Read the Bible as Subversive Speech Against Empire, Wendell Griffin and Allen Boesak
Baptist News Global: Did Jesus Really Say That? Lovett Weems
"You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be filled with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. They will act religious but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that! [2 Timothy 3:1-5]
I get asked, a lot, to explain how it is possible to maintain my Christian faith when so much of conservative, Evangelicalism in the United States has abandoned the core principles of the Christian gospel, to embrace an evil demagogue like Trump. Can I not see the hypocrisy, the abandonment of core theology and doctrine, the shift in practice?
Yes, I can. I saw a lot of that before Trump came along. The political corruption of American Evangelicals started with their rejection of Jimmy Carter, and embrace of Reagan during the 1980 election campaign. There were flaws in their theology, doctrine, church polity and practice long before that which made them susceptible to being hijacked. There's a measure of insecurity, which manifests itself in arrogance and condescension, that blinds them to their own hypocrisy and they have been, as the apostle Paul describes, been sent a "powerful delusion."
It was my college experience that taught me how to systematically "deconstruct"--for lack of a better term--the mythology and mysticism of conservative Evangelicalism and see Christianity for what it really was, a religion based primarily on the philosophy and teachings of an itinerant Jewish rabbi named Jesus, who happened to be in the lineage of the ancient Israelite King David, and who directly connected his "gospel" to the Jewish theological idea of Messiah, or savior. His disciples credited him with being the divine son of God, the Messiah himself, and the Christian gospel that he developed and taught out of the remnants of Jewish theology and monotheism as a lifestyle testifying to this spiritual salvation.
"The wisdom of Jesus' teaching is in stark contrast to some current religious language about who and what it is that constitute evil, enemies and demonic powers currently at work in the United States," says Lovett Weems, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Church Leadership at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC. "That stark contrast has led to a conclusion that the way of Jesus 'doesn't work today,' as some put it. Tragic but true," he adds.
Dr. Russell Moore, editor of Christianity Today, has encountered conservative, Evangelical church members who identify the teachings of Jesus in the Bible as "liberal talking points."
"Multiple pastors tell me, essentially, the same story about quoting the Sermon on the Mount, parenthetically, in their preaching--turn the other cheek--and have someone come up after to say, 'where did you get those liberal talking points," Moore said, quoted in an interview published in Newsweek magazine.
"When the pastor would say, 'I'm literally quoting Jesus,' the response would be 'yes, but that doesn't work any more, that's weak'. When we get to the point where the teachings of Jesus himself are seen as subversive to us, then we're in a crisis," Moore concluded.
We have been in a crisis for quite some time, if that is the case. The politics and religious beliefs have become indistinguishable, and that is never a good combination. It was enough, in fact, for Jesus to address it directly, and for two of his apostles, Peter and Paul, to make definitive statements on how Christians were to approach the civil government, to prevent either persecution and intended destruction, or worse, being corrupted.
Christian Theology is Simple, Evangelicalism is a Legalistic Complication of It
With very little exception, the core of the Christian gospel can be found in two chapters of the gospel account of Matthew. Chapters 5, 6 and 7 record Jesus' "Sermon on the Mount," which most theological experts believe is a compilation of all of what Jesus preached and taught during the three years he spent, mostly in Galilee, in what is referred to has his public ministry. Aside from some specific events associated with particular places and times, beginning with the Beatitudes, a description of characteristics defining the practice of a life of faith, along with the blessings they produce, and including careful re-interpretations (You have heard that it was said...but I say to you) of Jewish faith practice, he covers the whole scope of a religious practice based on grace, exercised by faith.
So, Christianity is a lifestyle, not a set of rules that one must obey in order to achieve conversion or salvation, but a set of virtues and values, recognizing the ancient Jewish creation narrative that humanity is created in the image of God. At the very core of Jesus' teaching is his declaration that "all of the law and the prophets hang on these two greatest commandments," to love God with all your heart, soul and mind, and to love your neighbor as you love yourself.
Multiple interpretations, traditions and practices have developed over the 2,000 year history of the Christian church, that have affected what it looks like, dragged it into error and apostasy, used it for political advantage or monetary gain, by emphasizing the fear of hell and punishment over the aspects of God's image being reflected in all human beings.
Evangelicalism, a more recent development, dating back to the revival movements of the mid to late 1800's mostly in the United States, has developed a system of measuring true Christianity by intellectual assent to a set of specific theological interpretations based on a literal rendering of the biblical text, rather than any consideration of its historical, cultural and social context. The emphasis is placed on gettting people to engage in a specific theological confession as a means of entering through a spiritual portal into conversion or salvation, and then learning the list of doctrinal acknowledgements that one must believe in order to be Christian. It's a very legalistic approach, almost completely backward from what Jesus preached and taught. There is no accountability beyond the local church, and it places a huge amount of authority in the hands of each church pastor.
