Sometimes church and churchy people make me want to scream. I feel like an outsider among my own people. From being with a few individuals or crowds of thousands of evangelical Christians, I can feel that I’m simply the only one in the room that is hearing what’s just beneath the surface – cultural, religious, denominational, political undertones and sometimes even sexist, racist, and anti-poor undertones. At one such recent event, I heard a famous lady prophet rail against homosexuals and those who defend them all in the name of our God who so loved the world. She shouted that America should model our government after Israel. (Israel, by the way, in its current state is a secular state that has universal healthcare). Then, she railed against secularism and universal health care. She shouted how the church should be about love, then she announced raising up 500,000 intercessors to pray against our President so we can “take our country back.”
I wanted to absolutely scream. I wanted to yank the microphone out of her hands and. . . well, scratch that. Anyway, this lady, who loves and serves the same Jesus that I do, said such ludicrous things that I was embarrassed to be present. I was literally praying to God that my face not be caught on camera and later be shown on youtube being in this crowd listening to this shrieking woman. I was embarrassed and ashamed for myself, for her, and for the thousands of people in this church building applauding wildly as she spoke and “prophesied.” I realize that I’m in charge of my own thoughts and attitudes, but this woman made it difficult for me not to speak in tongues and I’m talking redneck tongues not the heavenly kind. Not only did I not agree with her, I thought she was horribly out of line on so many levels and I did NOT believe that she was getting her information from God, which would be the indication since she considers herself a prophet.
I actually had a few moments before I walked out in protest where I said to God in my mind, “I am so ready to be done with this whole movement, I am sick of these people.” Now, there’s no way I’ll ever be done with God. He’s my Rock. I could not live, would not want to live without Jesus, but once again the lyrics to the country songs, “Me and Jesus got our own thing going” and “I don’t believe that Heaven waits for only those who congregate” called to me in my desire to just do my own thing.
Then, God spoke. I was complaining and sharing my list of reasons for wanting to walk away from evangelicalism including the speaker who was violating my ears as well as a growing list of other offenders – Lou Engle for rallying support for an anti-gay bill in Uganda with the death penalty being one of the consequences for the “guilty”, for Pat Robertson saying that it’s okay to divorce a spouse with Alzheimers, for the pastor in Florida hosting a Koran burning, for that old preacher-man in California telling of how the Lord told him the world was going to end last year, for my Conservative friends who demonized Bill Clinton for his affairs now turning a blind eye towards Newt’s infidelities, for my Republican friends who criticize Obama’s version of Christianity if they recognize it all now defending Mitt Romney’s Mormonism, for the Texas televangelist referring to the Catholic Church as the Great Whore, for the same televangelists claiming that largely black New Orleans deserved Katrina going on to express sympathy for largely white Joplin during the tornadoes there, for preachers, pastors, and the media for making the word evangelical synonymous with Conservative politics.
I felt surely I had made a good case to God for why I no longer wanted to be an evangelical Christian. I believe in an Ever-Present, Living God, who yet speaks. I believe that I know my Father’s voice. There are many times when I feel like God lays something on my heart or that His Spirit impresses something on mine. Here’s what I heard:
I did not call you to be a Christian, I called you to follow Christ. I did not call you to be an evangelical, I called you to share the Good News. I did not call you to follow any Christian man or woman, but to love them whether you agree with them or not.
I felt the Spirit lovingly challenge me, How can you hate Lou Engle when he is my child, your brother? How can you criticize him for his involvement with something you see as hateful, then turn and hate him? Why spend time criticizing the man in Florida for burning a Koran when you haven’t handed someone a Bible in years? Pray for these men and for yourself. Why speculate on whether Pat Robertson is right or wrong when you have friends that need encouragement in their relationships and yours could use some work? Why choose to be identified with just evangelical Christians which is a manmade term, when I speak of one church and Kingdom? Why be exclusive when I am all-inclusive? Why allow the loud-mouths who get the microphone and media attention to run you away from the Kingdom? Why turn your attention towards them when you’re called to be seeking first the Kingdom of God?
