “apostate” culture, thereby undermining their cultural relevance, he says:

They counter the idea that Christians should work to recapture such culturally relevant spheres as major media, popular music, theater and ballet, and elite universities with the mantra, “The main thing is to have lots of children and to teach the boys to shoot pigeons and whittle and discover dinosaur bones and girls to make homemade biscuits, crochet blankets, and gather huckleberries.” I’m being somewhat factious (sic…a Freudian slip?~Carmon), of course, but the resistance to cultural leadership in favor of agrarian domesticity is genuine.

I would really appreciate some plain speaking here. No sops about being facetious (or “factious”) to soften the blow, thank you. Of whom do you suppose Reverend Sandlin is referring in the previous paragraph…or, more to the point, who is he talking about?

The remarks about shooting pigeons and discovering dinosaur bones are almost certainly “digs” against Doug Phillips, whose successful ministry, Vision Forum, has been inspiring fathers to be the real leaders, rather than figureheads, in their families. The comment about agrarian domesticity might be a not-so-subtle criticism of R.C. Sproul, Jr. and the the folks at the Highlands Study Center. If he has a “dinosaur bone” to pick with Phillips and Sproul, why did he “chicken” out and not mention them by name? How about some plain speaking instead of euphemisms?

He is also criticizing those of us who prefer life in the country because of the more wholesome environment for our children, who do not practice birth control because we believe God when He says children are a blessing to be welcomed, who reject the garbage that many teenagers embrace as mindless and often blasphemous entertainment, and who carefully delineate biblical male and female roles and duties.

Perhaps he thought he was being clever with the words I quoted from his article, but I think Andrew Sandlin was just being rude. He should dig up the Razormouth articles he wrote last July and August: “Civility in Discourse” and “Civility Wins Cultures” (the Razormouth articles before last April are not available on the internet anymore…if anyone has a copy of these, I would appreciate reading them again.) The caption for the first article is, “lose the jerk talk and seek to persuade, not intimidate, with our words.”

What are the hard truths in Reverend Sandlin’s article? That Christians are responsible to reform every area of life, bringing all into conformity with God’s law. We are not to be pietists, dividing life into sacred and secular. Jesus is King over all.

What are the false dichotomies? That those reformed folk who take seriously the responsibility to protect their children from evil influences while strengthening them for the battle, that those who work hard to create a wholesome Christian environment for their families, rejecting the general culture of this depraved world, are the pietists.

We teach our children that whatever they do in word or deed, they are to do it in the name of the Lord Jesus. Whether they are target shooting, baking biscuits, caring for their younger siblings, making a meal for a needy family, working on hard math problems, passing out prolife literature, lobbying at the state capitol, conducting a political meeting, building websites for Christian publishers or influencing people’s opinions with the written word (all activities my children have done), all is to be done as to the Lord and in utmost humility. When every Christian family does the same, the culture will be transformed.

It appears that Andrew Sandlin is the one repeating mantras: “cultural relevance” and “elitism” are words I hear over and over from him. Perhaps Reverend Sandlin needs to come down from his ivory tower and get a better perspective. We are fighting in the trenches and are getting distracted by the “friendly fire” from above.

On Monday I’ll post my concerns about Reverend Sandlin’s remarks about education.

*If you would like to read the article in the August issue of Christian Culture, contact the Center for Cultural Leadership, P.O. Box 70, La Grange, CA 95329, 209-852-2080.