Conservative... Evangelical... Christian?

There once were Christians.  Then, skip forward a few hundred years... there were Evangelical Christians.

The noun was Christian, the adjective was Evangelical.

Then the adjective slowly became the noun, as we spoke of Evangelicals.

And now there are Conservative Evangelicals, where the adjective is Conservative and the noun is Evangelical.

I wonder what the next stage in the Evolution of our constant attempt to redefine ourselves (usually by comparison to another "outgroup") will be?

And what about the other end of the spectrum?  We had Liberal Christians, who are now just Liberals.  Are there different types of Liberals in the same way there are different types of Evangelicals?

But most intriguingly, it's no longer suitable to say "I'm a Christian".  We now seem to need to ask "what kind of Christian are you?".  And that, is sad.  You see, we're dropping the word Christian ever so slowly.

Are we pushed into counter-extremism?

Over the years, I've noted that when a group of people start to become extreme in their views, they begin to alienate more and more people, but not only this, they seem to provoke stronger than normal reactions in the other extreme.

Perhaps it's to do with the old theory that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction?

The first time I appreciated this in a religious context was when sitting in a car with a minister who started talking about Literalists.  It took me a while to work out what she was meaning.  As an evangelical Christian, I was puzzled, until I realised she was referring to a group I'd call Conservative Evangelical (further along the spectrum than where I sit).  And it's true, when you listen to some conservative views, they do seem to take the Bible incredibly literally.  By this I mean they take some words off the page, ignore any context whatsoever and say "see, it says it in the Bible".

You'll read on another post that I think if you take the Genesis template of one man and one woman being the only acceptable template for relationships, because it's written there, then you have some challenges ahead.  The first challenge comes only 1 verse later.  In Genesis 2:24 it says that a man leaves his father and mother and is united with his wife and they become one flesh.  So a literal application of this is that we must all practice heterosexual monogamy.  Speaking as a monogamous heterosexual male, that suits me fine.

But what's this? The next verse says "Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.". Uh oh.  Now I know that my agnostic naturist friend might have a stronger Biblical case than me on this one.  Let's just gloss over that one shall we?

And while we're glossing over things, I'd also like to gloss over 2 Samuel 12:8 where God speaks to David through the prophet Nathan and says "I gave your master's house to you, and your master's wives... [cut] . And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more'"

Now hold on a second.  Did God just tell David he would have given David more wives if he'd wanted?  And let's fast forward to the teachings of celibacy of Paul.  He says it's better to be single.  Oh if only Paul knew his scriptures eh?  (In case you didn't know, Paul knew his scriptures better than most!)

But what's the point I'm making?  As an evangelical Christian who takes his Bible seriously and turns to that sacred book in all my devotional times and for support in difficult days to hear God speak to me through the Holy Spirit, it pains me to see people being pushed away from the Bible because of extremist views on it.

When someone you don't agree with stands up and waves a Bible around to justify horrendous hatred, or waves placards at FUNERALS of all places quoting scripture instead of mourning with those who mourn (another scripture), then it makes you ashamed.  When people who don't know the difference start to think "that book must be awful if it inspires that kind of behaviour" then it drives loving Christians away from the Bible as they don't want anything to do with extremism and what it represents.

That is why I think as Christians we need to stand up strongly and say how much we LOVE the Bible, but also acknowledge how much we have to wrestle with it, pray through it, discuss and debate in loving ways not only what it says, but what God might be saying to us through it and how we apply it in our world and lives today.

Here endeth this morning's rant!  Thank you for listening :-) 

The power of an analogy

The debate that is raging at the moment about gay marriage across the world has thrown up an interesting issue.  In our attempt to understand complex issues, we often draw on analogies to help us get our heads round things.  Jesus himself often used parables.

In this debate, I have heard two different analogies, which lead to powerfully different outcomes.

The first, used by many conservative evangelicals and traditionalists, is that homosexuality is a departure from the "norm" in the same way that something like alcoholism is.  The argument follows that a loving approach to an alcoholic is to "love the sinner, hate the sin."  Ignoring for a moment the vocal minority of placard waving haters (you know the type... God hates faggots types, that have no knowledge of the message of Christ), we have many who would try sincerely to welcome and show love to a homosexual, while imploring them to turn away from a homosexual lifestyle in the same way we try to help an alcoholic find freedom from addiction.

Another analogy that is used by more progressive types (in the theological sense) is that sexuality is like handedness.  The majority of us are right handed.  A minority is left handed, a few are ambidextrous.

Go back in history and you will see that being left handed was sometimes a curse.  Teachers would strike a child using the wrong hand.  Even the Latin word shares the root of the word sinister.  There was something unnatural and wrong about left handed people, who were clearly not following the template of normality.

And here's where it becomes interesting.  When a sincerely loving alcoholic-analogy Christian meets a like minded handedness Christian, it's as if they are on different planets.

