I Write What I Write Because I am a Christian
I am very critical of much of what is known as "Evangelical Christianity". People should be excused for thinking I am an atheist or promoting atheism. However, I write because I am a Christian.
I grew up in an evangelical household. I was a full-fledged evangelical. As a consequence, I read the Bible compulsively growing up. My pastor recommended at least an hour of Bible and prayer combined in the morning. For a season, I did this. I don’t say this to brag. I say this to tell you what shaped my value system.
One of my favourites was Proverbs. I think it was because I perceived myself as rather foolish as a teen (what teens aren’t?). It is full of things like this:
Proverbs 14: 21
It is a sin to despise one’s neighbor,
but blessed is the one who is kind to the needy.
Proverbs 11: 21-24
One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.
Proverbs 11:1
One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.
Proverbs 11:4
Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.
This of course caused me some cognitive dissonance when compared to the general pro-wealth ethos of the Word of Faith crowd which was ascendant in my denomination at the time. It makes the Kenneth Copelands of the world look like they got everything backwards. It also encourages generosity and alleviation of poverty.
Then I got to Leviticus and found out early Israel, although it didn’t have a strong central government, had laws designed to *force* by Israelites to make provisions for the poor and immigrants. The writer of Leviticus didn’t leave it to wealthy Israelites’ personal discretion to be charitable for the poor. They *told* them exactly what to do. This flew in the face of the Libertarian values I had been taught, that the government should never compel charity.
Leviticus 23: 22
When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you. I am the Lord your God.’
Then I got to the Prophets. They are often just thought of as moral scolds, but much of their writings, especially my namesake, were about social injustice. The situation he describes seems so familiar to our current age, including leading churchmen.
Micah 7:1-3
What misery is mine! I am like one who gathers summer fruit at the gleaning of the vineyard; there is no cluster of grapes to eat, none of the early figs that I crave.
The godly have been swept from the land; not one upright man remains. All men lie in wait to shed blood; each hunts his brother with a net.
Both hands are skilled in doing evil; the ruler demands gifts, the judge accepts bribes, the powerful dictate what they desire-- they all conspire together.
And then there is Jesus. I was always afraid of the Gospels, because they were much more scary than the typical Romans Road method of salvation which I was taught was the way to be saved.
Matthew 25:40
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
Matthew 5:2-12
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Matthew 20:25-27
Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Jesus’s teachings and life in just one Gospel (there is much more) demolish the basis for the worship of hierarchy, corruption, warmongering, self-promotion, selfishness, and dominionism in the modern church.
It is hard to read these words as anything but a rebuke to the modern evangelical church, which was born of an agreement between a group of wealthy oil barons and Wall Street sharks and neo-confederate pastors. Something has to change if we can begin again to call evangelicism Christian.