Baptist News Global: Talarico's Pastor Pushes Back Against Daily Wire's Claims
Whatever there is to be known about the Daily Wire, and it's not really all that much, Ben Shapiro is good at something. He's good at playing on people's prejudices and biases, and if he tries to confirm something, there's a 100% chance it is a misconception or an outright lie. The fact that it depends on social media to spin its misinformation underlines the fact that it isn't credible news or information or commentary.
So when they attacked St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Austin, Texas, the church where Texas Democratic nominee for the US Senate James Talarico is a member, the information they put out was clearly innuendo that counted on ignorance of the church, the denomination, and lacked proof or evidence of anything in the accusations. The article, written by Lief LeMahieu, made a list of standard, tired, inaccurate accusations.
And it got a response from the church's pastor, who compared it to the silly ignorance that spread around when false accusations were made about public schools doing sex change operations and putting litter boxes around for kids who identified as feline. What amazed me about all of that idiocy, when it was being spread, was that people were actually stupid enough to believe it. I am also amazed when people are stupid enough to believe anything in the Daily Wire, or that Lief LeMahieu or Ben Shapiro has to say.
The Accusation that St. Andrews is a "Woke Church" is Accurate
The whole idea of Christian redemption, which relies on things like repentance, grace, loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and loving your neighbor as yourself is the very definition of "woke." In spite of the right wing use of the term as one of derision, what is now defined as "being woke" is exactly the kind of spiritual awakening that is at the very core of being Christian. It is, in fact, not possible to be Christian with any genuine sincerity of repentance that is exactly what being woke means. And when the Daily Wire accuses St. Andrews of being a "woke church," it is stating the very obvious fact that St. Andrews is a genuinely and sincerely Christian church.
So thanks for that.
Anchoring Christianity on the Actual Teachings of Jesus
Jim Rigby, senior pastor at St. Andrews, gave an outstanding summary of exactly what has happened to American Christianity as a result of right wing political extremism when he said, "Now anyone may be called a heretic if they presume to anchor Christianity on the actual teachings of Jesus instead of the rantings of televangelists and political moralizers."
The primary, foundational core belief of Christianity is rooted in Jesus' declaration that the first and greatest commandment, leading directly to redemption and eternal life, is "to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. And the second is like it, to love your neighbor as yourself." That's found in Mark 12 and in Luke 10. Matthew, who records the primary, core teachings of Jesus in one segment, known as the Sermon on the Mount, starts off with a list of the core values of Christian faith, in the Beatitudes.
It's the legalistic, literalist interpretation of specific select passages from the Bible, missing the required filter of interpretation through the teachings of Jesus Christ, that forms the foundation of the highly politicized version of Evangelical Fundamentalism that is the real heresy. In his parable of the Good Samaritan, in which Jesus defined the term "neighbor" for the lawyer who asked the question, he deliberately chooses a man whose ethnicity was despised and hated by those to whom he was speaking, to exemplify the characteristics he was defining. What that means is that "neighbor" is anyone with whom we come in contact. It is all of humanity, without qualification.
So how does this parable apply today? Would the Levite and the Priest represent the conservative Evangelical, who wouldn't help the person wounded from being robbed if they were gay or atheist, or Muslim? Or black, or a woman? Or would the wounded man represent the conservative Evangelical, and the Samaritan be of some social group or ethnicity he despised, such as someone who was gay or lesbian, or a Muslim, or a black man? The analogy here would work in any of those cases.
Let's Put This in a Clear Perspective
If right wing extremists want to make James Talarico's faith, and the church where he worships, a political issue, then so be it. Look who he's running against. His opponent fits the defintion of "an ungodly person who perverts the grace of our God into a license for immorality" as the Apostle Jude defines in his epistle, verse 4. If that is the issue that is being pushed, and those are the standards that are being used, then no sincere, faithful Christian can cast a vote for Ken Paxton without completely violating the core principles of Christianity.
And I think that's as clear as it gets.
No comments:
Post a Comment