STOP!
I’m not an object that you can “fix”!
I am who I am. So, deal with it or go away!
I’m not interested in your boundaries. “Who is right? Who is wrong?”
It just doesn’t matter to me.
So, get off it!
You look at me as a problem to be solved. A piece of broken pottery that, maybe with a little Super Glue, you can build me into something that makes sense to you.
Sorry, but NO!
I AM NOT BROKEN!
I AM!!!
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I’m getting older.
Ok. That’s no surprise to anyone. We all are.
But, as I approach retirement sometime next year, I’ve spent considerable time in self-reflection. I search within to see if there actually has been any purpose to this life of mine.
I find little there.
Yeah, I followed the path that stretched before me. A path, by the way, that was mapped and defined by minds and wills other than my own. I have had my shares of humanity’s ubiquitous ‘Ups and Downs.’ Clearly, nothing out of the ordinary. I experienced many things that others have not. Some good; some not so much. Overall, my time walking this life has been functional, yet nondescript.
I have not had to struggle like so many in the world. Creature comforts have been available to me. I don’t need to walk 5 miles to a common well in order to have water to drink. There are several taps in my house that readily deliver that life sustaining liquid. Nor, am I required to sit and beg or dive into dumpsters for food. My local Mega Mart has everything that I could possibly want or need to satisfy the grumbling in my gut. Clothes, shelter, family…all of the things that seem to define the so-called American Dream have materialized before me.
So, what do I lack? For I must lack something.
In all of my travels and experiences I have never truly experienced happiness.
Maybe, happiness is simply overrated. I was told many years ago that as a Christ follower I should have something called ‘Joy.’ They said that happiness is nothing but a counterfeit version of Joy. We should not seek that at all.
But, when in every waking moment it feels like I have a Dementor from the world of Harry Potter sitting on my shoulder, well, something is amiss.
People I talk to about this don’t understand. They look at the stuff I have and the things that I’ve experienced and tell me that I should be glad.
Yet, the emptiness, the sadness remain.
“See a doctor and get some medication because what you describe sounds like simple depression that can easily be treated.”
Nope. Been there; done that. Medication doesn’t help. It only flattens my emotions until I feel nothing at all. Better to feel pain than everlasting numbness.
“Jesus is the answer to all of your problems.”
I’m sorry to say that’s simply not true. Contrary to what so many in the fundagelical world say, there is no God Shaped hole in us that only Jesus can fill. But, there does seem to be something that is missing. But, God isn’t it.
“Eat, drink, and be merry,” Qoheleth encourages. For what else is there for humanity to enjoy? Well, I can do one of those three things. Drinking is off the table because, well, I’m a recovering alcoholic and that wouldn’t be a good thing. Be merry? Well, that’s kind of the point of this post. Being merry eludes me.
Now, before anyone decides that I must be broken and that you are the one person in the world appointed to fix me.
Don’t. Please.
I’m not broken.
Sad? Yes.
Lonely? Ok.
Unsatisfied? Definitely.
But, this is how I feel. And, yes, feelings matter.
I have no intention of throwing in the towel and surrendering to despair. I also have no intention of lying to myself about my own reality.
Yeah, I’m getting older. But, as Dylan Thomas wrote,
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
I intend to follow his lead.
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I have so many things that I want to write and share banging around in my brain. One of these days I will actually sit down and open that door and let whatever is in there out to play.
Until then, however, I want to share another piece by another smart person saying more smart stuff.
Pastor Brian Zahnd wrote this as a counter the mantle that too many Evangelicals have claimed for political leaders, specifically Donald Trump. I have to agree with Brian’s take on these things. He has thought through issues that many of us don’t really notice. He noted that this excerpt is taken from his book, “Postcards from Babylon: The Church In American Exile.” I have not read the book, so I can’t recommend it. But, if this particular post is an indication of the book’s contents, I can say that it might be a good read for people unclear about a Christ-follower’s place in the world of politics.
