Meditation for Christians during this time in church history:
Sunday, April 1, 2018
Friday, March 30, 2018
Between heaven and earth...a cross.
Between heaven and earth there's a divide
A painful struggle between darkness and the light
In this interim
(As we wait for You.)
Between heaven and earth, here we are still
And those things that we hate we still can do
In this interim
(As we wait on You.)
We are found in this world;
We are not of this world,
We are all Yours alone
And yet here we remain.
Between heaven and earth
We see You there
All alone and rejected by men and God
Between heaven and earth
Your arms outstretched
On the cross
Between heaven and earth
We see You there
Where wooden beams cross, Life out-poured
Where God's heaven, our earth connect in You
On the cross.
Between heaven and earth we suffer on
Through the brokenness on our way to home
In this interim
(As we wait for You)
Between heaven and earth there is a link-
You, God, are both bridge and only Way
In this interim
(As we wait on You)
We are found in this world;
We are not of this world,
We are all Yours alone
And yet here we remain.
Between heaven and earth
We see You there
All alone and rejected by men and God
Between heaven and earth
Your arms outstretched
On the cross
Between heaven and earth
We see You there
Where wooden beams cross, Life out-poured
Where God's heaven, our earth connect in You
On the cross.
Between heaven and earth we find our lives
As we walk with You through the mess and lies
In this interim
(As we wait for You)
One day heaven and earth will be made new
Yet Your kingdom is right here and You are true
In this interim
(As we wait on You)
We are found in this world;
We are not of this world,
We are all Yours alone
And yet here we remain.
Between heaven and earth
We see You there
All alone and rejected by men and God
Between heaven and earth
Your arms outstretched
On the cross
Between heaven and earth
We see You there
Where wooden beams cross, Life out-poured
Where God's heaven, our earth connect in You
On the cross.
(x 2)
Rough (unauthorized) translation by yours truly, words originally in German, by Albert Frey, music by the same.
Tuesday, January 30, 2018
On God’s church
I read another of those long-winded “I voted for a president, not a pastor” excuses today and was compelled to reply. The whole explanation basically boiled down to they trusted Trump as a business-man to provide jobs/business. It boiled down ultimately to a love of money not country. So as I say, I was compelled, as a follower of the Way, a Christian-a Little Christ- to respond. This is officially now my only response to evangelicals who continue to defend their support for Trump:
You are going to go down in history as some of the biggest traitors to America, let alone the faith. Hope those jobs were good. You wouldn’t understand greatness if it came down from heaven as a baby in a manger.
Evangelicalism stateside is vomitous in its lack of holiness and depraved attempts at power and control rather than freeing people. My God has not changed, and I continue to follow Christ. I know several folks like me, and we encourage each other. I am glad that God is exposing the depths of depravity and money-changing in the thing evangelicals call church in the USA, and I have hope that God will bring godly people out of this mess. This evangelicalism is Sodom. Best not to look back. God is in the business of something fresh and new. We are going to be ok.
For the journey:
You are going to go down in history as some of the biggest traitors to America, let alone the faith. Hope those jobs were good. You wouldn’t understand greatness if it came down from heaven as a baby in a manger.
Evangelicalism stateside is vomitous in its lack of holiness and depraved attempts at power and control rather than freeing people. My God has not changed, and I continue to follow Christ. I know several folks like me, and we encourage each other. I am glad that God is exposing the depths of depravity and money-changing in the thing evangelicals call church in the USA, and I have hope that God will bring godly people out of this mess. This evangelicalism is Sodom. Best not to look back. God is in the business of something fresh and new. We are going to be ok.
For the journey:
Updated Oct 2020:
Tuesday, December 19, 2017
Out of Egypt
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If it's your way or the highway, why bother to say-
That you don't care that you tore out my heart
You couldn't care less that you broke me apart.
Your systems are worthless
Your religion mundane
I can't love your jesus
I've searched for a sign
To show me he's good-
But your gods are vile
You spit and you spew out
the nastiest of bile
Towards people I've known as personal friends
Towards Muslims and gays and the misfits - to what ends?
You hate and reject,
You pushed me outside
You mock and you discard,
And I'm the one unkind?
You are nothing like Jesus
You hate ones our God so loved
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Of weak and the weary, the homeless, the cold.
Still I've found your pews are the hardest of all.
They just are not worth it,
So I'll sleep in a stall
The floor is my cushion, my ceiling the sky
My greeters some outcasts- they'll be mocked for their zeal
Yet all that I wanted was to come down and heal.
