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.    

Who Do Evangelicals Think They Are?

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As we try to understand the current religious and political landscape in the United States, we are confronted with the question of Evangelicals. Who are these people? What do they want? Why do they support the President in such ardent, fervent fashion? To understand this question, we must apply the questions that N.T. Wright employs in his book, the New Testament and the People of God, to address the concerns of this influential group.

            The first question Wright asks, is “Who are we?” This question refers to a group’s self-identification.  Who do Evangelicals think they are?  This is apart from any external source labeling them or any reference to the truth (i.e. historical, etc). The answer helps us understand the motives and the worldview behind their behavior.

            Much like the Pharisees in the New Testament period, today’s Evangelicals believe they are the last remnant who have been faithful to God throughout history.  The church has become corrupt, especially in the teaching of the Roman Catholic church.  Therefore, the Reformation is viewed as an essential turning point in the faithfulness of God’s people (the Protestants). But now, even the mainline churches that historically stem from the Reformation have turned their back on Jesus and embraced liberal theological doctrines.  (The Orthodox don’t even come into the picture as they have largely been forgotten by the Non-Catholic Christian Church).  Now it is up to the Evangelical church to be the sole steward of the eternal truths that God has passed down from the Bible. The Evangelical Church must keep itself pure from the luring chorales of the Mass, but also the tempting call from the camp of liberal theologians.  The Evangelical church sees itself that it must keep itself pure from these teachings.

            Because of this, the Evangelical church sees itself as besieged by outside forces.  The secular culture seeks to make them conform to the principles of the world. This is most evidenced by the cultural phenomena we see like ‘the war on Christmas,’ or removing prayer from school or removing monuments of the Ten Commandments. Everywhere the Evangelical church looks, it is surrounded by enemies.  This does not lead to despair, however, because the Evangelicals are the true Church, who have remained faithful to God and God will not abandon them.  They latch onto the book of Revelation for proof that God will reward their faithfulness and will defend them from all of these enemies.   

            But the flip side of this is that Evangelicalism also finds itself falling apart in the middle.  For centuries, the doctrine of “Jesus and Me” have been preached to the point that many do not feel it necessary to be among other believers.  The first part of the fallout of this doctrine was the growth in non-denominational or independent churches. By pulling away from larger bodies, individual congregations had more freedom, but also less accountability.  While denominations used to be kept together by subscribing to documents like the Westminster Confession of Faith, now each church is free to create their own standards.  Now there is no glue holding Evangelicals together…just a vague sense of we well….we kind of agree on some stuff…but it’s not substantial and not solid enough to hold things together.

            This feeling has trickled down to the individual level.  Most Evangelicals will talk about their ‘personal relationship’ or ‘personal walk’ with Jesus because that is what matters the most.  Evangelicals see themselves, not as a ‘block’ or a ‘group,’ but as a loose affiliation of ‘Jesus followers’ who all have the same instantaneous access to God through the Bible, prayer and the Holy Spirit.  Each of them are on their own individual journey, but they are marching to the same destination, much like the pilgrims did in Ancient Israel.

            There is a sense that that a lack of cohesion or unity is missing.  Often times, an Evangelical leader like Francis Chan will try to call their followers back to a more communal experience…authentic Christianity, purpose driven Christianity, Ancient-Future Christianity, just to name a few. These movements are often very popular but very fleeting, because of the lack of glue keeping them together. And so the Evangelical Church struggles with the sense of being church.  The Bible reminds them that they must be together and united as a people, but they often times find this just out of reach and this leads to confusion.

            While this is written to interpret but not critique Evangelical Christianity, this lack of unity is a critique.  The Evangelical church finds itself fracturing more and more under the weight of their own theology. This had led to more and more Christians trying to discover, ‘God’s plan for the Church’.  House churches are starting to replace megachurches, just as megachurches replaced mainline churches.  There is a nervousness present in Evangelicalism because the future is uncertain for the movement.

            At a time when we have more people in seminary receiving MDiv’s than we have churches, we have more Bibles available to us than ever before, and everybody s

eems to be putting their opinion out there (the irony is not lost), what does the future of Evangelicalism hold? What can bring them together, what can ensure that they are able to defeat their enemies and win the day.  Well to understand that, we need to ask the next question: Where are we?  

Snowballs in Hell

It’s January 2020, and hell is freezing over. Not only do I find myself agreeing with Beth Moore, who recently called nationalism a sin (https://www.lightworkers.com/is-nationalism-a-sin/), but also with David Platt, who wants us to distinguish between Americanism and the gospel.

            It seems that the Church is in flux these days and nobody is quite sure what to make of it. The Gospel Coalition finds itself endorsing works by Paula White (https://julieroys.com/leading-evangelicals-endorse-prosperity-preacher-paula-whites-new-book/) while some conservative theologians find themselves relegated to the ends of Christendom. What is happening? What can explain some of these developments?

            The big and divisive event seems to be the election of 2016 which exposed some theological fault-lines in the Evangelical Church that were previously hidden. Many found themselves supporting Donald Trump while others found themselves on the opposite spectrum. Beth Moore, stated that Evangelicalism as we knew it died in 2016 (https://capstonereport.com/2019/12/27/beth-moore-is-still-bitter-about-donald-trumps-election/33675/).  While some view this as evidence of Moore’s bitterness about the election results, it seems that she is on to something.

            Evangelicals find themselves locked in an argument about the very nature of their identity.  What does it mean to be an evangelical? Do we know? Did we ever know? Does one have to support President Trump in order to be an Evangelical? Or does support for the President indicate a lack of theological integrity? Or does not supporting the president indicate that one has compromised the gospel and caved into the liberal agenda?

            As we approach the election cycle for 2020, we cannot imagine that these disputes will go away, but will get more intense.  As we join sides and argue amongst ourselves as to the future of the country, we need to some self-reflection and some analysis before we continue.  This year will see (probably) a slew of books about politics and election. Tremper Longman has already published The Bible and the Ballot (2020) just in time for the election.  One can expect that Wayne Grudem’s Politics According the Bible (2010) coming back into the debate. We might even see a call back to the political theologians of the past: to St. Thomas and John Yoder as we enter into a full on debate not only about the country, but about the future of the church as well.  

            For us to understand each other…and ourselves, we should go back to the questions that N.T. Wright asks of 1^st Century Judaism. His five questions are (1) Who are we? (2) Where are we? (3) What’s wrong? (4) What’s the solution and (5) What time is it? By asking these questions we can begin to understand how we see ourselves, but more importantly how we evaluate others around us.

            So I invite us to spend some time over the next few weeks to look internally as to how we answer these questions.  I will be referencing my own understanding of the Evangelical Church so we can see how we might answer these questions and grow more in our understanding of one another.