Shifting Consensus: A Call for a Better Christianity in 2021 (And Beyond)
Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.
As of writing this, it is the 365th day of 2020 everybody. The year, quite literally from Hell, is almost over.
But the repercussions of it will linger on for quite awhile.
The vaccines are rolling out but it will be a long time before most folks get access to it while some of the particularly poor in our world won’t have access to it for a very long time.
There’s been a nationwide shift in policing protocols, but that hasn’t quite translated in less black deaths by cops (white deaths too).
And then there was that whole election thing. An initial debate that was bafflingly juvenile, followed by an attempt at a recall that frankly is just as juvenile. And it seems that social media has, quite unsurprisingly, made things essentially only worse.
All of these very 2020 issues will endure far into 2021 and likely beyond.
But, if we are all very honest with ourselves, although many things in 2020 were unpredictable, namely, COVID (sort of), the problems we are in the midst of have long been brewing. Some for decades, some for centuries. Most, actually, since the dawn of man all the way back circa the time of Adam.
So what does this have to do with Christianity, per se?
Well, everything, in fact.
Because although we haven’t quite contributed to these problems outright, we have allowed them to foster and grew, unhindered, and quite often, in fact, even promoted them.
It’s puzzling to make a claim that you’ve got the cure to ills of the world when the world actually is starting to believe you are the cause of them and have valid reason to believe so.
If there’s been anything nagging at my unbelieving, Agnostic bent, this has been it. The capital c church’s complicity in a laundry list of issues, most importantly, white supremacy, enthusiastic embrace of capitalism and consumerism, and an all out adherence to following the beck and whim of celebrity pastor’s guru visions of Christian living has led a lot of people to leave the faith.
Formerly holding the place as the moral ones in society, slowly Christianity is now seen as the place where white supremacy, misogyny, and homophobia can endure while a now shifting cultural landscape condemns them. There’s a lot more to these trends than I have time to express in one blog, but the point still remains; for millennial twenty-somethings like myself and those younger, conventional American Christianity isn’t working.
It’s a good thing, actually. Because that American Christianity we grew up with isn’t, actually, all that Christ like. We need only look at the rise and fall of whoever the latest celebrity pastor is to see this in action. I need only look at the numbers of peers my age who graduated at my Christian high school who now no longer even go to church.
In the 60s and 70s, there was a huge “God is Dead” movement. It fizzled out unremarkably on it’s own. Now, however, I think we need an “American Evangelicalism is Dead” movement. As Kylo Ren says in the criminally over-reviled The Last Jedi, “it’s time to let old things die.”
“Kill it if you have to.”
Last night I got halfway into the movie Kingdom of Heaven. Released in 2005 to very mixed commercial success, it stars Legolas, err, Orlando Bloom, as Bailian, a simple blacksmith turned humble lord of a land near Jerusalem right on the cusp of the third crusade. The reason it didn’t do well in the box office was studio meddling; in order to make it seem both palatable to evangelicals and Muslims alike, they cut 45 minutes of the film that allowed the story to breathe, fleshing out both protagonist and antagonist motivations for a swelling climax.
I see a lot of parallels from the those old Crusade times, the modern era, and the fight for the American soul now raging on Facebook, Twitter, and other sites Gen X’ers and older argue on (the younglings quarrel on Instagram and Tik Tok).
In that time period, “Christianity” (ish), held Jerusalem. And the way they took it from Muslims was to, well, slaughter every single person in there because “God wills it.”
A simple kind of theology. A straightforward kind of evil. Don’t have to scroll through much of the NT to raise a few eyebrows at that kind of thinking.
But in the film, the Saracens, the large and united group of Arabs under the helm of Saladin, are on the cusp of taking the city. Most Christians within the wall see it coming, which is why many of them are quick to call for peace. But the raving and lunatic Templars, with financial backing bolstered by well-timed fear-baiting and war mongering, rile up their much smaller force to engage with the much larger and more fortified Islamic faction.