Your hearts are so damn hard-
You listen to lies-
You're more outraged I said "damn" than that you call evil right.
Yeah-the metaphor's not refined
(no more is the rhyme)-
I may not be Jesus; I am exiled like He was-
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My God never changed, but you shut me out-
You cared more for winning; you wallowed in doubt
That our God is holy and you reap what you sow
You shut out the lowly,
And just so you know:
The very ministry you said you support
You've undermined and ridiculed
With your unrepentant vote.
You've told your children, your grandchildren too
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I held out my hands to you- I know the ones you fear-
They are my friends-they're ordinary- some had less chances here-
To hear of a Savior-to trust in a Friend
Than you had on a Sunday, in a day in a month, in a life...
Yet somehow they are lovely, rejecting of strife...
But
You shut down your heart to me-and absolutely towards them
You wouldn't shed a single tear.
You've squandered abundant blessings- you've mocked what you don't understand.
So now like Wisdom I mock - I revile and despise:
See- your faith is worthless; these divisions deserved-
You watched while they told me,
To go back to my home - my parents' "mission field"
You jeered in silence as I endured abuse
There's no place for me here
Because I refuse to give in to your fear
I warned you, you countered, "But Hillary," "just politics," and despised,
And so I reject you,
Fools in your lies.
This year, I hope for better, with deep friendships forged
From seeing some real love,
and what can be abhorred.
It's sad that this evangelicalism can never be home
But you see-
I see now- you
 |
| In Budapest, 2006 |
You prefer your comfort
I rock the boat too much
Prophets unwelcome
You slander and smear
As gossips, narcissists, and the angry
And so
In all that winning- because of fear-
You've lost generations
To your fake smiles and lies.
You have no idea what is greatness
You are foul-smelling and corrupt
And to be honest
It's no longer with sadness, but with joy set before
That I'm forgetting what's behind me
In pursuit of the Prize.
Melody Kay Young (December 2017)
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Images not otherwise captioned indicating they are my own were all found online, precise sourcing unknown.
Saturday, October 28, 2017
character counts
Trump supporters are not welcome near my children or in our home.
Trump supporters are and have always been supporting an abuser who enables abusers.
Melody Kay Young
Trump supporters are and have always been supporting an abuser who enables abusers.
Melody Kay Young
Character cannot be discerned among the 81%. Reformation needed. #EmptyThePews
Saturday, July 8, 2017
The Cognitive Dissonance of American Evangelicals: What is Greatness?
Greetings and love from San Antonio- just logging in to share my playlist on YouTube about the state of the 81% American Evangelical church. With all the scandals and betrayals lately, I'm not sure we even worship the same God. There are attitudes among evangelical Christians that divide families and destroy any hope of unity in shared humanity in local communities. This division is not of the God of love. I don't believe we can get anywhere in addressing church abuse, if we refuse to address the poor theology of conservative Christian subcultures. They act like a dysfunctional family and refuse to talk about it.
Which means we need to talk.
Playlist:
Friday, July 7, 2017
new #ATCK book on #evangelicalbetrayal
I am starting to write again on the side of regular activities, as I seem to have a lot to say on Twitter and Facebook, and putting it all in one place makes far more sense. Playing around with some titles and ideas, and no idea how long it'll take. Going back to work in August, and hope to continue my masters next summer, so we will see. But got a few lines down today, and some things pent up are coming together. We will see where it all leads. Very grateful for our freedoms and the privilege of blogging and self-publishing.
Here's what I said on my personal Facebook about things today:
Going to write that book. The root of the
problem in American evangelicalism is minimization of serious abuses,
and compromise with evil, for power and control.
This is why, in my opinion, some people with good intentions against
abuse are not going to stop it. Trump is a spiritual symptom.
If you missed my first book, check it out on Amazon: Fragments and Faith: An Adult Third Culture Kid Experience in Evangelicalism. #ATCK #amwriting #evangelicalbetrayal #prayforUS
If you missed my first book, check it out on Amazon: Fragments and Faith: An Adult Third Culture Kid Experience in Evangelicalism. #ATCK #amwriting #evangelicalbetrayal #prayforUS
God bless and keep us all with hope for the future.
Friday, May 26, 2017
"I have seen"
"Everything's Lies..."
Psalm 12
For the choir director: A psalm of David, to be accompanied by an eight-stringed instrument.[a]
1 Help, O Lord, for the godly are fast disappearing!
The faithful have vanished from the earth!
