Calling out ‘American Evangelicalism’

[Crabtownboy]

From: https://baptiststoday.org/calling-out-american-evangelicalism/


It is time, way past time, to call out “American Evangelicalism” for what it is: a political movement that simply baptizes hard-right, secular political ideology in some religious varnish.

Hence, my intentional identification of this movement sans the words “Christian” or “Christianity” since it has nothing to do with the life and teachings of Jesus.

It is a fear-based, fear-driven, fear-inducing movement that attempts to claim the endorsement of One who consistently called his followers to “Fear not!”

It is a political movement that sees grace and mercy as weaknesses. And raw power is revered over the Fruits of the Spirit.

It is perfectly fine in this Land of the Free to hold these political positions and to support the candidates of one’s own choosing. Just know that many of us have a lot more sense than to fall for the notion that this movement somehow — or anyhow — represents Christianity.

The movement lacks a basic biblical perspective on truth and love, essential to the Christian faith. Just read One Corinthians 13 and other holy texts including the Gospels. It’s all there.

Vote for the person you wish; make your case for how your candidate is best to lead our nation, your state or local government. But cut out the nonsense that God exclusively shares your endorsement and that your political preferences somehow represent the Christian faith.
.

 

[Salty]

Well, when some of the issues are abortion, homosexual marriage, ect......

 

[Zaac]

From: https://baptiststoday.org/calling-out-american-evangelicalism/


It is time, way past time, to call out “American Evangelicalism” for what it is: a political movement that simply baptizes hard-right, secular political ideology in some religious varnish.

Hence, my intentional identification of this movement sans the words “Christian” or “Christianity” since it has nothing to do with the life and teachings of Jesus.

It is a fear-based, fear-driven, fear-inducing movement that attempts to claim the endorsement of One who consistently called his followers to “Fear not!”

It is a political movement that sees grace and mercy as weaknesses. And raw power is revered over the Fruits of the Spirit.

It is perfectly fine in this Land of the Free to hold these political positions and to support the candidates of one’s own choosing. Just know that many of us have a lot more sense than to fall for the notion that this movement somehow — or anyhow — represents Christianity.

The movement lacks a basic biblical perspective on truth and love, essential to the Christian faith. Just read One Corinthians 13 and other holy texts including the Gospels. It’s all there.

Vote for the person you wish; make your case for how your candidate is best to lead our nation, your state or local government. But cut out the nonsense that God exclusively shares your endorsement and that your political preferences somehow represent the Christian faith.
.

BRAVO!!! On point and excellently written.

 

[Zaac]

Well, when some of the issues are abortion, homosexual marriage, ect......

Nothing but a bunch of excuses that a lot of the same bunch proves DAILY they don't really care about. Those are just used as political tools now.

 

[Aaron]

If I'm right, then my choices are true and eminently Christian.

Here's a statement: The fence is not red, it's blue. If the statement is true, then regardless of whether the statement has anything to do with the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, it would definitely be incongruent with such life and teaching to assert the opposite, which means, that if I am a Christian, and I must make a statement about the color of the fence, I cannot assert that the fence is red. My Christian faith compels me to say that the fence is not red, though Christ said nothing of the color of fences.

But don't be deceived by duplicity of the OP's quoted author. His point is that he gets to claim the mantel of Christianity for his Socialism and Hedonism, and the opposing politics do not.

The welfare state, no doubt sold to its unsuspecting and undiscerning adherents as loving, merciful, and Christian, denies Christ's very evaluation of the human heart and condition, and will fail, and always has at the cost of lives. And in the grand example of the East, it cost millions of lives.

 

[Crabtownboy]

Well, when some of the issues are abortion, homosexual marriage, ect......

Salty, those are not the issues in this thread. They are good ones to debate in another thread.

To me, here is the crux of the OP:

It is a political movement that sees grace and mercy as weaknesses. And raw power is revered over the Fruits of the Spirit.

It is perfectly fine in this Land of the Free to hold these political positions and to support the candidates of one’s own choosing. Just know that many of us have a lot more sense than to fall for the notion that this movement somehow — or anyhow — represents Christianity.

The movement lacks a basic biblical perspective on truth and love, essential to the Christian faith. Just read One Corinthians 13 and other holy texts including the Gospels. It’s all there.

