Divided We Stand: Thoughts on American Evangelicalism in the Modern World
TL;DR: The Evangelical Church in America has fallen short of our calling to be God’s Chosen People to bless all peoples. We’ve put our earthly divisions above our heavenly allegiance. To be part of the solution instead of the problem we need to ask tough questions when we read the Bible, listen to the views of people with differing beliefs, think twice before posting comments and politically charged content, allow ourselves to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, repent of our past failings and be reconciled with those we’ve sinned against, and share our spiritual journeys with others.
Introduction. Over the past few years, I’ve been reflecting a lot on Christianity and the Church in America. These thoughts have been percolating in my mind for many years, but the current landscape of our country has solidified them in the recent months: American Christianity has fallen short of our heavenly calling. We—yes, I’m confessing too—have put our own beliefs about what it means to be a Christian in front of what Jesus told us it means to be a follower of Him. It’s a bit ironic how we’ve transformed the label “Christian” from it’s humble derogatory beginnings into a prideful and increasingly derogatory badge we shove in other people’s faces as a means to grant us the moral superiority to judge them. Before getting too far into this, I do want to clarify that the views I’m expressing are indicative of the general trend of Evangelicalism in America and not a blanket statement of all Christians. There are many Christians and churches in America who are truly doing their best to follow the commands of Jesus.
I’m usually a shy and reserved person who never shares anything that could even remotely be construed as a political view or opinion that might cause conflict. So what initiated this you might ask? I initially wrote this two years ago in response to the way the Bible was being used to support our government’s immigration policy on separating children from parents when they cross the border illegally, but I was too scared to share it then over fears of how it would be perceived by others. Over the past few months I’ve been watching the interactions of people on social media in response to COVID-19 and the protests sparked by the senseless killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery. The thing I have been most shocked by is the way in which my fellow Christians have put their own political views and opinions above the teachings of Jesus Christ. I’ve seen Christians—even leaders in the Church that I look to—calling politicians of the other party names, posting divisive memes, and spreading false information. My purpose here is not to address those issues directly, but instead to look at how we as Christians should respond in a biblical, loving manner.
How did we get to where we are today? One of the greatest tenets of the American Constitution is the First Amendment with its protections for religion, speech, the press, and peaceable assembly. Many of the first Europeans, such as the Puritans or the Quakers, who settled in the American colonies were fleeing religious persecution in their home countries. This same freedom is what led to the flourishing of the American Church into thousands of denominations as new congregations split off each time a theological disagreement arose among groups of Christians. This, in combination with the First and Second Great Awakenings, saw the rise of American Evangelicalism during the 18th and the first half of the 19th centuries. The Church in America was further divided as the nation itself was in the mid-19th century lead up to the Civil War with both sides politicizing the pulpit and the Bible to justify their abolitionist or pro-slavery views.
As the wounds of the nation healed following the end of the war, the American Church experienced the beginnings of Christian fundamentalism in response to the perceived threat of scientific thought and reason from Modernism. Fundamentalists’ focus on Biblical inerrancy replaced Jesus as the true Word of God with the deification of the Bible as the word of God and the rejection of any science contradictory to the Biblical account. The rise of fundamentalism coincided with the Christian missionary movement in Protestant America all during the height of US imperialism. This along with the White Man’s Burden led to a savior complex in both the general population and the Church.
During the confluence of these different streams, American Christians placed themselves as Israel, God’s chosen people, into the Biblical narrative. With the increasing role of secularism, especially in politics, Evangelical Christians became more involved in political activism in an effort to protect rights they believed were preordained by the Bible. The rise of the Moral Majority and Religious Right in the 70’s and 80’s further tied the conservative-valued Church to the Republican Party. By the time George W. Bush was elected President in the early 2000s the terms Evangelical and Republican were nearly synonymous.
By thinking of themselves as Israel, the American Church doomed itself to repeat the same failures as the nation of Israel, namely forgetting what it meant to be the God’s chosen people. Being a chosen people was never supposed to be about personal benefit and expanding borders. Israel was chosen to be a blessing to all ethnē, or peoples, of the world (Gen. 12:1-3, Acts 1:8). By the time the region of Judea was under Roman occupation, Israel was so far from God’s original idea of His chosen people that it was necessary for Him to send His own Son into the world to renew the minds of the religious and bring them back to His true purpose.
The teachings of Jesus were reframings of the Jewish law meant to challenge the religious elite who through obedience to man-made additions to the law viewed themselves as morally superior to those who weren’t as strict. Just look at the greatest opponents to Jesus’ teaching: the Pharisees, Sadducees, chief priests, and teachers of the law. These were the people with the knowledge required to fully understand the parables Jesus told. They were also the ones who knew they had the most to lose if they did.