Here is a taste.
“God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” -Ephesians 1:20-23
This is the rich Christology of Paul that should thrill our soul and inform our political theology. But if Paul’s rich Christological understanding of all authority belonging to the Lord’s anointed Christ isn’t real to us, then we are tempted to imagine God working divine purposes through politicians who we pretend are anointed by God. This mistake can at times be relatively benign, or it can be as malignant as it was in Germany in the 1930s. There are consequences to not understanding the full ramifications of the apostolic confession that Jesus Christ is Lord.
I encourage you to click through to Brian’s blog here.
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Listening to the news and current events can be disheartening.
Conflict rages all around the globe.
Corporations fight other corporations and governments in order to guarantee themselves a bigger slice of the economic pie.
Religious groups wage holy war against other religions and even factions within their own religious communities.
Conservatives and liberals line up in battle lines much like our ancestors did. Firing rounds indiscriminately hoping to hit someone on the opposite side.
It’s an understatement to say that we, as fellow inhabitants on this planet, have become polarized.
What is even more disheartening for me is the way in which those of us who chose to follow Christ are divided.
We kick and claw at one another.
“No, you’re wrong!” says one faction.
“How can you say that? The Bible is clear that YOU are in error!” screams another.
“I belong to Apollos!”
“I follow Paul!”
“No, you’re both wrong! Peter has the true way!”
It seems that this thing called the Church is not only vulnerable to all of the forces of human nature, it is also quite fragile.
It breaks and fractures easily.
The broken pieces crash to the floor and scatter every which way.
It’s almost impossible to not become discouraged and lose hope.
So, I did the only thing that I could think of in order to wrap my head around these things.
I prayed.
I asked God to put those of us who follow Christ in the shadow of God’s wings. Not to protect us. But, to empower us.
For what?
I’m glad you asked!
To empower us to be the Royal Priesthood and Holy Nation that the Scriptures claim that we should be. To be harbingers of the Reign of God in this world. Here. Now. Just as Jesus of Nazareth was 2 millennia ago.
Not, however, as so many people who lay claim to christianity do.
Recently, I’ve been studying Paul’s letter to the church at Galatia. In it, Paul had some interesting things to say about the state of affairs in that church. After Paul and his friends had established the young community and moved on to other places, it appears that some other folks came in to stir things up a bit. These others were, according to the text, teachers of the Jewish Law who also followed the Jewish Messiah, Jesus. They claimed that in order to be Real True Christians, the people in Galatia had to conform to Jewish rules that set them apart from other people. These so called works of the Law were male circumcision, dietary restrictions, and observation of the Sabbath and other Jewish Holy days.
The Galatians were confused. But, they listened to their elder brothers in Christ and began to embrace these requirements.
When Paul got wind of what was happening he just about burst a blood vessel. He wrote a rather pointed letter in which he called these later teachers, “Accursed!”
No, he wasn’t happy at all.
He then spent the rest of the letter explaining what the problem with these practices were and why they were so dangerous.
The underlying point to all that he wrote was, “What makes you think that what was started in the Spirit could possibly be completed in the flesh?”
To clarify, Paul’s usage of the term “flesh” in this entire letter refers to conforming to the Jewish rules of purity that those other teachers had insisted be followed.
And, to be equally clear, one of the most egregious results of following those rules is that they erect barriers that separate people from one another. And, in Paul’s argument, they can also separate people from God.
Ok, so what does any of this Paul stuff have to do with why I feel disheartened and in need of God’s empowering?
Because, many in today’s church follow the example of those Jewish teachers way back when. They say that they follow God and God’s Spirit. But, in reality they lay obstacles in the path of people who need God in their lives.
“You can’t follow God if you’re gay!”
“If you don’t stand for the national anthem, you can’t possibly be Christian!”
“Abortionist! Murderer! Not Christian!”
I could go on and on with the works of law that many people require of any Real True Christian.
