Late in the 19th century churches were under pressure to join national campaigns to pass legislation on such moral issues as prohibition and Sunday closing laws. F. D. Srygley took this swipe:

“Some church papers and preachers are whooping up the people to send petitions to the legislature to stop the railroads from running freight trains on Sunday, and the DAILY AMERICAN suggests that it would also be a good thing for the publicans and sinners to send petitions to the churches to stop church members from doing so much badness every day in the week and Sunday too. If this plan works out right we may reasonably hope for considerable improvement in the morality of railroads and churches both. ..but I am not overly sanguine of the success of the scheme. Petitions may do very well for common sinners like railroads, but in severe cases of meanness I am in favor of something more potent. Nothing short of amazing grace and a living faith will improve the morality of churches. That’s my idea.”

That’s my idea too. Christianity has to do with the reform of society only as that is related to the purification of individual lives by the power of “amazing grace and a living faith.”

I see two reasons why Christians should not get caught up in the popular social reforms - even those that seem to rest on moral principles. First, a Christian’s responsibility is not the cleasing of the world but of individual men and women in the world. Jesus’s mission was to seek and to save the lost. (Lk. 19:10.) How can I justify time and effort spent in worldly crusades with worldly men which at best will make the world a slightly more comfortable place to live? Social reforms will save not one soul. And the danger exists that some may actually think they are performing their Christian duty by joining hand with false religionists to force sinners to behave themselves against their will. We need to keep in view our spiritual mission as Christians.

Second, all such moral crusades set out to accomplish the impossible. We will never escape sin in this world. (1 Cor. 5:10.) History has seen many moral reforms, and the world remains wicked and confused. Some societies are preferable to others, but in any of them we is live in the midst of sin. Our mission is not to purify the world; it to escape it. Preach the gospel to your neighbor. That will make him a better person to live with. That is about all you can do.