David asks me, "Jerry - How do we begin to change that perception? You give tremendous examples of evangelicals who are serving and loving - how do we get more and more Christians to do that? Christians, for instance, like me?"
David, you must realize those are two loaded and very different questions. There is no changing the perception. I say that the true Evangelical leaders are servants, and Jeff says beware of and frankly disbelieve leaders who claim to be servants. (My point, of course, was that it isn't the political leaders who are true leaders but rather the sincere servants -- those who don't claim anything.)
So even if we somehow got more Christians to truly serve selflessly, those who have formed generalized opinions of Evangelicals (thanks to a few noisy ones) will still claim they know what we're all about: that we hate gays, want to control women's bodies, vote straight Republican, honor Israel only because we believe a certain number of Jews have to be converted before Jesus can return -- and that this honoring involves unquestioning support of every political and military decision made by the Knesset, insist on a Christian nation, and gloat over John 14:6, wherein Jesus is quoted as being the only way to God.
In fact, a true follower of Christ:
- loves gays,
- ministers to HIV victims,
- votes his heart and conscience,
- seeks to understand those who disagree with him on the sanctity of human life (striving for dialogue, not standoffs, and certainly not violence),
- honors Israel as God's chosen people but doesn't carry that to ridiculous political and military extremes (nor does he believe anything has to happen to anyone anywhere before Jesus returns),
- and is grateful to live in a country where he is free to espouse his religious convictions and gladly allows other to do the same.
As for John 14:6, it should break our hearts and make us simply want to share it with others. What they do with the news is up to them. They are as free as we are to accept it or to scoff or disagree or be offended. We need to still love them, respect them, care about them, and associate with them. Triumphalism or condescension has no place in the Christ follower's heart, unless we want to be lumped with fundamentalists of other religions who consider it obedience to their god to fly airplanes into the buildings of those they consider their enemies.
As for how we get more Christians to be servants, I fear our only hope is to point them back to the Bible to read the truth about Jesus and what He taught about the disenfranchised and the oppressed. The New Testament is all about preferring others over ourselves, not feathering our own nests or having our own way. People will not be goaded or shamed into living Christlike lives. It must come from within, in response to the real, hard teachings of the One they claim to follow.
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Maybe the evangelical wing of Christianity is changing, because in my mind for as many yrs as I can remember it has been a group of intolerant follwers of Paulian Christianity that didn't really care much about what Jesus said, only what their brand of Christianity taught, which seemed to be all the things you just mentioned.
Hating Homosexuals, (unless you happened to be a leader that was one) Hating sinful nature, (unless you were sinful) Hating enviromentalists, ( unless your local river was so dirty people were dying)
and suporting a President even if he got us involved in wars that were indefensible.
I was a Reagan Democrat, but now I am going back to the Democrat Party for good, as I am sickened at this presidency.
I pray that Evangelicals will keep to their promise to leave the Republican party as well, maybe the Party can get back to being the party of Goldwater.
Peace,
Buckle
Jerry is correct in saying that we can never change the perceptions of folks who are not convinced thaey are wrong. All one needs to do to understand the role of Christians in love, reaching out and doing good works is actually read the research by unbiased sociologists and researchers. Do not depend upon the works of popular writers, angry anti-Christians or folks peddling some particular unbiblical life style.
As a therapist I consistently teach that one mark of maturity is the ability to take a stand on one's principles without attacking others who disagree. This is considered to be "differentiation" from others.
With the advent of Politically Correctness getting so much influence that definition is being flushed from the common understanding of maturity. Now taking a strong stand is sometimes seen as being wrong.
Thus, when Evangelicals take a stand FOR only sex inside marriage with a woman we are sometimes attacked as being "intolerant". However, taking a stand is actually healthy and very tolerant. Those who attack a stand are, in the long run, actually exposing themselves to great risk. All minorities are at risk when they advocate personal PC type attacks as the way to justify their positions.
Some Christians do attack, of course, but they are in the very small minority of Believers.
I am tired of Christians being blamed for hating homosexuals. Is it Christians or even regular church goers who harass them, beat them, or kill them? Do those who do so even know who the names of the major Christian leaders?
Don't non-Christians bash gays with jokes and comments that are not politically correct.
Many non-Christians find the lifestyle unacceptable. The schools promot the acceptance of the life style and when parents object we are blamed for pushing religion.
It would seem to me that a true follower of Christ wouldn't busy themselves condemning one lifestyle or another but by making sure that their lifestyle is the type of thing they can and do believe in. Judge not lest ye be judged and all that sort of thing?
In The End, (or really our beginings) God will judge all. If one makes assumptions simply based on not understanding, then they risk standing in judgement. It is human nature to judge, so it isn't a simple task and takes a lot of compassion to try to understand something foreign to them, be it gays, prostitutes, drug users, and way worse things. The Bible makes clear about homosexuality, but we should not hate the people, just the sin. Will homosexual child molester priests be judged harshly by God? my guess is yes because they know better and are in a place of honor and guidance. obviously they let sin get the better of them. And there are two parts here, one being child abuse. It is one thing to have consenting partners, and quite another thing to take advantage of innocence, and ruin a young life forever.
I hope that God has a special punishment for those that do hurt children. My personal hope. Am i being judgemental? I don't see how anyone could NOT be in a case like that.
I know Jesus understands my heart. I think to live in this age, we have to find when it is right to judge, when Judging is standing up for your belief without condemning anothers.
Thank God this will all be over soon, and restored to what it all was originally- a world with no sin!
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