That’s not what I see Paul saying to the people who were trying there best to follow the Way of Christ.
“What was begun in the Spirit must be completed in the Spirit.”
While that seems a simple statement, it requires the empowerment I wrote about earlier.
It requires people who take the idea of Royal Priesthood and Holy Nation seriously enough to realize that the rules and laws that so many people try to enforce simply have no place in the Kingdom of God.
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It should really be a no-brainer. In fact, it seems that if you love God you will necessarily love your enemy.
Right?
For anyone whose home isn’t in some cave deep in the jungle that statement would ring true. But, for those of us who live and breathe in the U.S. things are a bit more nuanced, to say the least.
I spend a lot of time reading blogs, essays, and news reports from various sources. (Admittedly, Fox News is not one of them.) These pieces cover subjects from climate change to koalas with VD.
There is one topic that seems to garner a bit more than its fair share of coverage. That is, White Evangelicalism.
What is this, you ask?
White Evangelicalism is the broad umbrella that folks use to cover White conservatives who share some kind of Evangelical faith in God. These are the folks who voted overwhelmingly for Donald “Pussy Grabber” Trump. Some polls show that a good 83% of these people who profess to follow Jesus of Nazareth voted for him.
White Evangelicals are largely conservative politically and socially. Now, there’s nothing wrong with that. I respect their right to make those choices and will go to the mat with anyone who would try to take that right away. However, many of these people go well beyond simply supporting conservative causes. These others actively work to deny the rights of others to express themselves in a like fashion.
People like Steven Anderson, pastor of Faithful Word Baptist Church. Pastor Anderson is vocally anti LGBT. His hatred for LGBT people has gotten him banned from several countries in Africa and Europe.
There’s Robert Jeffress of First Baptist in Dallas. He is a noted supporter of Mr. Trump and other hard-line, nationalist conservatives. In his mind it seems that there are only two groups of people, White Evangelicals and Everyone Else. Everyone Else is, well, you get it. He and others whom historian John Fea refers to as Court Evangelicals have an agenda that seems to desire an American theocracy with White Evangelicals at the helm. No other solution to what they see are the ills that plague this nation is possible. For them it is a zero sum game where any gain by Everyone Else is necessarily a loss for White Evangelicals. Period. End of story. This causes Pastor Jeffress and others like him, say, Franklin Graham, Jim Dobson, Jerry Falwell, Jr., and others to view Everyone Else as enemies to be vanquished.
So what? Who really cares what a bunch of crotchety old white guys think, anyway?
Well, me for one.
Yeah, I consider myself part of Everyone Else. But, that’s not why what these people think or say. The thing that bothers me is that they spew their hatred for Everyone Else in the name of Jesus. And, I’m sorry, that doesn’t cut it. These people don’t get a free pass to hate others in the name of a Person who hated no one.
So, a few days ago as I was praying I had to confess to God that I felt that these people were enemies of the Gospel. That also made them my enemies. This was hard for me to say. After all, I lay claim to faith in God through Christ. Just like many of those White Evangelicals do. Shouldn’t I consider them my sisters and brothers? After all, not all siblings get along real well. But, they’re still siblings none the less.
Well, maybe. I supposed sisters can grow up in a way that will alienated them from their sisters and brothers. They could technically become ‘enemies.’
But, what I feel is different. It’s like these people are illegitimate children. Bastards born of a different lineage all together. How was I to deal with this? Should I attack them like they attack Everyone Else? No, that doesn’t sound right. Should I embrace them and engage with them with the love of Christ? That sounds like enabling. I don’t think that’ll work either. What then?
So, I prayed.
A couple of days before this I led a Bible study at the church I attend. One of the texts we looked at was Psalm 8. In that Psalm is this line: ” Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have founded a bulwark because of your foes, to silence the enemy and the avenger,” NRSV. I don’t like that translation so much. Looking at the original language I think a better translation would be, “Out of the mouths of children and sucklings You have established a stronghold that will silence Your foe and avenger.” It seems that the praise of those who are the weakest and most vulnerable is capable of silencing the loud clamor of those who stand opposed to God.
