Why the Christian Right Won’t Adopt
Me
- Like F.F. Bruce, I believe words like “plenary”
and
“inerrant” are unnecessary when speaking about the
truthfulness of Scripture.
- I don’t believe the Bible clearly addresses the
question
of the eternal destiny of those who have never
heard or understood
the gospel of Jesus Christ.
- I don’t believe Scripture answers every question
posed to
it. And there are many questions, including
theological ones, which
are shrouded in mystery.
- I believe that racism and sexism are serious
problems in the
USA and shouldn’t be viewed as “lesser” than
other moral evils.
- I believe that slander,
hatred, greed, and fits of rage are just as sinful
as fornication
and stealing (so did Paul – 1 Corinthians 6:10-11;
Galatians
5:19-21).
- I don’t know whether to whistle or wind my
watch, to
laugh or cry at The
American
Patriot’s Bible.
- I believe that God
loves
the poor and taking care of them should be
just as
high a priority as other social issues, if not
more.
- While I don’t believe the theory of evolution
with
respect to human origins is air-tight, many
genuine and devout
Christians (past and present) believe it to be
fact
(“theistic evolution”). And
because
Christ has received them, so do I.
- I believe a narrative
approach to the
Bible is a far superior way to understand
Scripture than a
systematical approach.
- While I disagree with him on many things, I find
some of what
Brian McLaren teaches to be valuable.
Why the Christian Left Won’t Adopt
Me
- I believe the Bible – all of it – is divinely
inspired, completely true, fully authoritative,
and wholly
reliable.
- I believe that when Jesus said He is the Way,
the Truth, and
the Life and no man comes to the Father but by
Him, He wasn’t
lying. Nor was He being narrow minded. (And I
believe Jesus of
Nazareth actually uttered those words.)
- Though I possess neither, I don’t believe it is
a sin to
own a Cadillac Escalade or a private jet.
- I believe that accusing people of racism and
sexism when they
aren’t racist or sexist is just as wrong as racism
and
sexism.
- I sometimes think that there is too much talk
about rights and
not enough talk about taking responsibility.
- I believe that Paul’s words in 2 Thessalonians
3:10-12
still hold true today.
- Postmodern deconstructionism, while helpful in
discounting
modernity (whose fundamental tenants challenge
Christianity), is
inadequate for bringing one to the Truth, who is
Christ.
- I believe there is a big difference between the
world system
and the ekklesia, and the former is God’s enemy (1
John
2:15-17).
- There are still many
first-rate
scholars who argue that there are sound
historical and scientific reasons for believing
that Adam was a
real, historical person. And it is wrong to
ridicule and scorn
them.
- While I disagree with him on many things, I find
some of what
John MacArthur teaches to be valuable.
The Family to Which I Belong
Note that I could easily lengthen the list and
expand each
point. But this is a blog post, not a book.
Of course, not everyone who aligns themselves with
the Christian
Right affirms each point I’ve listed above. Yet many
do. The
same is true for those who align themselves with the
Christian
Left. Yet many do.
And just for good measure, I don’t believe in
making a
fetish out of political or theological centrism.
That said, it’s okay if the Christian Left and the
Christian Right movements won’t adopt me. You see, I
belong
to the Family of God, which is made up of all who
have the
Lord’s life within them. And that includes my
sisters and
brothers in Christ who are on the left and the
right.
It may surprise some that I have close friends and
family
members who are on the far right on the political
and theological
spectrum, and they are intensely and passionately
involved in the
political process.
I also have close friends and family members who
are on the far
left on the political and theological spectrum, and
they are
intensely and passionately involved in the political
process.
I’m glad that they are following their vision,
conscience,
and passion as I believe all believers should.
Let me say two things parenthetically at this
point:
(1) It’s fascinating to me that people who are part
of the
Christian Left and the Christian Right routinely
accuse one another
of accommodating the culture and supporting Caesar
and Empire.
(2) As a generality, the Left believes in speaking
to
“power.” However, when it does, it’s usually in
the areas of contra racism, alleviating poverty,
protesting against
unjust war, etc. In general, the Right also believes
in speaking to
“power.” However, when it does, it’s usually in
the areas of the fight against abortion,
pornography, etc.
Very rarely do we see leaders or movements today in
the spirit
of Joseph Cardinal Bernardine who advocated “the
seamless
garment,” protesting against abortion as well
asthe causes which produce poverty and unjust
war. To
Bernardine, to fight against abortion, war, poverty,
and the death
penalty was to be consistently pro-life.
Let me add a postscript: Being a liberal Democrat
doesn’t
make one “cool” anymore than being a conservative
Republican makes one “moral.” So it seems to me
anyway.
End of parenthetical statement.
Again, I’ve always encouraged Christians to follow
their
vision, conscience, and passion regarding what they
believe
God’s will is for the world. And I applaud believers
who are
laboring in the trenches with respect to God’s
Kingdom work.
As I’ve written and spoken elsewhere,
such
work is important to me, and it’s something in which
I’m actively engaged myself.
For that reason, while I may disagree with my
friends and family
members on various theological, social, and
political points, we
love, respect, and support one another. Especially
in the work of
helping those who are needy and suffering, both on
the justice side
and on the mercy side.
And our differences have never affected our
relationship.
So even if the Right and Left movements won’t adopt
me, I
happily declare that I am kin to all genuine
followers of Jesus,
regardless of their political or theological bent.
And they will know we are Christians by our
love for one
another.
“They drew a circle that shut me out — a heretic,
rebel, a thing to flout. But love and I had the wit
to win. We drew
a circle that took them in” (Edwin Markham).
Rick Warren and N.T. Wright
In closing, I really appreciate what Rick Warren
said recently
in an interview with ABC News:
“The coarsening of our culture and the loss of
civility in
our civilization is one of the things that concerns
me most about
our nation. We don’t know how to disagree without
being
disagreeable. The fact is, you can — you can walk
hand-in-hand without seeing eye-to-eye. And what we
need in
our country is unity, not uniformity. There are
major differences,
politically, religiously, economically in our
nation. We have many
different streams in our nation … What is solvable
is how we
treat each other with our differences … In fact, the
Bible
tells me in I Peter, show respect to everyone, even
people I
totally disagree with. So I’m coming from that
viewpoint in
that we must return civility to our civilization in
order to get
on. But the reason I do that is because of the
deeper reason,
there’s a spiritual root to my reason for
civility.”
This post fits nicely with my Beyond
Evangelical (short for beyond evangelicalism)
series. So I’ll be making it one of the chapters in
the
upcoming book by the same name.
On a related note, not long after I wrote this post
(it’s
been in the queue for over a month), I learned that N.T.
Wright just wrote a piece that lists how
both the
“left
wing” and the “right wing” (his
words) misread the Bible. His approach is
“beyond
evangelical,” and it serves as a great companion
essay to
this post.
See also, Christianity
in
Crisis: A Response to Andrew
Sullivan’s Newsweek Article
Related:
Rethinking
Women
in Ministry
Exclusive
Interview
with N.T. Wright & Other Such Things
Franks
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