Now we, the Evangelical Church, have become no better than the Pharisees, Sadducees, chief priests, and teachers of the law. We love our rules and are quick to point the speck in the eyes of those around us while ignoring the plank in our own (Matt. 7:3-5, Luke 6:41-42). Instead of working through our differences, we get mad at one another refusing to even consider the other person’s viewpoint, excommunicating them from our fellowship and community with our “holier than thou” attitude. Everyone in our camp is correct while those with differing views are those Jesus was referring to as the goats (Matt. 25:31-46).
It’s time for us as Christians to put our heavenly allegiance above our earthly divisions. Instead of being more concerned about following cultural “Christian” values we should focus on following Jesus’ commands. Jesus even simplifies all the Jewish law into two commandments for us: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind,” and “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Deut. 6:5, Lev. 19:18, Matt. 22:34-40, Luke 10:25-37). With every action we take, we need to ask ourselves if that action is loving towards the Lord and loving towards our neighbor. By following these two commandments we are truly acting as God’s Chosen People and blessing all ethnē.
So how do we change our lives so we’re following these two commandments first and foremost? When entire systems are failing, they cannot be changed overnight. It takes time and it takes effort on our part. I’ve seen too many well-meaning posts reminding everyone that “Jesus is the answer”. While this is true, it is not helpful because it gives Christians an excuse to do nothing while they wait for Jesus to do something. We can’t sit back and wait for someone else to fix it. We are His hands and feet. Every Christian has a role in changing the culture of Christianity back to being the people chosen by God to be a blessing to all peoples.
Ask tough questions when you read the Bible. The Bible isn’t an easy book to read, and we often read it without giving much thought to its interpretation to the original audience and context. Too often I’ve heard Christians talk about putting on the Spiritual Armor of God for dealing with other people, but that’s not its intended purpose. Paul is very clear that the Spiritual Armor is not for dealing with “flesh and blood”, but rather “against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph. 6:10-17). Paul explains to the Colossian Church to “clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience....And over all these virtues put on love...” (Col. 3:12-14). Yes, Jesus’ teachings often sound contrary to how our human nature tells us we should feel or act, but Jesus didn’t come to affirm our current way of life, but instead to be the Word of God and bring us back to true relationship with God.
Listen to views of people with differing beliefs. The key word here is “listen”. I’m not suggesting that you change your beliefs, but to give others the courtesy of actually hearing what they’re saying and trying to understand why they believe what they do. When you only listen to people who share the same beliefs as you, you never challenge yourself and miss many opportunities for growth.
Think twice before posting that comment or sharing politically charged content. This goes back to the Greatest Commandments. Calling a liberal a “snowflake” or a conservative a “Fascist” is not loving. Posting something political on social media that’s designed to be divisive, even if it’s because you find it funny, is also not loving. The anonymity and physical separation the internet provides us makes it easy to forget that the person on the other end is also a human-being, created and loved by the God we worship, just like us. As Christians our social media interactions should be God-honoring and building others up. If you really feel the need to respond to someone, send them a private message or better yet, talk to them face-to-face.
Allow yourself to be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Rom. 12:1-2). We should be constantly growing closer to God as we mature spiritually. Allow the Holy Spirit to lead you to new understanding as you delve deeper into scripture, and meditate on how you should apply it to your life. Most importantly, follow the Spirit’s leading no matter where He leads you. You will be happily surprised when you reflect on where you used to be on your spiritual journey and where you are now. God will use you in amazing ways to bless those around you.
Repent of your past failings and be reconciled with those you’ve sinned against. This is the hardest of the steps. We don’t like admitting when we are in the wrong to ourselves, let alone to someone else. But apologizing and seeking forgiveness are important steps in the healing process. Showing the humbleness required to ask for reconciliation will win you more respect from your opponent than any argument could.Share your spiritual journey with others. You’re not the only one on this journey, but if you don’t talk about it with other people, it’ll feel that way. It can be scary if you’re sharing doubts or fears you have about Christianity, but for Christians this is another opportunity to show love to your fellow Christian and come along beside them. We cannot be a blessing by hiding our light. We need to shine our light from atop the hill (Matt. 5:13-16).
Conclusion. The state of America is a direct result of the wounds caused by the failure of the Evangelical Church to be a blessing to those around us. We have made the political divide in our country worse, and as a result alienated people from communion as one body. In our actions we’ve become the eye telling the hand and the head telling the feet, “I don’t need you!” Because one part of the body is suffering, we’re all suffering (1 Cor. 12:12-31). It’s time that we give up our quest to possess political power and live out Jesus’s mandate to serve others instead of being served (Matt. 20:25-28). It’s my hope and prayer that we get back to our true purpose as Christians to become a blessing to all peoples and that Christ will find a united body when He returns.
