The Homosexual War against Christianity
Chapter 4
The De-Christianization of America
There is good news out of all this mess: Christianity still has a pulse.
However, before we break out the bottles of grape juice it might serve
a good purpose to reflect on how Christians found themselves in
that mess. The story isn't pretty.
There is no kind way to say this. And it is said with the deepest regret.
In my lifetime I have known a number of remarkable people who profess
faith in Christ. Generally speaking it is hard to find people who are
more well-meaning than Christian believers. They have their share
of backsliders, hypocrites, and unsavory types, but the rule is far
different. This is to discuss good and decent men and women,
caring parents, responsible members of their community.
It is difficult not to like Christian believers.
However, in the course of attending five churches in the past
twenty years, including two Lutheran churches, the feeling was
inescapable that almost everyone in each congregation was in
full retreat from the issues of the world -except abortion.
As someone who has a scholar's interest in religion I have also
watched considerable Christian television. What you see on TV is not
a good guide to the life of faith as experienced in most churches but
nonetheless the same feeling materialize.
The general goodness of Christian believers isn't the issue, however.
The issue is their unwillingness to engage the world. They simply won't do
it.
There is no issue that is too important to run away from.
Everything else is their priority.
And how talented they can be at evasions. No issue they run away from
is too unimportant to have off-the-shelf clever things to say about why
they are doing nothing, or maybe more accurately, almost nothing.
That is to note the naivete, ignorance, ineffectiveness, etc. of all too
many
Evangelicals and their all-out retreat from any kind of moral witness
in the world. There are exceptions, there always are exceptions,
but this is to speak about what has become "normal"
among Christians.
Maybe call it "Joel Osteen's disease," to refer to his feel-good version
of Christianity that ignores any kind of Biblical imperative to be
informed,
to use one's critical thinking skills, and to take genuine -heartfelt-
moral stands.
About all that one gets from many Christians is something like:
"Well, I have prayed about the unborn, my responsibility has been
fulfilled."
But the Apostle Paul attacked homosexuals uncompromisingly?
Of course he did. He wasn't the least reticent about it. As far as
the Apostle was concerned such specimens deserve nothing so much
as our utter contempt. Romans 1 is very clear about this, as are other
comments of his in different epistles. But we all know that Evangelicals
habitually ignore nearly everything Paul said about sodomy and change
the subject as soon as it comes up, or use evasions so that his truths
can safely be ignored.
About which I am hardly alone in expressing deep dismay. The Christian
press has published articles and essays on the subject on a regular basis,
during the past decade in particular. Certainly moreso than was true
in the first decade of our century, and more than during the 1990s.
Yet, it seems safe to say, there has been no new spirit on this issue
at the level of attitudes of most congregations. The retreat from
the battle field continues. It sometimes looks like a complete rout.
Basically I am really fed up with such ineptitude in the name of Jesus.
Yes, by some standards I'm not much of a Christian because I am
over-the-line unorthodox, and over-the-line as an artist, but it seemed
necessary to express sincere revulsion at "feel good Christianity." It is
lukewarm Christianity, it is run-away-from-the-world Christianity,
guaranteed to bring failure to Christian faith.
Instead of fighting evil the subject doesn't even come up. Or, at most,
there are lame excuses. You know what this is all about:
* In ten years I'll be ready to take my stand for the good. I have
a long range plan and what is the rush, anyway?
* The victory of evil in the world is good for Christian faith, it will
separate
the wheat from the chaff. It will purge the Church of insincere believers
and set the stage for a new dawn in the future.
* Abortion has not yet been totally defeated; nothing is more important
and
we should not be distracted by secondary quarrels about homosexuality.
* What is crucial is individual salvation in Christ. We can prevail only
if we win people over, one soul at a time.
* We should lead by example not by getting involved is social activism.
When others see that our lives are examples of Christ's spirit in us
they will come around voluntarily.
All of this is pathetic. Yes, prayer has value. Yes, it is important to
witness to others and do so on a personal level. Yes, we should plan
for the future. These are anything but forms of evil. But in terms
of what is actually happening in society all of these approaches
are woefully ineffective.
The core problem is the rise of pietism in Evangelical churches, the belief
that prayer and devotion to God should be the be-all and end-all of faith,
that charity and social outreach is all that is necessary to address the
crisis now destroying our society -and Western civilization.
