Open letter to white Evangelicals: We’re done with you

[JimFoxvog]

This makes me sad, but I think there is much truth to it. I identify as an evangelical Anabaptist. Those who classify people by race would call me "white". I'm afraid many, in being repelled by these "Evangelicals", are also going to reject Christianity and Jesus.

An open letter to white evangelicals: We’re done with you.
By North Carolina Pastor John Pavlovitz
Dear White Evangelicals,
I need to tell you something: People have had it with you. They’re done. They want nothing to do with you any longer, and here’s why: They see your hypocrisy, your inconsistency, your incredibly selective mercy, and your thinly veiled supremacy.
For eight years they watched you relentlessly demonize a Black President; a man faithfully married for 26 years; a doting father and husband without a hint of moral scandal or the slightest whiff of infidelity. They watched you deny his personal faith convictions, argue his birthplace, and assail his character—all without cause or evidence.
They saw you brandish Scriptures to malign him and use the laziest of racial stereotypes in criticizing him. And through it all, White Evangelicals—you never once suggested that God placed him where he was, you never publicly offered prayers for him and his family, you never welcomed him to your Christian Universities, you never gave him the benefit of the doubt in any instance, you never spoke of offering him forgiveness or mercy, your evangelists never publicly thanked God for his leadership, your pastors never took to the pulpit to offer solidarity with him, you never made any effort to affirm his humanity or show the love of Jesus to him in any quantifiable measure.
You violently opposed him at every single turn—without offering a single ounce of the grace you claim as the heart of your faith tradition. You jettisoned Jesus as you dispensed damnation on him.
And yet you give carte blanche to a white Republican man so riddled with depravity, so littered with extramarital affairs, so unapologetically vile, with such a vast resume of moral filth—that the mind boggles.
And the change in you is unmistakable. It has been an astonishing conversion to behold: a being born again.
With him, you suddenly find religion. With him, you’re now willing to offer full absolution. With him, all is forgiven without repentance or admission. With him, you’re suddenly able to see some invisible, deeply buried heart. With him, sin has become unimportant, and compassion no longer a requirement. With him, you see only Providence.
And White Evangelicals, all those people who have had it with you—they see it all clearly. They recognize the toxic source of your inconsistency.
They see that pigmentation and party are your sole deities. They see that you aren’t interested in perpetuating the love of God or emulating the heart of Jesus. They see that you aren’t burdened to love the least, or to be agents of compassion, or to care for your Muslim, gay, African, female, or poor neighbors as yourself.
They see that all you’re really interested in doing is making a God in your own ivory image and demanding that the world bow down to it. They recognize this all about white, Republican Jesus—not dark-skinned Jesus of Nazareth.
And I know you don’t realize it, but you’re digging your own grave these days; the grave of your very faith tradition.
Your willingness to align yourself with cruelty is a costly marriage. Yes, you’ve gained a Supreme Court seat, a few months with the Presidency as a mouthpiece, and the cheap high of temporary power—but you’ve lost a whole lot more.
You’ve lost an audience with millions of wise, decent, good-hearted, faithful people with eyes to see this ugliness. You’ve lost any moral high ground or spiritual authority with a generation. You’ve lost any semblance of Christlikeness. You’ve lost the plot. And most of all you’ve lost your soul.
I know it’s likely you’ll dismiss these words. The fact that you’ve even made your bed with such malevolence, shows how far gone you are and how insulated you are from the reality in front of you. But I had to at least try to reach you. It’s what Jesus would do.

[hillperson]

He also said this:


https://www.newsweek.com/pastor-john-pa ... 9418?amp=1

[JimFoxvog]

He also said this:


https://www.newsweek.com/pastor-john-pa ... 9418?amp=1

Yes. To many people being anti-abortion has been connected with religion, which should not govern others in a country with freedom of religion. I oppose abortion, but am careful to make arguments against it on secular grounds with a non-Christian audience. I believe the abortion decision will also turn some away from Christianity, even as it probably will reduce the number of deaths of preborn children. I have mixed feelings, although I think the court is right in leaving abortion laws to the states.

In this thread, I would like us to discuss the content of the letter rather than the author or abortion. We already have discussions of abortion on other threads.

[mike]

Although the letter makes some valid points, it does read like most other statements from Christians who get involved in politics - an excoriation of people who don't agree with their political positions.

[Grace]

For eight years they watched you relentlessly demonize a Black President; a man faithfully married for 26 years; a doting father and husband without a hint of moral scandal or the slightest whiff of infidelity. They watched you deny his personal faith convictions, argue his birthplace, and assail his character—all without cause or evidence.

Either this pastor has lived under a rock or is an out and out liar. There is plenty of cause to question Obama's character. I won't even begin to list the questionable stuff that Obama was involved in over his lifetime, but was swept under the rug by the media. Starting with his political career beginning in the living room of a terrorist (Weather Underground member William Ayers) and being known as "bathhouse Barry" when he lived in Chicago.

That being said, neither Trump or Obama had pristine pasts. And neither men are people we should emulate or say one is better than the other.

[Ernie]

Yes, there is good reason, IMO, why Evangelicals could not think of Obama as a God-fearing man. But there should also be good reason for why they cannot think of Trump as a God-fearing man. Some Evangelicals are able to call out both as being ungodly. Others don't seem to be able to.

An elder in our church prayed for Trump to get elected, not because he thought Trump was a God-fearing man, but because "the President chooses the Supreme Court justices". This elder likened Trump to heathen kings in the Old Testament who were not God-fearing kings, yet God used them to give consideration to the Hebrews, who encouraged and funded the Hebrews in rebuilding the temple, etc.
I would not pray that a certain person get elected, because of how dissappointing elected officials are, and how badly they misrepresent Christianity.
But if someone is going to take sides, what this elder thought/did is about the only perspective that I think a Christian could take and still keep a separation in his mind of the separation of church and state.
Having said that, I think a Christian could pray that a Democrat be elected, so that more immigrants from "non-Christian" countries could come to the USA, thereby giving these immigrants a chance to hear and respond to the Gospel. Again, I have not felt moved to pray for a certain candidate, but I see the Lord using a variety of Presidents to accomplish various things. e.g. Presidents who limit abortion. Presidents who favor immigration. Presidents who want to avoid involvement in wars and bloodshed. Presidents who want to help the poor get good healthcare. etc, etc.

[steve-in-kville]

This guy strikes me as having misguided anger issues.

[JimFoxvog]

You may disagree with the writer's politics, but I think it clear that evangelical support of Trump has turned many away from Christianity. The connection between faith and politics has been harmful.

[Grace]

You may disagree with the writer's politics, but I think it clear that evangelical support of Trump has turned many away from Christianity. The connection between faith and politics has been harmful.

Christians supporting Trump is no different than Christians supporting Obama, (such as the letter writer). Both men have very sordid personal pasts. What we need to look at is what their policies stood for.

For starters:
Obama hated Israel and aided and abetted radical, anti-Semitic forces at the U.N. cementing his legacy as the most anti-Israel U.S. president in history.
Trump was pro-Israel.

Genesis 12:3 " I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

[Josh]

You may disagree with the writer's politics, but I think it clear that evangelical support of Trump has turned many away from Christianity. The connection between faith and politics has been harmful.

I don’t agree with him apologising to his daughter that abortion can now be regulated by the states. He is relentlessly pro abortion.

He managed to get fired by a United Methodist church, if that gives you any idea of how far fringe he is.