Introduction. Over the past few years, I’ve been reflecting a lot on Christianity and the Church in America. These thoughts have been percolating in my mind for many years, but the current landscape of our country has solidified them in the recent months: American Christianity has fallen short of our heavenly calling. We—yes, I’m confessing too—have put our own beliefs about what it means to be a Christian in front of what Jesus told us it means to be a follower of Him. It’s a bit ironic how we’ve transformed the label “Christian” from it’s humble derogatory beginnings into a prideful and increasingly derogatory badge we shove in other people’s faces as a means to grant us the moral superiority to judge them. Before getting too far into this, I do want to clarify that the views I’m expressing are indicative of the general trend of Evangelicalism in America and not a blanket statement of all Christians. There are many Christians and churches in America who are truly doing their best to follow the commands of Jesus.
I’m usually a shy and reserved person who never shares anything that could even remotely be construed as a political view or opinion that might cause conflict. So what initiated this you might ask? I initially wrote this two years ago in response to the way the Bible was being used to support our government’s immigration policy on separating children from parents when they cross the border illegally, but I was too scared to share it then over fears of how it would be perceived by others. Over the past few months I’ve been watching the interactions of people on social media in response to COVID-19 and the protests sparked by the senseless killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery. The thing I have been most shocked by is the way in which my fellow Christians have put their own political views and opinions above the teachings of Jesus Christ. I’ve seen Christians—even leaders in the Church that I look to—calling politicians of the other party names, posting divisive memes, and spreading false information. My purpose here is not to address those issues directly, but instead to look at how we as Christians should respond in a biblical, loving manner.
How did we get to where we are today? One of the greatest tenets of the American Constitution is the First Amendment with its protections for religion, speech, the press, and peaceable assembly. Many of the first Europeans, such as the Puritans or the Quakers, who settled in the American colonies were fleeing religious persecution in their home countries. This same freedom is what led to the flourishing of the American Church into thousands of denominations as new congregations split off each time a theological disagreement arose among groups of Christians. This, in combination with the First and Second Great Awakenings, saw the rise of American Evangelicalism during the 18th and the first half of the 19th centuries. The Church in America was further divided as the nation itself was in the mid-19th century lead up to the Civil War with both sides politicizing the pulpit and the Bible to justify their abolitionist or pro-slavery views.
As the wounds of the nation healed following the end of the war, the American Church experienced the beginnings of Christian fundamentalism in response to the perceived threat of scientific thought and reason from Modernism. Fundamentalists’ focus on Biblical inerrancy replaced Jesus as the true Word of God with the deification of the Bible as the word of God and the rejection of any science contradictory to the Biblical account. The rise of fundamentalism coincided with the Christian missionary movement in Protestant America all during the height of US imperialism. This along with the White Man’s Burden led to a savior complex in both the general population and the Church.
During the confluence of these different streams, American Christians placed themselves as Israel, God’s chosen people, into the Biblical narrative. With the increasing role of secularism, especially in politics, Evangelical Christians became more involved in political activism in an effort to protect rights they believed were preordained by the Bible. The rise of the Moral Majority and Religious Right in the 70’s and 80’s further tied the conservative-valued Church to the Republican Party. By the time George W. Bush was elected President in the early 2000s the terms Evangelical and Republican were nearly synonymous.
By thinking of themselves as Israel, the American Church doomed itself to repeat the same failures as the nation of Israel, namely forgetting what it meant to be the God’s chosen people. Being a chosen people was never supposed to be about personal benefit and expanding borders. Israel was chosen to be a blessing to all ethnē, or peoples, of the world (Gen. 12:1-3, Acts 1:8). By the time the region of Judea was under Roman occupation, Israel was so far from God’s original idea of His chosen people that it was necessary for Him to send His own Son into the world to renew the minds of the religious and bring them back to His true purpose.
The teachings of Jesus were reframings of the Jewish law meant to challenge the religious elite who through obedience to man-made additions to the law viewed themselves as morally superior to those who weren’t as strict. Just look at the greatest opponents to Jesus’ teaching: the Pharisees, Sadducees, chief priests, and teachers of the law. These were the people with the knowledge required to fully understand the parables Jesus told. They were also the ones who knew they had the most to lose if they did.
