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A reminder...
Condescension, willful ignorance, racism, sexism, greed, vindictiveness, bullying, blustering, bragging, and the inability to see all others as your equal are all signs of weak character and emotional immaturity. Applauding and idolizing those who behave this way is anti-Christ. Those fruits have no place here--in this country, in our churches, and in our hearts.
Be strong and resist.
Get out of your comfortable, white evangelical bubble before it's too late. Get to know real people and be their friend, but not to proselytize--to actually seek to know another human being who is different from you and understand that their experiences are just as valid as yours. That's called empathy, though many of you now think it's a sin.
Strong and gentle can coexist, despite the black-and-white thinking that persists now. Look around for people in need and help them. Lift others up, don't push them down. Applaud the helpers.
Defend "the least of these." What you do to them, vote to be done to them, or allow to be done to them, you are doing to Jesus.
Stand up for what is right, even if it gets you ridiculed...or detained.
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WWJD?
Jesus would flip the same tables where many "Christians" have decided to pull up a chair.
The moneychangers are now in the temple. In fact, they're in leadership of the church and the country, and we are allowing them to write our narrative. I firmly believe Jesus would be equally angry and grieved, and he would be on a rampage.
You cannot be both a true Christ-follower and an American nationalist. You cannot be a Christ-follower and a racist or sexist--overt or covert. You cannot be a Christ-follower and applaud ICE arresting people who are not hardened criminals just because they're brown. You cannot be a Christ-follower and defend the strong as they bully and beat the weak (Russia and Ukraine, Israel and Gaza, etc.). You cannot be a Christ-follower and decide to look the other way and knowingly vote against healing the sick. You cannot be a Christ-follower and prioritize your dollars and what you think are your interests over the lives of other human beings. You cannot be a Christ-follower and deny the God-given rights of your fellow humans, just because you don't share their religious or political beliefs.
I need Christians, especially American evangelicals, to stop playing the victim. You are not being persecuted. Mild inconveniences are not persecution (ie. having to sometimes have church online during Covid). You have chosen to get behind King Saul, and you will see repercussions for it. Why do you think so many people have left the church and evangelicalism as a whole?
Hate to tell you, this is not "The Great Falling Away" because many of those who have left are the ones who are seeking the real Jesus, who cared for the poor and healed the sick, since they no longer find him in evangelical churches.
Maybe evangelicals are the ones who have really fallen away, and they are blind to it.
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As a person who now sees faith in the light of liberation theology, I have reached the point where I cannot be silent anymore. I have kept my opinions (mostly) to myself, but in the last year, I have attended protests. I have chosen not to let racist comments go unacknowledged. I have stood up and said something when I have seen scriptures being used to justify anti-Christian behavior and legislation. I have written letters to my representatives. I have made the choice that I will be okay with being detained at some point if it is in defense of another human's rights.
Every day, it's something else, and I am left constantly shaking my head at the people I used to believe wanted to be like Jesus. They are no different and no better than those they always condescendingly referred to as "the world," and that's why I left and will never go back. When you say you follow Jesus but willingly vote to choose gaining political power over saving the lives of real people that you claim Jesus loved and died for, you have lost your way.
I am a red letter Christian, not a red hat Christian.
I choose to follow the words of Jesus in the Bible, even though they're not verbatim.
I have started flipping tables. What will you do?
(Jesus wasn't a Christian, by the way. People made up the religion to spread his teachings of love and healing.)
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