Vote for the person you wish; make your case for how your candidate is best to lead our nation, your state or local government. But cut out the nonsense that God exclusively shares your endorsement and that your political preferences somehow represent the Christian faith.

 

[Rob_BW]

I'm waiting for a repeat of this at the next convention. Except I don't expect them to blatantly ignore the votes of the delegates.

 

[Zaac]

Salty, those are not the issues in this thread. They are good ones to debate in another thread.

To me, here is the crux of the OP:

It is a political movement that sees grace and mercy as weaknesses. And raw power is revered over the Fruits of the Spirit.

It is perfectly fine in this Land of the Free to hold these political positions and to support the candidates of one’s own choosing. Just know that many of us have a lot more sense than to fall for the notion that this movement somehow — or anyhow — represents Christianity.

The movement lacks a basic biblical perspective on truth and love, essential to the Christian faith. Just read One Corinthians 13 and other holy texts including the Gospels. It’s all there.

Vote for the person you wish; make your case for how your candidate is best to lead our nation, your state or local government. But cut out the nonsense that God exclusively shares your endorsement and that your political preferences somehow represent the Christian faith.

That's it . And as much as some adherents of all things GOP want to think so, the GOP stance isn't the equivalent of the Biblical stance.

We've got to keep Christ first. We need to bend our politics to Christ, not Christ bending to our politics.

 

[J.D.]

I consider myself an American and an Evangelical. I didn't realize that I was such a nasty person. Maybe it depends on how the terms are defined.

 

[Zaac]

I'm waiting for a repeat of this at the next convention. Except I don't expect them to blatantly ignore the votes of the delegates.

I'm waiting for Trump to get the GOP nomination and the RNC tweets again that racism is dead.

 

[Zaac]

I consider myself an American and an Evangelical. I didn't realize that I was such a nasty person. Maybe it depends on how the terms are defined.

JD, while the comments certainly don't apply to all evangelicals, I believe quite a few, possibly a majority, do tend to act the way the article states when it comes to politics.

Politics has become an idol in a lot of evangelical circles and has seemingly superseded Christ as the answer to a lot of those same evangelicals.

 

[J.D.]

JD, while the comments certainly don't apply to all evangelicals, I believe quite a few, possibly a majority, do tend to act the way the article states when it comes to politics.

Politics has become an idol in a lot of evangelical circles and has seemingly superseded Christ as the answer to a lot of those same evangelicals.

Don't you say that because your own political persuasions represent a minority position among Evangelicals?

 

[Zaac]

Don't you say that because your own political persuasions represent a minority position among Evangelicals?

I say what I say because it's what I see. This board is just one example of what a lot of evangelicals have morphed into.

There's a selfish, mean, nastiness that has infected evangelicals and it seems to center around adherence to the GOP and Fox News. The infection grew like a cancer right about the time Fox News and conservative talk radio started picking up steam twenty or so years ago.

All one has to do is look at the last 8 year history on this board from folks who say they are evangelicals to see testimony of what the article says.

 

[Rolfe]

Well, when some of the issues are abortion, homosexual marriage, ect......

Yep.

From the OP: "The movement lacks a basic biblical perspective on truth and love, essential to the Christian faith." I contend that it is not the Evangelicals that lack the proper perspective, but as applied to Abortion and homosexual marriage, the Left.

 

[Zaac]

Yep.

From the OP: "The movement lacks a basic biblical perspective on truth and love, essential to the Christian faith." I contend that it is not the Evangelicals that lack the proper perspective, but the Left.

I contend that it's both. The Left doesn't pretend to have a Biblical perspective on truth or love. The Right, however, seems to believe that the Biblical perspective on truth and love is it's foundation. Only problem is that a lot of the Right in many regards IS ABSENT the truth and love of Christ and certainly does not demonstrate it.

When it gets to the point where the majority of your words are geared towards enhancing your own life and allowing you to keep more stuff for yourself and your kids and grandkids with not much regard for those outside your social class, then there's not much room for the truth and love of Christ because it's all about what the Right wants and how politics will help them to get or keep it.

 

[Crabtownboy]

Yep.