Characteristically, some of its congregations are personality cults built around the preaching and teaching of one man, and grow into mega churches, because they are dependent on the preaching style and personality of that pastor, who becomes "the only one" who can lead the church. And though the role of pastor is supposed to follow the servant leadership model that Jesus said, most Evangelical pastors have authority given to them by the church they lead, and authority that they take for themselves based on the overall theological and doctrinal ignorance of their church members.
That's what Lovett Weems and Russell Moore have discovered, and pointed out. The way of Jesus doesn't work, because it undermines the pastor's ability to control what his congregation believes and how it thinks. The Sermon on the Mount sounds like a bunch of "liberal talking points" to those who aren't able to distinguish between the Christian gospel and the right ring extremism of Trump politics. It's even more disgusting and disturbing to realize that any of these pastors who have studied in a theological seminary know exactly how the core principles of Jesus, and the basic principles of "wokeness" are completely compatible.
Maintaining my Faith is a Matter of Keeping it Centered in the Christian Gospel
Whenever this subject comes up, I offer those who can't seem to get away from their ideology a challenge. Read through Matthew's gospel, chapters 5, 6 and 7. And then, after reading through them, give a thought to the public words and demeanor of Donald Trump, or one of his MAGA cult followers. I'll take them out to dinner if they can, legitimately, fine just one similarity which can be proven. Trump supporters will say anything favorable about Trump whether they see it or not, because he tells so many lies, they can't see them for what they are. But, being completely honest, the contrast is stark, condemning and accurate.
The Christian gospel, and the Christian church, are a way of life that is so diametrically opposite the worldliness of Trump, as to make it impossible for them to be compatible. Several years ago, I dropped using the word "Christian" as a noun, modified by the adjective "Evangelical" and simply call those who have merged their faith with their politics as "Evangelicals," and let that be the noun, because they are not, by definition, Christian. They are pseudo-Christian in that they have adopted the appearance of Christian faith and practice, but their doctrine makes them a dangerous cult. And while I'm not in a position to determine the sincerity of anyone's Christian faith, I can point out the clear and stark contrast between genuine Christianity and sincere MAGA Trumpism.
It isn't possible to be both of those at the same time.
Christian Nationalism is Rooted in Evangelical Heresies
It's pretty clear that the view of human life and existence expressed by forty different authors of various books of the Bible evolved over the thousands of years of history that is covered by the text. The Apostles who wrote the New Testament go to great lengths to make it very clear that "love your enemies" meant that genocide, which was a common practice of the time period of its writing, and considered acceptable in the Old Testament, was sin, along with the ethnic and racial hatreds that were also common. The words of Jesus recorded in the gospels are the criterion by which all Christian doctrine and theology, along with the text of the works of the Apostles in the canon, are interpreted.
Jesus answers the question of "who is my neighbor," after proclaiming that loving your neighbor as you love yourself is part two of what he considered the "greatest" commandment. He tells the parable of the good Samaritan, making a positive example out of a member of an ethnic group that was at the top of the Jew's list of most despised and hated people, next to the Romans, of course. The Apostle Peter has several experiences, each prompted by what he describes as a "spiritual vision," a prompting from God, to cross ethnic and racial barriers and bring the ministry of the Christian gospel to people he had been taught were inferior, and to despise and hate.
These examples, along with the words of Jesus, are quite different, intentionally, than the examples and practices of the Israelites, recorded in the Old Testament, who believed themselves to be ritually unclean if they came into direct physical contact with a gentile. And it's one of the grave doctrinal errors made by Evangelicals, who claim belief in the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testament Protestant Canon as "inerrant and infallible." The fact of the matter is that Jesus clearly replaced the much lower view of humanity found especially in the Old Testament historical record with a much higher one. And yet, much of what is found in Christian nationalist philosophy is a reference to Old Testament genocide and practice against the pagan populations who lived around Israel.
It is on this particular point, in fact, where American Evangelicalism parts company from orthodox Christian faith and practice. Christian nationalists have used "It was God's will" as justification for the annihilation of the native populations of North America, who they condemn because they were "godless heathens" as well as justification for the enslavement of African Americans, claiming that black skin was the mark God put on Cain, Adam's son who murdered his own brother, a story from myth, not history.
Evangelicals, as Christian nationalists, believe that whatever was necessary to allow white people to take over North American land, and consider it a gift from God for their Christian faithfulness, to be able to exploit the resources of a virgin planet. is justified because it is being done for God, whether that's displacement of the rightful owners of the land, or conquest and destruction of those who get in their way, including eliminating political enemies.
This is the way that they are leading America. So if you haven't caught on, and aren't awake to this yet, you need to get there quickly.
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