That outlook is hopelessly naive.
I remember vividly attending a screening of the 1953 film, Martin Luther.
North Shore Baptist Church in Chicago promoted the movie to its
members because of its basic historical accuracy and, through the medium
of cinema, portrayed something vital about Christian faith. As a teen the
film made an indelible impression on me.
It helped, of course, that the leading actor, Niall MacGinnis as Luther,
was as good in the role as he was. The film took you inside the life
of the great reformer and inside his mind. It make you think.
Indeed, shortly after seeing the movie I went out and bought a copy of
Roland Bainton's 1950 book, Here I Stand, a life of Martin Luther.
In due course I became a sort of "secret Lutheran" while belonging
to a Baptist church. Luther's story became etched in my mind
from then on. Whatever else I might become, I would always
want to -somehow- follow in Luther's footsteps.
Earthy Christianity. Honest faith and honesty about faith. Openness
to new ideas. Dedication to the good while acknowledging that
we all are sinners who, in the course of things, inevitably sin.
No point in being morbid about it. Luther's motto about such
matters was something along the lines of: "Sin with gusto,
but love Christ so much that you never become captive to it
and always return to a life of faith."
Luther was the original firebrand, all his sermons were incendiary.
Bravo. He was bold, forceful, filled with spirit, ready to take on
any challenge. He always spoke his mind and he always was
well informed -including being well informed about other religions.
It is certainly possible to disagree with Luther but this is to speak
of Luther's spirit more than anything else.
In some critical ways Luther was the opposite of Evangelicals.
He outgrew his youthful pietism; Evangelicals thrive on pietism
and cannot conceive of religious faith in any other terms.
However, there are other forms of faith, including the various
forms that faith took in the life of Jesus -not only as the moral
paragon of the Sermon on the Mount but as someone who
socialized with loose women and other sinners, who took part
in wedding festivities, who became outraged at the money-changers
in the temple, who sometimes spoke in mysteries.....
Faith, for Jesus, was far more than constant prayer and compassion
for others, as important as contemplation and compassion may be.
Faith means finding meaning is all that life has to offer, including
the life of the mind. And including conflict. After all, you can almost
define Jesus in terms of who he opposed and how he opposed them.
What too many Evangelicals teach is what can never be:
Conflict-less Christian faith
Christianity without controversy
Jesus without anger, without fighting spirit
Christian faith without fighting for what is right
A one-dimensional Jesus, a Jesus with no complexity, expressing
nothing but piety, simply is not true to the Gospels. This is basic
Christian orthodoxy that dates to the earliest Church.
Passive Christianity is not Christianity as Jesus understood it.
Quietism is not Christianity, either. Why isn't this transparently obvious?
An Evangelical who does "get it," certainly moreso than not,
is Michael Brown. His views are discussed in an article by
Lillian Kwon in the October 19, 2016 issue of the Christian Post
under the title, "Christians urged to wake up to reality of
GLBT agenda. there are some problems with brown's
outlook, there are weaknesses in his approach, but
for the most part he hits the target dead center.
What has happened already, says Brown, is that Christians have
"lost the battle when it comes to public opinion on homosexuality
and gender identity." To change this unpalatable fact serious changes
are necessary in how believers think, in their priorities, and in
what they do. Christians need to educate themselves
in new ways to today's new realities.
As the article put it:
Books advocating homosexuality are being used in classrooms in grade
school.
Public school teachers are told to use "gender neutral language."
Homosexual
activists are welcomed in the White House. And many "young Evangelicals
"see no problem with same-sex marriage." This only begins the story.
"Yet the prevailing thought in churches is that "this stuff is happening
elsewhere"
or that Jesus is coming back soon and "we're out of here any minute,"
said Brown in dismay. A nationwide transformation is taking place
that is destroying America and yet the Evangelical response has been
one of psychological denial, viz., "this can't be happening, if it is,
it is all for the sake of a divine plan, it will all work out
in the long run."
Guess what? It won't, unless Christians decide to rethink exactly
what it is that they are and are not doing that allows this to happen.