From the OP: "The movement lacks a basic biblical perspective on truth and love, essential to the Christian faith." I contend that it is not the Evangelicals that lack the proper perspective, but as applied to Abortion and homosexual marriage, the Left.

Rolf, the Left does not claim that voting for their candidates is the litmus test of a person being Christian. The Evangelical Right has done this for years. Remember how they brought up "Family Values" in 1996 and how that helped them win both House and Senate seats. However, following the lives of those politicians it became obvious they did not live what they preached.

The problem is many evangelicists claim a vote against the GOP disqualified a person as being a Christian. This simply is not true. There are positions held by both the Left and the Right that simply do not stand up as Christian when we look at what Jesus taught and how he lived his life.


Blessings.

 

[Rolfe]

Rolf, the Left does not claim that voting for their candidates is the litmus test of a person being Christian. The Evangelical Right has done this for years. Remember how they brought up "Family Values" in 1996 and how that helped them win both House and Senate seats. However, following the lives of those politicians it became obvious they did not live what they preached.

The problem is many evangelicists claim a vote against the GOP disqualified a person as being a Christian. This simply is not true. There are positions held by both the Left and the Right that simply do not stand up as Christian when we look at what Jesus taught and how he lived his life.


Blessings.

Re abortion and homosexual marriage, which I mentioned specifically as a response to Salty's post, I think that the Right is closer than the Left to Scriptural morality.

At this point, given the Democratic Party's stance on these two issues, I cannot reconcile casting a vote for their candidates with my Christianity. I think that it is a matter of morality.

Cheers.

 

[Zaac]

Re abortion and homosexual marriage, which I mentioned specifically as a response to Salty's post, I think that the Right is closer than the Left to Scriptural morality.

The Right is closer to being Pharisitical than the left. Abortion and homosexual marriage are just political tools used by the Right and a quasi-Pharisitical way to say we adhere to the Law, but they don't. But the Right consistently show that they lack the empathy and love that should accompany any follower of Christ who is truly concerned about Scriptural morality.

At this point, given the Democratic Party's stance on these two issues, I cannot reconcile casting a vote for their candidates with my Christianity. I think that it is a matter of morality.

Yet in 2012, the Right supported a candidate who summarily rejects Jesus Christ and somehow convinced themselves that unlike the Left's candidates supporting abortion and homosexual marriage, rejecting Jesus wasn't an issue of morality.

They were, after all, attempting to "elect a politician, not a pastor".

 

[Crabtownboy]

Re abortion and homosexual marriage, which I mentioned specifically as a response to Salty's post, I think that the Right is closer than the Left to Scriptural morality.

At this point, given the Democratic Party's stance on these two issues, I cannot reconcile casting a vote for their candidates with my Christianity. I think that it is a matter of morality.

Cheers.

I can understand your stance. However, the opposition of the GOP in caring for children after they are born, the opposition to helping poor and needy mother's, the opposition to raising the minimum wage and opposition to poor folk making a living wage, their refusal to support education expenses,their opposition to disaster relief funds to help people, their stance of wanting to do away with Obamacare and never proposing an alternative health care that includes poor, uninsured people -- all this and more do not make the GOP an attractive alternative.

If they were as strong in supporting programs to help living people as much as they are opposed the two issues mentioned I would find them a much more attractive party. I sincerely believe many people vote GOP as those stances cost them nothing, but oppose helping the living as it might cost them a few tax dollars.

Also the evangelical willingness to support a person who denies Christ and yet claims to be a Christian and their willingness to support Trump who is anything but moral is just mind boggling.

Both parties have huge warts. Neither can be said to be Christian. No voter should say if you do not support my positions you are not Christian. That is what their thread is about. That is what the evangelical right wing has said for years. The left, to my knowledge, has never made such a claim.

Blessings.

 

[JamesL]

I quit politics a number of years ago because it all flies in the face of biblical Christianity.

First, I couldn't give a rip about social classes. Discontented complainers & lazy bottom feeders with a Robin Hood approach to life.

Second, I couldn't give a rip about the excesses of a materialistic, self serving Capitalist society.

Third, and most importantly, is that every political system is shelling out a mentality that if everyone would just get on board with this political system we would have a perfect society.

Hogwash. Scripture says the world is going to hell in a handbasket. And the only remedy is for Christ Himself to appear.