I realized that I don’t need to take White Evangelicalism to task. I really don’t even need to deal with them at all. My first obligation is to praise God and live in a manner that reveals God’s heart for EVERYONE, (White Evangelicals included). By doing that and encouraging others to do likewise, the voices of the Enemy will be silenced.
Should we love our enemies? Yeah. But, that doesn’t mean that we must engage with them on their terms. Our first responsibility is to love and engage with God. Anything more is just noise.
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Earlier today I wrote about the diversity of cultures and their intrinsic worth in the eyes of God. I hold that to be dear to my heart.
One point , though…
I am not indigenous. So, if I was to appropriate their spiritual practices I would very quickly find myself in error. It works the same way as demanding that ALL cultures embrace the Western Church’s spirituality. It’s just wrong.
I do have a spiritual heritage that does find its roots in the Western Church. For me, God worship should find its foundation in the historic practices that singularly identify the Church within the context of the World. I find people like Jonathan Aigner quiet refreshing as they urge us onward toward our better selves in worship. And, I have to agree with his assessment of contemporary styles of worship. They are shallow and without Soul. Click on the post below to read Jonathan’s recent post about this.
Yay, Jonathan!
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The song says that this is the “Most Wonderful Time of the Year!”
I really want to believe that.
But, it’s so bloody hard.
It’s not hard because of all the chaos and turmoil that is churning around the globe.
Politics and the economy effect people, for sure. And, unless you’re part of the 1%, the effect
isn’t necessarily good.
Then there are the wars and famines and stuff. Those things are never good
Families break up, (or, are broken up by the aforementioned war and stuff).
The news carries stories of robbery, rape, murder, fires, floods, etc. that destroy people
and all of their hopes and dreams.
No, these aren’t the things that make this time of the year a tad less than “Wonderful.”
I think that there’s a presumption out there that because of an event 2,000 years ago we
are somehow special. We are made in the image and likeness of some Creator God that
has chosen us to stand on the necks of others. The perceptions that we, at least in the West,
have of ourselves is that we are ‘exceptional.’
But, are we…really?
There’s another story that’s told this time of year. One that may truly be exceptional. A story that was told a very long time ago. A story that should show us what it means to be human in this world. This story talks about vulnerability and danger. There is action and escape. More importantly, though, I think that the story reveals God’s heart in a way that all of the “Thou Shalt Not” commands can never possibly show.
So, let’s take a look, shall we?
“In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register.
So Joseph also went up form the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.’
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.’
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.’
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby , who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.”
Take a few minutes. Read it again. Chew on it.
Where are all of the ‘exceptional’ people? You know, the ones with money, prestige, and power. Where are the governments who wage war on other nations? And, their own people. Where is Wall Street, Madison Ave., and all of the other centers of economic power?
I don’t see them. Do you?
I only see a family in a backwater town in an occupied country trying to get by.
So, how is it that so many of us simply don’t get it? We go about life day by day without a care or a clue. “We’re special!” we tell ourselves.
Are we?
No, I think not.
That family in the story was special. As are all of the other families just like them throughout the world.
This is the Most Wonderful Time of the Year?
Today, as I sat quietly, I remembered how I felt Sunday morning.
Emotions rose within me as I considered the injustice of the “ruling class.”
I held back tears as my I saw those who live privileged lives ignoring the pleas of
those that they consider “Other.” Especially, those who profess to have faith in God through Jesus Christ.
How can they just stand there and do nothing? Less than nothing!
They are complicit in moral crimes against their fellow travelers on this Third Rock from the Sun!
This morning I reflected on that a bit. I realized that my emotions, my tears were
not directed toward those who are the victims of injustice. They weren’t poured out
for the poor and the needy.
No.
My emotion was kindled by those who instigate the injustice. My tears shed because
of their unbelief and unfaithfulness.
