| Ellul, Presence, 17. |
| Ellul, Presence, 18. |
| Ellul, Presence, 19. |
But Ellul still finds
room for Christians to work in this world. "We must not say to ourselves, 'We
can�t do anything about it!' ...we seem caught between two necessities, which
nothing can alter: on the on hand it is impossible for us to make this world
less sinful; on the other hand it is impossible for us to accept it as it is."
The Christian's job is not to "tinker with futile
attempts at technical and moral 'solutions'; his job is
to discover the real spiritual difficulties which every political
or economic situation contains." Pressing to the heart of the matter, where
only the gospel has any meaning. When we look at that interstate
highway, the first thing we should think of is forgiveness. Looking
toward the future, namely the parousia, not toward an imagined
future defined by a reformer's utopia. The Christian as sign,
as "light of the world": through whom "the world
learns to recognize its real problems, behind the lies which it
tries to perpetuate in order to avoid listening to the Word of
God." That is, we have to talk about sin.