The Problem According to Evangelicals

One could say that there is a lot wrong with the world today.  I mean…just look at the fact there are 9…9 Fast and Furious movies!!!!  We can point at the lack of economic prosperity in large parts of the world, diseases like the coronavirus and the threat of constant war as evidence that the world is in trouble.

As we continue our exploration of Evangelicals, we need to understand what they feel is wrong with the world. We spoke about this in the last columns, “Who do Evangelicals Think they are,” and “Where do Evangelicals live?”.  In those columns, we saw that Evangelicals think of themselves in a siege mentality.  They are the true Church and face attack from the Roman Catholic Church and the Liberal Church.  The United States is their sacred homeland and even this is under siege by the powers of liberalism and atheism, which threaten the very core of the country.

The problem, for Evangelicals is that the World is anti-God. It is not that the World is agnostic, undecided or indifferent to God, it is that at it’s core the World is at war with God. Drawing (often times unknowingly) on the theology of John Calvin, the Evangelical Church views the world as God’s enemy and everything that happens in the world is somehow related to this view.

If people promote the legalization of abortion or of gay marriage, it is that they are in opposition to the clear teachings of Scripture, and therefore to God. Politics, by its very nature becomes a battleground in which the forces of God are in opposition to the forces of Satan. Abortion and homosexuality are often the touchpoints that demark the boundary lines. If a person is anti-abortion, then they are on the good side, no matter what other positions they may hold.  Likewise, if they hold the line on homosexual marriage, then whatever else they say is fine. This goes a long way in explaining the 80% approval for Donald Trump.  He may have questionable morals and a great deal of what he has done is in opposition to the gospel, but he has appointed pro-life justices to the Supreme Court and therefore he is good.  Donald Trump, Evangelicals will say, is like a Cyrus, a flawed man who is on the side of God whether he knows it or not.

Science too becomes a means by which the gospel is attacked.  The scientific consensus in the world is that evolution is a thing.  In response to this, which Evangelicals believe is an attack on the literal interpretation of Scripture, and therefore in opposition to God, Evangelicals have had to counter the Theory of Evolution on every front.  In 1925, the Scopes Monkey Trial pitted a literal interpretation of Genesis 1 against the theory of Evolution. In many ways, that trial has never ended for the Evangelicals, even as most of the world has moved on.  Groups like Answers in Genesis and the Institute for Creation Research often argue that these scientists are deceived or blinded in their opposition to God.  Therefore, a Christian should not accept their teaching on these matters, relying instead on their interpretation of the Bible.

A similar phenomenon has happened in regard to Climate Change.  Evangelicals, deeply suspicious of the scientific community and models, resist Climate Change research as an another deception forced upon them by the ‘mainstream media’ and ‘scientists.’ The Word of God, they argue, says that God will never again destroy the world (Gen 9:11) and therefore there is nothing to fear.  Rather, if we believe the Climate Change science, we are in opposition to God because we demonstrate that we do not trust Him.

This siege mentality lead to the persecution mindset that affects many Evangelicals.  Every year we read about the “War on Christmas” and failed efforts to bring prayer back to public schools. We read about how Christians are persecuted because the Ten Commandments can’t be posted on court house property.  Evangelicals view themselves as a minority, powerless in the face of the corporate powers of Hollywood, the Media, and the Democratic party. 

At the end of the day, what is wrong with the world is that everybody is against God…except for the Evangelicals.  They are the only ones that are truly on God’s side.