I was momentarily humbled, but not finished, so I tried again. I was pitiful in my whining before the Lord, hinting that He should be merciful with me, that He should excuse me from being associated with certain Jesus followers who in my opinion are mean-spirited morons. God wouldn’t have it, not even after I stated my case so clearly. I cherry-picked evangelicals of note whom I deemed as racists. I hand-selected televangelists who I’ve decided are money hungry and greedy. I reminded God of the Moral Majority getting started because middle class black families were sending their children to private Christian Schools in the South and the U.S. Supreme Court said the schools had to allow this much to the chagrin of the “Christian” segregationists. God still wouldn’t budge.
I shared with God my version of Christianity and was even nice and patient enough to explain to Him how much superior my version was to that of many of my peers on opposite sides of the proverbial church aisle. They preach a health and wealth prosperity Gospel, while I count more verses calling us to love and serve the poor. They preach a traditional, conservative way of life, while I honor diversity. They preach good stewardship of finances, when I like the verse about the rich young ruler being told to go sell all that he has and follow Him (as long as I’m not the rich young ruler).
I went on and on about how all in the name of Christianity our country stole this land from the Native Americans, more or less killed them off, and then went on to enslave another race of people for generations and continue to benefit from their labor. All of this while many of the slave owners considered themselves devout Christians. I reminded God of how many of the descendants of these slave owners continue many of the same tactics all these years later. I even reminded God that the Southern Baptist Convention didn’t officially apologize for their role in slavery until 1995, and that they didn’t support the Civil Rights Movement in its day either.
I tried to get God to see that the liberals in the It Gets Better commercials/ads show more love without mentioning Him than the preachers and pastors making Adam and Steve jokes. I reminded God of MLK’s words that 11:00 on Sunday is still the most segregated hour in Christian America. I urged God to consider the millions of dollars that have been spent on Pro-Life causes by Christians who do not adopt or foster homeless children, nor support programs that provide housing and healthcare for destitute women, infants, and children. I even pointed out to God that these same Pro-Life people are often very pro-death penalty and pro-war. Surely, this would make God take it easy on me.
I reminded God of Ann Coulter’s quote about His Creation, “God gave us the earth. We have dominion over the plants, the animals, the trees. God said, 'Earth is yours. Take it. Rape it. It's yours.” I pleaded with God to remember all of the Christians who laugh in the face of the science that God created and say global warming isn’t real and the ones who believe that the gifts from God that are our air and water can be compromised in the name of profit for a few at the top.
In essence, having made my case, I sat back, crossed my arms, felt smug, and waited on God. His response to my asking Him to save me from his followers? He reminded me of the Greatest Command as stated in Matthew 22:36-39:
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Man, that second one gets me every time! Love God, check. Love others, d’oh! However, it can be asked – this stings! – that if we do not love others, do we truly love God? God does not call us to agree with what is disagreeable to us. God does not call us to be ‘yes’ men or women to everything the preachers or politicians say regardless of whether they claim to be Christian or not. It’s pretty simple – love God, love others (all others).
In all its splendid nonsense the modern church has in many cases divided itself along lines of doctrine, theology, class, race, ethnicity, politics, denominations, etc. However, the collective Kingdom of God is diverse. Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” God has called us to love Him, love others, share His Good News, be a representative (to re-present Him). It really isn’t that hard until we start looking at what divides us, then it’s crazy hard – insurmountable! Despite what the media and certain political or religious leaders may suggest, God is trying to get people in the Kingdom, not push them out. But, if you listen, He’ll likely remind you as He did me that “There’s room in the Kingdom for you.”
Disclaimers: I clearly and admittedly have cultural and political biases. I have Conservative friends who challenge me on the regular and whom I challenge every chance I get. When we do this in a respectful manner, it’s edifying – iron sharpening iron. I just like to be a reminder that there are other voices and faces within Christianity other than the dominant ones and that it is healthy for the church that this is so, and that there is room in the Kingdom for diversity.