How can people stand by and actually feel that they are justified in their injustice?
It’s truly quite easy. As long as I can feel good about ‘Me’ and ‘My’ accomplishments;
‘My faithfulness’ and ‘My exceptionalism,’ I can separate myself from those “Others” who
don’t quite match up to ‘Me.’
I’m reminded of a story in Brennan Manning’sbook, “Ruthless Trust: The Ragamuffin’s
Path to God.”
A couple was visiting New Orleans. As they walked around the French Quarter,
a woman, smiling, approached them and said that she could tell immediately that they were “saved.”
She continued, “Isn’t it wonderful? Don’t you just fell the Rapture is coming?” For the next several
Minutes the woman talked to them about growing tension in the Middle East that would
lead to the end of the world. At that time the ‘elect’ would be whisked away to heavenly
glory forever and ever.
Of course, this presupposes that there will by “Others” who will not be so fortunate.
How is it that this woman was apparently quite giddy about leaving most of humanity
behind while she and her like-minded friends would escape into the “Sweet By and By”?
And, I weep over her hardness of heart. Her uncaring attitude toward anyone and everyone
who doesn’t think and believe as she does.
Then, a couple other stories came to my mind.
In one, Jesus is standing on a hill looking over the city of Jerusalem.
His heart, breaking with overwhelming emotion he said,
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.
“Behold, your house is being left to you desolate!
“For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”
His lament was not for the victims of injustice. He shed no tears for the murdered prophets and those who were stoned to death.
No. His sorrow was directed at those who perpetrated the injustice…the murderers.
In another story, Jesus went to a village called Bethany. A few days earlier he had been informed that one of his dear friends was very ill. By the time he reached the village, his friend had died.
The text indicates that Jesus was aware of the condition of his friend, Lazarus. He was even aware that the man had died. When Jesus reached the village, Lazarus’ sisters came to him and said,
“If only You had been here, Lazarus would still be alive.”
Jesus looked and saw all of the mourners who had come to console the sisters over their loss.
Now, what’s interesting, is the writer made it very clear that Jesus knew what he was going to do. Jesus had even told his followers on the way that Lazarus had died. He told them that he was glad that he had not been there to heal Lazarus. It was better for them, “So that you may believe.”
Even with this foreknowledge, the text states that when Jesus saw the mourners, when he listened to the sisters as they knelt tearfully before him, the writer recorded these words…
“Jesus was troubled.”
The language that was used indicates that Jesus was “agitated; in great distress.” That his emotions were “stirred up.” This was followed by the shortest verse in the entire Bible,
“Jesus wept.”
The only record of Jesus shedding tears.
“Jesus wept.”
But, why? The mourners all thought it was because of Jesus’ great love for Lazarus. They thought that, like them, Jesus was moved with sorrow for the loss of his friend. For the loss of a brother.
That doesn’t make sense to me. Jesus knew what had happened and what he was going to do.
Why did he weep?
I think it was because of the unbelief of those gathered. Jesus had performed many miracles in and around Jerusalem. Many of these people were witnesses. For sure, the sisters were. Yet, they still did not believe.
They did not have faith.
“Jesus wept.”
The only two times where it was recorded that Jesus wept or lamented there were people who lacked lacked faith or who were faithless.
He did not lament the prophets.
He did not weep for Lazarus.
So, I weep. Not for those trying to escape death by journeying a thousand miles to seek refuge at our border.
Nor, do I weep for the millions of people who may find their health care plans eliminated.
I don’t shed tears for those trapped in addictions or who struggle with the fact that their own brain is their worst enemy.
My tears…my lament…are offered for those in power, for those who aren’t trapped in systems that dehumanize and degrade them.
I weep for those who can make a difference.
Yet, choose not to.
Yesterday I wrote a piece about how Evangelicals embrace something called Penal Substitution. They believe that this is foundational for the Real True Gospel, (RTG). I also said that along the way people who really don’t care about religion or theology would be able to take from it. After all,who really does care what a bunch of religious folks think? As long as it doesn’t affect me, let them believe whatever nonsense they want.
