Are Christians to Blame for the World's Problems?

Today, driving home from work, I began to think about all the offenses that have been committed within the body of Christ, that is, the born-again believers in Jesus Christ. This morning on the way to work I was listening to Chuck Swindoll talking about how offenses among believers have been going on since the first century church. Of course, this has been going on ever since the dawn of creation, but let's put it into our world today. I'm thinking of a couple of verses that strike at the heart of modern Christendom. The first one is, "For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?" (1 Peter 4:17) We are so prone to look down on the state of world today, when the truth is we were supposed to be ambassadors for Christ by living in righteousness and glorifying God. There are those enemies of the cross, essentially, who would like to blame "religion," Christianity and Christians for the sad state of the world, and, indeed, they have done this throughout history and are doing so no less today, but the truth is if Jesus said judgment would begin at the house of God, what this says to me is, we are here to make the world better by the presence of Jesus in the world, and, instead, it often appears that we have become more like the world. The second verse I'm reminded of is, "To whom much is given, much is required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more" (Luke 12:48). This verse appears in a parable of "masters and servants," in which the servants represent us, and "they" are the masters--those over us, and ultimately God. God has given us many gifts, and with them we are expected (it is required of us) to serve God and serve others. In this world we see a lot of self-promotion, in every area of commerce--in entertainment, in politics, in business, in education--in every field of endeavor, really. I can't think of any kind of work where competition is not the way the world operates. But I don't see that in the word of God. I am saying we should always strive for excellence, but not for the recognition of the world, but in order to please God and serve others. So, no, Christians are not to blame for the world's problems, but Christians could do more to make the world better instead of participating in the ugliness of the world. The church should not be divided the way the world is divided or like our political system is divided. Christians should not be seen as fighting one another. I remember when I was first saved, I worked in a company in California that made the "Cambridge Diet" which ended up being Slim-fast, if I'm not mistaken. I don't see anything online verifying that the Cambridge Diet evolved into Slim-fast, that's just what I heard, and I think it tastes the same. Anyway, I got into some kind of back and forth with another "BAC" (that was what they called born-again Christians in California at that time), and someone said something to the effect of, "Is this an example of Christians fighting each other?" The fact is, Christian or non-believer, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..." (Romans 3:23) and God expects all people who have ever been born to be born again by repentance, thus escaping the wrath of God through faith in Jesus Christ who paid the debt for the sins of the world through suffering and dying at the hands of evil men, but raising from the dead on the third day. Every born-again Christian knows this, and it is our responsibility to be sharing these truths with everyone we can. You can read all about being born again in the third chapter of the gospel of John. I just want to conclude by saying that Christians are not to blame for the corrupt state in which our world has fallen, but we are responsible to be a light in the darkness. We are called to share the truth in love and to bear the persecution of the world in whatever form it takes in our life. All we need to know is contained in the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. All we need to do is open it up and ask God to reveal what he is saying to us. He has a plan, and we can be a part of it or we can be destroyed. This may sound pretty extreme to some, and yet it is the reality we are experiencing, as we see the events prophesied in the Bible unfolding before our eyes.