America Cannot Give Evangelicals What They Want
In my previous post, I defined "Evangelical Christian" in doctrinal and theological terms, based on what has historically distinguished the Evangelical branch of Christianity from other Protestant denominations and groups. There are those within many Evangelical churches and denominations who are fairly arrogant in their claims that what distinguishes them is holding to "conservative" theology and doctrine as opposed to more "liberal" theology. Evangelicals claim two specific distinctives:
- An emphasis on Jesus' "Great Commission", found in Matthew 28:I8-20 to "go, make disciples and baptize them", teaching them to observe all of Jesus' teaching. It is this emphasis on active efforts to "evangelize" or convert "the lost" who are not believers in the triune God of the New Testament, that lends its name to the movement. "Evangels" are those who preach good news.
- The belief that the Bible is inerrant and infallible in all matters of faith and practice and is the sole authority over the church. Most Evangelicals believe the Bible is inspired by God to the point where the very words used by the writers were "inspired," or "God breathed". There is also a strong belief that the Bible can be interpreted literally by Christians because they are filled with, or indwelled with the Holy Spirit of God as a result of their conversion experience. Without theological guidance, there can be a lot of lifting Biblical texts out of their context and literally applying them to current events, which leads to misinterpretation and error.
There is an arrogance among many, though certainly not all, Evangelical Christians that their particular set of distinctive beliefs set them apart from "mainline Protestants" as the "true church" while all other branches of Christianity have been corrupted by tradition or pagan influence or by intellect and reason over spiritual discernment. There is an anti-intellectual, anti-education movement within some groups of Evangelicals, particularly fundamentalist-leaning churches, that even rejects what is taught in institutions founded and operated by Evangelical churches and denominations.
A Deal With the Devil
Rubin, in her Post column, says, "In this context, White evangelical Christians' attraction to the thrice-married philanderer Trump is understandable, as is their support for the cruelest immigration policies (e.g. child separation) and the anti-Muslim travel ban. It's all about race and religious identify, not policies found in Christian values and certainly not about finding a role model for civic virtues. Trump was determined to protect White evangelicals against people of color and the decline in Christian identification; that was all they could hope for in a politician."
I call that a "deal with the devil." Trump made a deal with prominent Evangelical leaders. They deliver the votes of their followers, he appoints some of the judges they want, especially on the Supreme Court. He could at least have made it look a little more like a religious experience and less like political dealing had he picked one of the more doctrinally conservative Evangelical pastors and joined his church, like First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas, where one of Trump's most ardent admirers, Robert Jeffress, is pastor. But he hasn't joined a church, and he calls Paula White, a "word of faith" heretic, who doesn't consider Trump's failings as sin, and who believes that money is the sole method of God's blessing, just for being faithful, his spiritual advisor.
Real Evangelical Values are Biblically Supported
Conservative Christians are fond of the term "Christian worldview" when it comes to the way their doctrinal and theological beliefs affect their behavior and lifestyle. The problem is that when most of them use that term, they mean that there is no distinguishing difference between faith and conservative politics. But the problem with that perspective is that it requires twisting Biblical texts so far out of their meaning and context as to make them unrecognizable and patently false. Accepting political premises as truth is now the litmus test of Christian orthodoxy. Not accepting conservative political premises as truth means a trip to hell, in the mind of many of those in the Christian political right.
A true Christian worldview that is based on Biblical doctrine does not lead to a conservative political "worldview," which is not based on Biblical doctrine. In the same way that conservative critics pick apart progressive or liberal positions, claiming that they are not based on Biblical principle, neither are conservative positions based on Biblical principle. They are political solutions to human problems, not spiritual solutions to human problems. The local Christian church does not need the endorsement of, or the power of, the state to accomplish its mission and purpose. In a true Christian worldview, depending on political influence and power to accomplish a purpose is a corruption of the church, placing faith in worldly power instead of in God's Holy Spirit, and is a subversion of the church's mission, which is to go, make disciples, baptize and teach.
If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations--"Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch" (referring to things that all perish as they are used)--according to human precepts and teachings? These indeed have an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. Colossians 2:20-23, ESV
You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has lost its taste how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. No one, after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand and it gives light to all the house. In the same way let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. Jesus' words from Matthew 5:I3-I6, NRSV
Being "salt" and "light", as Jesus describes his church, is not being in control of the culture via the government, or being controlled by it. So a true Christian worldview, believing that humanity's problems are spiritually resolved rather than by human effort, including government, would be opposed to virtually everything that is currently pushing Evangelicals into Trumpism, especially White Christian Nationalism, white supremacy, turning Critical Race Theory into a straw man to attack, ignoring Trump's complete lack of moral principle and his pathological lying, and either giving a pass to January 6th, or openly participating in it. And in a Christian worldview, leaders are disqualified by their immoral, unethical behavior.
"Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free, but Christ is all and in all." 3:1I
Those are the words of the Apostle Paul, and the opening phrase is a remarkable statement to be made by a former Jewish rabbi and member of the Sanhedrin when speaking of the ethnic and racial composition of the local church. It becomes self-evident that white Christian nationalism is not supported by the Biblical text. Period.
A multi-racial, multi-cultural democratic America is consistent with a Christian worldview. A white, Christian-dominated America is not.
So What?
What the Evangelical-Political right wants, according to Jennifer Rubin, is to become the state church of America, a pseudo-Israelite theocracy preserving God's chosen white European culture in an American "promised land." That's a political perspective unsupported by a Christian worldview that is rooted in Biblical doctrine and theology, though it seems to have captured a majority of white Evangelicals in the United States, it isn't consistent with the way Jesus established his church to influence the world.
The state endorsed and supported churches in European countries are dead. They have become institutions rather than centers of spiritual life, subservient to the political systems that dominated them and changed their mission and purpose. That's exactly what is happening to American Evangelicals who have bought into Trumpism. They've already compromised their values to support Trump, a man who has built his public image on a foundation of immorality and greed that stands in direct contrast to Christian values. They've separated themselves, by race, from spiritual influences among the Evangelical branch of the Christian church who hold to a Christian worldview based on Biblical principles.
The Apostle Paul warned the church about being taken captive by worldly power:
For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth, and will turn aside to myths. 2 Timothy 3:3, NRSV
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