Ok, fair enough.
In 2016 a person was elected president of the U.S.This person is at best unqualified for the office. At worst, he’s a danger to the Republic. How did this happen? Social scientists, anthropologists, news pundits…everyone has a theory. And, they all make sense.
One thing, though, that sometimes gets overlooked is that 81% of White Evangelical Christians voted for this person.
Eighty-one Percent!!!
And, some recent polls indicate that support has remained at or near that level throughout the last two years.
How is that possible? Seriously. How can an entire demographic that has historically touted its moral superiority over the immorality of “the world” support a known liar, adulterer, womanizer, misogynist, thrice married, ignorant buffoon? It boggles the mind.
Unless…unless you understand the Evangelical mindset.
The simple answer is a single issue.
Abortion.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Evangelical position swung from being OK with abortion to one of vicious opposition. That one issue became the rallying cry for all who followed the likes of Pat Robertson and,especially, Jerry Falwell, Sr. So loud was the cry that the Christian Right made it the litmus test for any political candidate. If a candidate’s platform included the words, “anti-abortion,” then they were a good choice.
The Republican Party sensed that and made abortion a part of the party platform. Now, when Evangelicals went to the polls their decision was made easy. Vote Republican! Easy-peasy!
So, when the current president embraced the Republican platform, including the anti-abortion plank, Evangelicals saw their savior.
Ok, that’s the simple answer.
But, it’s not the only or even best answer.
To find that we need to look deeper into the heart of Evangelicalism.
Yesterday I wrote that many in the Evangelical camp sincerely believe that God is so Just that it’s impossible for God to be in the same room as sin. (Whatever that is.) In fact, God hates sin, and by extension, those who practice sin. Hate, hate, hate! Over time this has been hardwired into the hearts of the faithful.
God Hates!
This has enabled those who embrace this picture of God to also hate. They, by Divine example, now have a binary that they can follow. They can know in their knowers that they are righteous and oh so good with confidence. There is a line. On one side the righteous followers of God; on the other is Everyone Else. There is no gray.Everything is black and white. They can even go to their Holy Book and find all sorts of texts to prove just how righteous they are and how worthy of their hate everyone else is.
This is where the danger lies for us and for the world. By dividing everything and everyone into Us and Them they can in all good faith destroy what they don’t like or agree with and tell themselves, “Well, it’s what God wants us to do.”
Are you reading this starting to see the picture form?
Evangelicals in the U.S.have and agenda. And, it’s not simply a religious agenda. It is entirely political. Falwell and friends decided that there could be a political solution to a very Spiritual issue. Their Evangelical followers then sold their collective soul to the devil in order to see their twisted and misguided theology become a physical reality.
The U.S.,to them, was a Christian nation that they could reclaim and, through political means, force their idea of God and righteousness on everyone. (This is the main reason that I think that Mike Pence is more dangerous than our current president.)
Now, I admit that this is an oversimplification of a very complex issue. Evangelicals are not monolithic. There are sincerely faithful people who hold to the tenets of historical Evangelicalism. I know many personally. They are good people who really want to follow Jesus faithfully.
But, the truth of the matter seems to be that the root of Evangelicalism that has been passed along from the First Great Awakening until now is rotten. It has grown into a macabre caricature of the Church that started as a result of Jesus Christ’s life.
It is dangerous.
It is foul.
It must be resisted at every front vigorously.
Hopefully, this is something that you can take home with you.
2 CommentsThere are a lot of people who grew up in Evangelical churches that followed a kind of Calvinist path. They now call themselves ex-vangelicals. Or, Exvies for short. While their stories are varied, they allshare certain similarities. They speak of authoritarianism, patriarchy, and the abuses that go with those. Purity culture and sexuality are mentioned a lot.Especially, those who are LGBT people. And, they share how difficult it was for them to leave the Evangelical bubble. (I would add that it’s just as difficult to remain within that bubble.) One thing that underlies their concerns, however, is the toxic theology that props these Neo-Calvinists up. What is it about Evangelical theology that is so toxic?