You can probably guess how this story ends. Most of it, actually. Because, true to real life, it comes with plot twists at the end.
For starters, the “good” Christians get defeated in the siege. The “evil” Saracens take the city. But, truer to real life, there are “evil” Christians as well as good ones just as there are “good” Saracens as there are “evil” ones.
When Bailian calls for peace when he sees the writing on the walls, Saladin agrees to the terms of peace. There’s a powerful scene afterwards where Bailian tells Saladin, straight up, “when the Christians took this city a hundred years ago, they slaughtered every man, woman, and child within these walls.”
There’s a long pause of tension before Saladin replies.
“I am not those men. I am Saladin. I am Saladin.”
To add a little historical caveat, the true historical events are similar with a few little switch-ups; Saladin forced the Christians and Jews within the city into indentured servitude (for our modern times, the cost was $50, a small fee which his advisors desired he not do, and was considered very merciful). The man insisted that his worldview, his perspective, his religion, not shed blood for blood. And hardly dollar for dollar.
Truth be told, Saladin acted more like Christ in this instance than most of the Christian crusaders and leaders of that time. And, I worry similar things happened in 2020 and may continue to happen.
Ravi Zacharias’s legacy continues to tarnish after his death. Carl Lentz’s infidelity went public. This is what happened in 2020 with celebrity pastors.
Jarrid Wilson took his life in 2019. Mark Driscoll’s fear tactics were revealed in 2014.
Let’s go further back; Jim Bakker was torn down in 1987 for infidelity and illegal use of ministry funds.
I won’t continue this list because the point isn’t intended to depress, per se. Rather, I write these things to show we have a celebrity pastor guru problem.
Now we don’t have to look very hard in the “secular world” to see similar troubling tendencies with high profile men.
If anything, it’s not Jesus or Christianity that is the problem with this Jesus guru rise and fall thing.
It’s the fact that we treat them like gurus and give them fame that not one can handle successfully that’s the problem. It’s the fact that we have a system that gives too much influence, power, and pressure to charismatic men to lead millions of people in their spiritual walk when they are just as in need of Jesus as the millions who cling to their very word as if they really were Jesus.
It’s the fact that the way in which these gurus work, ministries develop, and people get famous is via influence, sway, and power of the almighty dollar. In other words, even though Jesus states that you can’t serve both God and money, the big c church in America has chosen who they will serve and it’s not Him. It's the choice made for decades now. But if Christianity is to survive, if it is to be what it once from the beginning as described in the book of Acts, it must make a far different stand.
No more bondage to mammon. No more being held ransom by the opinion and potential lack of donation of the highest “giving unit” donor. No more holding fast to the particular Jesus guru that resonates with you and your particular brand of Christianity.
Let’s choose servitude to Christ, who told us that we will know the Truth and that the Truth will set us free. Even when it’s a hard Truth.
Martin Luther King Jr. was unfaithful to Coretta. Mother Teresa struggled with crippling depression. Both of my beloved Jesus gurus had sin problems; Brennan Manning was an alcoholic and divorcee, while Henri Noun was secretly gay and a people pleaser.
Mr. Rogers probably has some dirt we will find out a few decades ago, maybe an occasion where he said one rude thing to that barista that one time before inviting him or her to the show to apologize to him or her in person.
Point being is that the list I just mentioned aren’t too different than the one further above. Ravi Zacharias did do a lot of good too but it’s now becoming undone. Lentz is probably not a raving sex fanatic; he’s probably very ashamed of what went down, both for the sake of his fame but also the damage done to his congregants and to his family.
What I will say, however, that distinguishes the two lists is what they did with their fame, even in the midst of their struggles.
MLK need not be elaborated on too much; we got a whole holiday devoted to him for his work advancing civil rights. Same with Mother Teresa. The lady was, quite literally, a saint. And Brennan Manning, Henri Nouwen, Thomas Merton, Rachel Held Evans (RIP), Mike Erre, and a lot of other people I call spiritual mothers and fathers cared about the poor. Spoke on behalf of the downtrodden. Decried the evils of war. Wrestled with what to do with LGBT related issues, the problem of Hell, and other modern social issues with honesty and a deep desire to do what they believed was God’s will.