At the present time school districts like that of Los Angeles are promoting
the sick idea that "transgender and gender nonconforming students."
are just as good as everyone else and should never be criticized
and, God forbid, psychological therapies developed to help
such unfortunate young people overcome their horribly
damaging personality disorders.
Then there are all those books that are now in use in many
school districts with titles like:
Heather Has Two Mommies
Two Daddies and Me
One Dad, Two Dads
Oh The Things Mommies Do
and
Girls Will Be Boys Will Be Girls (a coloring book).
Private Christian schools are a help for religious parents but this begs
the question about what is happening in American culture at large
as products of psychologically dubious education become grown ups
and normative in society. Home schooling can also be a help but it, too,
offers no answers to the question about what is happening to
society at large.
Meanwhile a so-called anti-bias test , the Riddle Homophobia Scale,
is widely used in American education which, in so many words,
valorizes evil as good and good as evil, which attacks Christian faith
relentlessly day in and day out -in the public schools. This is the test
that tells young people to show "support, admiration, appreciation,
and nurturance toward queers, perverts, degenerates, the sexually warped,
and other nut jobs as if such sick specimens are normal and nothing
is wrong with them.
As the article continued, all this is happening while "Christians have
not concerned themselves with the issue and pastors are afraid to speak
out
for fear of being perceived as homophobic."
.
"The fact is, when our answer is 'let's retreat more quickly,'
we're already defeated," said Brown.
"When our main concern is 'I don't want to be perceived as bigoted,
intolerant and hateful, therefore I'll say nothing instead of speaking
truth
in love,' we're already defeated."
Brown also said that there is an abysmal lack of teaching and preaching
on the issue." There is almost none, as a matter of fact.
Christians have "been silent because this is unpopular, because people
will be offended, because 'one of my biggest givers in the church
has a daughter who's gay.'"
This is much needed medicine. Unfortunately, Brown concluded his essay
with the usual Evangelical pabulum, viz., we should put compassion first
and not be judgmental about homosexuals, we should repent of sins
against homosexuals, we should be as much concerned about such
matters as high divorce rates. We should apologize to homosexuals
for our maltreatment of them.
This is all horse poop.
We should be as judgmental as Paul was, and as Christ was. But how would
you know that Paul was judgmental if you never read the Epistles, how would
you know what Jesus said if you never read Matthew or Luke?
As for repenting of sins against the sexually perverse, the primary need
is for homosexuals to repent of their morally repugnant mentality and
behavior.
Certainly there needs to be concern about divorce rates among
heterosexuals,
this is not trivial. But it serves no useful purpose to couple this kind of
problem
which, as bad as it may be, has no relationship to homosexuality. Doing so
simply muddies the waters.
Brown seems to be one more Evangelical who, for all practical purposes,
seems to think that the Sermon on the Mount is all you need to know
and, knowing it, everything else takes care of itself. But any such view
is an indefensible heresy. We have the rest of the Gospels and the rest
of the New Testament because these texts are crucial to Christian faith.
Do most Christians even know what the Bible says about homosexuality?
No, they do not, or more accurately, the most they know is precious little.
But how many pastors know that 30 verses in the Bible, exactly 15 in each
Testament, condemn sodomy and in each case consign sodomites to
eternal punishment in Hell? It would help, at least, if they know that
Jesus condemned sodomites to Hell, as he does in Matthew 11: 20-24,
but some people simply cannot make the connection. The condemnation
is spelled out but it isn't seen for what it is because, in many cases,
someone's personal philosophy has it that Jesus never discussed
sodomy, that he was all-forgiving in all cases, and in any event
we are supposed to love everyone. And who needs repentance anyway?
Homosexuals don't need to repent of anything, they are blameless
for being different.
If you sincerely believe is such views then no matter what you read
you cannot possibly understand what the Bible actually says,
you will impose meaning on the text that isn't there. What is there
gets misconstrued in the process.
Such views are not Biblical at all. They are not Christian. They are false.
And your understanding of Christian faith, if this is what you believe,
would be a travesty.
The Christian position, any form of Christian faith that is "orthodox," is:
There is no hope whatsoever for homosexuals unless they completely repent
of their sodomy and cease, forever, any and all homosexual actions and
purge themselves of homosexual thoughts, desires, and values. There must be
a clean and total break. This is not negotiable.
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