One hears the other saying "I don't care about alcohol abuse.  It's a live and let live society.  What harm is it really doing?  Aren't there more important things to worry about than if someone is drunk and addicted to a drunken lifestyle?"

The other hears a different message.  "I love you, but to belong to our family and have an active role in it, you have to renounce your left-handedness.  If you can't use your right hand (you know, the proper one that we're designed to use), then don't use any hand at all... That's a perfectly acceptable alternative.  We'll stand alongside you in your struggle."

Interestingly, these two Christians might stand shoulder to shoulder on so many debates and issues, yet the power of this one issue is so divisive as to make them feel poles apart.  One hears total disregard for sin and holiness, the other hears a complete lack of compassion and love.

Any read of previous posts will lead you to not be surprised to hear I prefer the handedness analogy.  No doubt if you prefer the alcohol analogy you will want to scream "but the plain reading of scripture says it's a sin!"  I understand and respect your view but on other posts we address the issue of what the Bible says, appears to say and how there are different interpretations that mean we need to take great care before condemning left handed people who use their preferred hand because they were born that way...

An Open Letter of Apology

To my dear brothers and sisters, who are conservative evangelical in faith, 

I am sorry for the pain you are going through when you see so-called liberal Christians appear to abandon the teachings of the scriptures you hold to so dearly.  I understand the sense of anguish as people turn their back on the Word you love so dearly.  I am sorry that I have not stood up and publicly affirmed my commitment to the teachings of God’s Holy Word and I can see the hurt you feel as you watch the world around turn its back on the life-giving streams of God’s holiness and love.

To my dear brothers and sisters, who call themselves progressive in faith,

I am sorry for the pain you are going through as you find your views shunned and treated with contempt by other Christians, who sometimes go as far as to describe you as heretics or of another religion.  I understand the sense of anguish as you see the debate and arguments take the place of love and social justice.  I am sorry that I have not stood up and publicly affirmed my commitment to showing God’s love and compassion to the poor, abused and marginalised of this world, and I can see the hurt you feel as you watch the world around you judge your faith by the words of others you disagree with.

To my dear friends of this world, who look on at our Church,

I am sorry for the hypocrisy you see and the love that is preached, but rarely shown.  I understand how you wonder why we would want you to come and worship a God that seems full of judgement and rules.  I am sorry that you feel at times ignored as we busy ourselves with our cliques, and at other times bashed by our Bibles or better-than-thou attitudes.  I am ashamed that you see how we judge you for having less compassion, less love, less integrity and less honour than the so called Holy few.

To my best friend in the world,

I can barely look you in the eye when I think of the apologies I must give.  You walked this earth 2000 years ago and showed us a better way to live.  So we tried to stone you.  You sat among us and shared food with us, and we tried to trap you with words.  You healed us and loved us and provided for our needs… so we crucified you.  You gave us new life and called us to follow you and share this love with others.  You give your Spirit to live in us as counsellor and guide.  And still we fight.

I am sorry.

show me another way

The problem with extremists is that they frequently get a sense of identity from comparison with others, usually the opposite extreme. They continue to exist and thrive, usually as a result of some kind of invisible war with others.

Here's a couple of silly examples to help explain what I mean. If a group decided to set themselves up as "tall-ites" then they would get a sense of identity from not being small. The in-group is tall people, the out-group is small people.

If introverts decided to form a club (ha! we know they wouldn't!) then they would have a sense of identity by comparing themselves to extraverts. We're not like these brash, in your face, talk-lots-listen-little folk.

But here's my problem. I am an inch and a half smaller than the average height. Does this make me a "small-ite"? I like people, but have a slight leaning towards introversion. Does this mean I belong to the introvert group?

And now here's my real issue. Some people in the church call themselves liberal, and they will talk a lot about how they disagree with fundamentalists (or literalists or conservative evangelicals or whatever). Others call themselves conservative evangelicals and will talk about how they are standing up against liberals.

But what of those of us who are neither far left nor far right? Do we have to take sides? The extremists would say yes. Which is why we must put a case forward for a third way. Perhaps it doesn't need a name, or perhaps we call it moderates or something similar.

I want to belong to a group of people that allow diversity, encourage discussion and debate, but never at the expense of love. I might have a different view from you, but that doesn't mean we have to have opposing positions. We can share a middle ground position, even if we have very different views.

As the Apostle Paul teaches us in Romans 14:

"So why do you condemn another believer? Why do you look down on another believer? Remember, we will all stand before the judgement seat of God. For the Scriptures say,

“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,
‘every knee will bend to me,
and every tongue will confess and give praise to God.’”

Yes, each of us will give a personal account to God. So let’s stop condemning each other. Decide instead to live in such a way that you will not cause another believer to stumble and fall."

Only then will those outside the church look in and see a love that conquers all and begin to be attracted to that community and the message it has to share.

God bless you