I’m glad you asked that question.
Most Evangelicals, at least in the U.S., grow out of the rich soil of what historians call, The First Great Awakening. This was a religious phenomena that swept the New England colonies in the early to mid 18th century, (1730-1755). One of the leaders of that movement was a man named Jonathan Edwards. He was basically a Puritan who held to a kind of Reformed, or Calvinist, theology. Now, I know that this doesn’t mean a lot to any of you who don’t study these kinds of things. But, stick with me here. I promise that you will find something to take home with you.
Anyway, Edwards and others preached a message that people must be born again in order to receive God’s salvation. That meant that each individual person must make a personal commitment to ‘receive’ Jesus into their heart as personal Savior. They were called the ‘New Lights’ of the Church. And,what they said resonated with people who lived in the Colonies. Life was hard. Things were changing at an unheard of pace as the world rushed through the Enlightenment. To many, the world looked as though it was spiraling out of control…going to hell in a hand basket.
Enter Edwards and friends. They preached a message that condemned the world. All things that were not explicitly FOR God were necessarily Against God. These would all burn in hell. That “all things”included people. They taught that any person who did not choose to follow God THEIR way was already the object of God’s wrath. God was portrayed as a great Judge who was prepared to slam the Divine gavel down and pronounce sentence…eternal,physical torment in the unquenchable flames of hell. Edwards preached a sermon in 1741 that still influences Evangelicals today. It was entitled “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. I’m not going to link to it because I believe that the sermon is false and, by the estimation of some, heretical.
The gist of the sermon, and Edwards’ theology, is that the wicked are under God’s just wrath here and now. If they don’t ‘repent’ and accept Jesus, the God will have No Choice but to send them to their rightly deserved judgment in hell. God, in Edward’s opinion, was oh so pissed with humanity because of sin. One in particular. Yeah, that one that the first humans, Adam and Eve, committed. Because they ate the forbidden fruit, all humanity lived under God’s curse. Because of their disobedience, all humanity was disobedient. And, as a result God’s righteous anger was kindled.
Scary stuff!
What’s scarier is that this is what modern evangelicals still think and believe. In the church that I was a part of for about 30 years, Edwards and others like him, Billy Graham, Tim Keller, et al. were held up as formidable spokesmen for the Real True Gospel, (RTG). Some of the leaders ofthis church would speak about Edwards wistfully. “If only I could preach the RTG like Edwards. Ahhhh….” They thought it was a good thing that when people heard Edwards read that sermon originally they were grabbing onto the church’s pillars and crying out in fear, “What must we do to be saved?” These people were deathly afraid that the ground beneath them was about to open up and swallow them at the very moment! Yeah, this is the kind of response that many, including the leadership of my old church, wish they could garner.
One of the associate pastors there has a stock phrase tha the pulls out of his gospel holster regularly.
He states, “God hates your guts!”
Please. Let that sink in a bit.
God.
The Father of Jesus Christ.
Hates your guts.
In fact, if it wasn’t for Jesus stepping up to the plate and sacrificing himself to appease this God, we’d all be on our way to eternity in a burning garbage dump.
To him, and all of the other Evangelical people who hold to this belief I have but one thing to say…
I’m sorry. But, you are mistaken.
Now, I could take a lot of time to explain my position. And, really, who cares outside of a small circle of friends?
And, so what? Who cares what these Evangelicals think anyway? I mean, let them blow steam all they want. It doesn’t affect me at all.
Well, maybe it actually does. But, that’s a topic for another post.
Below is a link to a short video by Brad Jersak. While I don’t necessarily agree with everything he says in it, for the most part I believe he is spot on. I encourage you to take a few minutes and take a look/listen to what he says.