One of the issues that beguile
me is the idea of personal theology that only influences public policy when it
accommodates your particular parties’ talking points. When my conservative
brothers and sisters drag out the big moral 3 of; Gay marriage, abortion , and
access to contraceptives with the idea that these encapsulate all of
evangelical theology i get a little uneasy. The Big 3 have been the
moralistic talking points of conservatives for the last 30 years. Not just for
conservative evangelicals but conservative Catholics as well. What we lose in
the fetishzation of the big 3 is the message of the Gospel.
It’s easy
to scapegoat "baby killers" and "homosexuals" as enemies of Christ and persist
that we are followers of Christ because you enjoy hetero normative orientation. But when it comes to the reciprocative nature
of this statement "as you do to the least of these you do unto me" we
might find that we are not following the Christ of the gospels but rather a
"christ" of our existential crisis. It’s easier to run to the
cubby holes of racist, misogynistic and homophobic certitude rather than cast
our nets into the muck that is uncertainty. Our uncertainty is that we
don't always know what Jesus would do confronted with all the challenges that
modernity brings ... but we are still tasked to do what he told us to do
"love your neighbor as yourself."
How
do we construct an ideological framework where it’s ok to cut money for welfare
but find money for warfare? How can we gather the political will to shut down
the entire government in pursuit of restricting access to health care for
others? How do we keep arguing about legitimate rape and magical uteri that
only procreate with sperm produced from consensual sex? How are the people who
use such language able to call themselves Christians? What part of the
Christian ethic is the NRA and conservatism Christian value aligned? When
children die at school and we are crippled by moral impotence to take action;
are we still suffering little children to come unto him? How can we take
part in a corrupt system and still use the moniker "in God we
trust"?
We
are able to hide behind a form of godliness because we don't see these social
ills as a reflection of our faithfulness to God. We don't see participation in
corrupt systems as sin. We don't understand sin as a failure to provide comfort
and care; we see sin as a failure of personal morality. As long as we are
personally moral and treat our immediate connections "right" than we
are living a faithful life. If we have possessions and others do not that’s
not a reflection of sinfulness but rather a reflection of our ability to make
prudent decisions. (Whatever you do don't think about AIG, Bear Stearns, so
forth so on we all know what great decisions they made) The ability to be
callous and Christian is a byproduct of the privatization of Jesus. When
you privatize Jesus you abdicate the Christian responsibility to seek the peace
and prosperity of the city.
When
you take the walk; take the preachers hand and take Jesus into your heart. We
say "Jesus i make you my personal lord and savior and i trust you to guide
Me." i am an absolute proponent for "personal decisions for
Christ" but we are consistently missing a step the point of salvation is
not for me to have a narcissistic boutique experience with God. I am not just
having a concierge experience with God where he desires the best for only me.
My faithfulness to God is both a private and public declaration and
demonstration.
Faithfulness is a private affirmation. Faithfulness is not a
function of prudent budget decisions that brutalize the poor but bail out the
rich. Faithfulness has to at least reflect an Christological ethic to still be
considered Christian. I mean you have to at least look like you are trying to
follow Jesus right? You can't use piss
poor biblical scholarship to justify an ethic that is antithetical to Christ
teachings. You cannot say that cutting food stamps is empowerment, but
bailing out Fannie Mae is improvement. Such a fallacy is a clear sign that the Jesus
that we profess is not the Jesus we proclaim. Somehow, somewhere somebody
has been lying on my Jesus framing him as a savior to my soul but not a savior
to society.
Following Jesus is not about pulling myself up by my own bootstraps, but
pushing somebody else up so they might be what he would have them to be.
Following Jesus is not an experiment in self-actualization but rather an
experiment in inclusion. How much room can i make for the existence of others? There my friend is the fly in the ointment; Christ
is not creating an environment of homogeneity but rather heterogeneity.
My suspicion is that God is far more diverse than the blue eyed Jesus
from granny's picture in the living room. I also suspect that the kingdom ethic
that we tote around like a bruised banana, is far more public than saying
prayers on the capitol steps, and praying that God repeal Obamacare.
Since Benny Hinn's dance card is full it’s probably helpful that people
can make it to the doctor if they can't make it to the crusade. Here is
an idea lets have Ted Cruz whip out the EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) and go
from hospital to hospital making it rain healings on the poor and
disenfranchised. As a matter of fact let’s bring out Sarah Palin and have her
pray over some knotted prayer cloths and send them to all the residents of the
states that have the fewest residents with health insurance coverage. Ok let’s
try this ... next Sunday lets have no preaching ... just blood pressure and
diabetes screenings. I promise you the altar call would look vastly different
when you set up I.V's in the pulpit.
My problem with the idea
of "your own personal Jesus"
1) Personal Jesus
is content to heal you and let your neighbor die and you are ok with
that.
2) Personal Jesus is far
more interested in blessing you privately than making you an agent for systemic
change
3) Personal Jesus seems
to Love white men most of all
4) Personal Jesus is
really not "into" caring for others
5) Personal Jesus loves
huge buildings
6) Personal Jesus has way
too many benefits for buildings but never any offerings for the afflicted
7) Personal Jesus does
not believe in global warming in fact he likes the temp just fine
8) Personal Jesus is an
uber capitalist
9) Personal Jesus not
only Pulled himself up by his own bootstraps he also made the bootstraps
10) Personal Jesus
apparently was just kidding about the whole "orphan widow and stranger”
thing
I don’t have a problem
with Personal Jesus being all up in your heart but I also want his heart to be
a reflection of what we do with our hands. But that might hurt a little!