And didn’t cling to status quo’s that frankly need to rot in the grave. Status quos that American Christianity has held dear for far too long.
Portions of the church that continue to denounce notions of systemic racism in America need to be ignored and deemed unbiblical. In hopes they will lose their almighty mammon and altogether corruption of the Good News.
Unabashed and enthusiastic Christian support of hateful, divisive, and corrosive rhetoric from our political leaders must end. Actively participating in church events that causes more people to contract COVID isn’t a holy revival, it is an outright refusal to love our medically compromised neighbors. These actions will be accounted for and judged on the Last Day.
Any remaining and continued preaching of theology that is racist, homophobic, xenophobic, and with a trace of the prosperity gospel needs to engulf in flames. This fundamentalism must be eradicated, yet not through the means that we see rampant in 2020. Not with the same hooting and hollering of our misguided and terribly afraid brothers and sisters in Christ.
If we have the Gospel, if we really believe that Jesus was who He says He was, and if we really trust that a belief in and a following of Jesus leads to eternal life, we need to do what He actually said. We need to love our enemies, we need to turn the other cheek, we need to follow the two greatest commandments and follow them well.
That is what will compel people to follow Jesus. Not handsome Jesus gurus.
Like the analogy I heard from VOX podcast (not to be confused with the news source), it’s like your dad telling you to clean your room and you choosing to, instead, study about cleaning your room. Hold devotionals for others about methods of different ways to clean. Writing your dad a great card about how great his commandment was to clean your room.
Without… actually… cleaning your room. It’s not only nonsensical, but the mess of the room still remains.
And the room of modern Christianity is really, really messy. And affects many people, including nonbelievers.
But for it to get clean, the consensus needs to shift. A new kind of Christian ethic needs to be standard. Yet often when we hear calls for unity or revival, it is a call for a time before “back then.” Back when we didn’t “know” about racism, didn’t “know” about misogyny, didn’t “know” about homophobia.
Well, fortunately, the cat’s out the bag, and even if many Christians still claim to not “know” or deny the existence of these evils, the world knows it. The world sees them. The world is trying to fix them.
And I firmly believe that the way of Jesus can fix them better than any other way. His way helped clean “the mess” of voter’s rights in the civil rights era. His way was a catalyst of cleaning “the mess” of slavery before that. His way has been somehow a part of every single major breakthrough for the flourishing and continued justice of the least of these ever since he taught His disciples to do so two thousand years ago.
But the way of Jesus needs to not be confused anymore with the way of American Evangelicalism anymore.
A better Christianity is needed for 2021 and beyond, one which focuses on loving our neighbors. Voting on behest on the least of these. Listening to and caring for our enemies. Openly confessing to our brothers and sisters when we fall short on these things. Trusting that through the grace of God the beauty of Jesus and His way shines through our sin and actually cleanses them. Knowing that, deep down, God really loves us, really loves our neighbors, really loves our enemies, and really desires, believes, and knows that through us and our simple acts of obedience to the two greatest commandments we usher in His kingdom, His will, and His presence into this world. Listening to teachers and preachers who don’t claim to know all the answers to all of the questions, but who inspire you to keep believing, keep loving, keep following as you, yourself, wrestle with your misgivings. Believing that it isn’t really us or clever Jesus gurus who spread the Gospel, but actually the Holy Spirit abiding in them.
2020 tried to kill my hope. In a lot of ways it almost did. For entire months my spiritual “walk” suffered. But as it comes to a close, I am reinvigorated. I am excited.
The old brand of Christ following isn’t appealing to people anymore. Thank Jesus.
Let’s get started, therefore, on a new and more loving kind of brand.
Let’s make the good news good again.