Now we, the Evangelical Church, have become no better than the Pharisees, Sadducees, chief priests, and teachers of the law. We love our rules and are quick to point the speck in the eyes of those around us while ignoring the plank in our own (Matt. 7:3-5, Luke 6:41-42). Instead of working through our differences, we get mad at one another refusing to even consider the other person’s viewpoint, excommunicating them from our fellowship and community with our “holier than thou” attitude. Everyone in our camp is correct while those with differing views are those Jesus was referring to as the goats (Matt. 25:31-46).
It’s time for us as Christians to put our heavenly allegiance above our earthly divisions. Instead of being more concerned about following cultural “Christian” values we should focus on following Jesus’ commands. Jesus even simplifies all the Jewish law into two commandments for us: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind,” and “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Deut. 6:5, Lev. 19:18, Matt. 22:34-40, Luke 10:25-37). With every action we take, we need to ask ourselves if that action is loving towards the Lord and loving towards our neighbor. By following these two commandments we are truly acting as God’s Chosen People and blessing all ethnē.
So how do we change our lives so we’re following these two commandments first and foremost? When entire systems are failing, they cannot be changed overnight. It takes time and it takes effort on our part. I’ve seen too many well-meaning posts reminding everyone that “Jesus is the answer”. While this is true, it is not helpful because it gives Christians an excuse to do nothing while they wait for Jesus to do something. We can’t sit back and wait for someone else to fix it. We are His hands and feet. Every Christian has a role in changing the culture of Christianity back to being the people chosen by God to be a blessing to all peoples.
Ask tough questions when you read the Bible. The Bible isn’t an easy book to read, and we often read it without giving much thought to its interpretation to the original audience and context. Too often I’ve heard Christians talk about putting on the Spiritual Armor of God for dealing with other people, but that’s not its intended purpose. Paul is very clear that the Spiritual Armor is not for dealing with “flesh and blood”, but rather “against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph. 6:10-17). Paul explains to the Colossian Church to “clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience....And over all these virtues put on love...” (Col. 3:12-14). Yes, Jesus’ teachings often sound contrary to how our human nature tells us we should feel or act, but Jesus didn’t come to affirm our current way of life, but instead to be the Word of God and bring us back to true relationship with God.
Listen to views of people with differing beliefs. The key word here is “listen”. I’m not suggesting that you change your beliefs, but to give others the courtesy of actually hearing what they’re saying and trying to understand why they believe what they do. When you only listen to people who share the same beliefs as you, you never challenge yourself and miss many opportunities for growth.
Think twice before posting that comment or sharing politically charged content. This goes back to the Greatest Commandments. Calling a liberal a “snowflake” or a conservative a “Fascist” is not loving. Posting something political on social media that’s designed to be divisive, even if it’s because you find it funny, is also not loving. The anonymity and physical separation the internet provides us makes it easy to forget that the person on the other end is also a human-being, created and loved by the God we worship, just like us. As Christians our social media interactions should be God-honoring and building others up. If you really feel the need to respond to someone, send them a private message or better yet, talk to them face-to-face.
Allow yourself to be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Rom. 12:1-2). We should be constantly growing closer to God as we mature spiritually. Allow the Holy Spirit to lead you to new understanding as you delve deeper into scripture, and meditate on how you should apply it to your life. Most importantly, follow the Spirit’s leading no matter where He leads you. You will be happily surprised when you reflect on where you used to be on your spiritual journey and where you are now. God will use you in amazing ways to bless those around you.
Repent of your past failings and be reconciled with those you’ve sinned against. This is the hardest of the steps. We don’t like admitting when we are in the wrong to ourselves, let alone to someone else. But apologizing and seeking forgiveness are important steps in the healing process. Showing the humbleness required to ask for reconciliation will win you more respect from your opponent than any argument could.Share your spiritual journey with others. You’re not the only one on this journey, but if you don’t talk about it with other people, it’ll feel that way. It can be scary if you’re sharing doubts or fears you have about Christianity, but for Christians this is another opportunity to show love to your fellow Christian and come along beside them. We cannot be a blessing by hiding our light. We need to shine our light from atop the hill (Matt. 5:13-16).
Conclusion. The state of America is a direct result of the wounds caused by the failure of the Evangelical Church to be a blessing to those around us. We have made the political divide in our country worse, and as a result alienated people from communion as one body. In our actions we’ve become the eye telling the hand and the head telling the feet, “I don’t need you!” Because one part of the body is suffering, we’re all suffering (1 Cor. 12:12-31). It’s time that we give up our quest to possess political power and live out Jesus’s mandate to serve others instead of being served (Matt. 20:25-28). It’s my hope and prayer that we get back to our true purpose as Christians to become a blessing to all peoples and that Christ will find a united body when He returns.
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