2 Neighbors lie to each other,
speaking with flattering lips and deceitful hearts.
3 May the Lord cut off their flattering lips
and silence their boastful tongues.
4 They say, “We will lie to our hearts’ content.
Our lips are our own—who can stop us?”
The faithful have vanished from the earth!
2 Neighbors lie to each other,
speaking with flattering lips and deceitful hearts.
3 May the Lord cut off their flattering lips
and silence their boastful tongues.
4 They say, “We will lie to our hearts’ content.
Our lips are our own—who can stop us?”
5 The Lord replies, “I have seen violence done to the helpless,
and I have heard the groans of the poor.
Now I will rise up to rescue them,
as they have longed for me to do.”
6 The Lord’s promises are pure,
like silver refined in a furnace,
purified seven times over.
7 Therefore, Lord, we know you will protect the oppressed,
preserving them forever from this lying generation,
8 even though the wicked strut about,
and evil is praised throughout the land.
and I have heard the groans of the poor.
Now I will rise up to rescue them,
as they have longed for me to do.”
6 The Lord’s promises are pure,
like silver refined in a furnace,
purified seven times over.
7 Therefore, Lord, we know you will protect the oppressed,
preserving them forever from this lying generation,
8 even though the wicked strut about,
and evil is praised throughout the land.
Footnotes:
- 12:Title Hebrew according to the sheminith.
New Living Translation (NLT) Found on www.biblegateway.com
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Monday, April 10, 2017
Saturday, March 18, 2017
Watchblogging and #evangelicalbetrayal
"When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were
unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that
these men had been with Jesus." Acts 4:13
We are all ordinary people. That is the realization that comes with interacting with so many people online. The freedom to speak out against abuses of power is a wonderful thing, which must be protected and used well. The internet has become a democratizing factor in our conversations, for better or for worse, and God has used it for much good in revealing the hearts of people who were otherwise trusted and revered. God has also elevated the humble and given them a platform to speak to serious sin being covered up in Christendom. This is a good thing. This is an opportunity for the people of God to be like Jesus in how they live and speak truth in love.
Unfortunately, there is always a fine line between using a neutral thing for good and abusing it for evil. It seems that many Christians in the United States have crossed the line from speaking truth in love to abusing reputations of fellow human beings out of hateful stereotype. And it doesn't matter how many Bible verses others of us quote, how much context we know, or how much truth we speak: people will believe what they want to believe, even to the detriment of their fellow human beings, who are equally created in the image of a good God.
I write this post following a period of reflection on how to say some things I believe need to be said. Certain things have come to a head in watchblogger circles that need to be addressed, which is difficult to do well, because I have found that there is a faction of evangelicals, particularly of the Gospel Coalition variety, who think that no one but some sort of elite should be writing online. Let me be clear, many of the same watchbloggers I am concerned about have done much good in exposing evil so it can be rebuked and vulnerable people can be healed or protected. God has worked for good using Christian bloggers. God has also worked for good through the more professional Christian organizations. But whenever power and control become prioritized over loving and serving, the church has lost its way, whoever is doing the leading. (So perhaps what I am going to discuss here is a failure of leadership, but I'll leave that for the academics to debate.)
Simply, the American evangelical church is in crisis. That is not scaremongering; you have to have your head in the sand to ignore the symptoms. We are divided into factions, politically maneuvering for prominence, with a lot of pain separating us. We have a lot of headless chickens running around and hurting one another, and not a whole lot of love. This is not limited to the SBC.
Our words matter, and our use of them to build up or destroy does reveal what we worship. Some things may need to be destroyed, but something good needs to be put in its place for the future. God doesn't do things destructively, and neither can Christians. In all of this, I do not believe the American evangelical community can currently be known for its love. It is known rather by its attacks on those outside who do not conform to its systems, and for its infighting generationally, denominationally, and culturally, and in my experience and observation some watchblogging has become complicit in the problem instead of part of its solution.
The American evangelical church is showing its heart online by how it shuts down dissent and bullies its own to fall in line. It is sick. It needs humility. It cannot hold its secular government to any kind of account because it is a swampland itself. It has lost all credibility and spiritual authority in its current state.
I come to this discussion as a Christian whose God has not changed, though I have been betrayed by fellow Christians. I come as a quasi-foreigner to the American culture, despite having been born stateside and having lived here many years of my life. I was a missionary kid the majority of my life, and I identify most with fellow Adult Third Culture Kids like me. I understand the intersection of culture and the differences in how religion and politics interplay in the context of two or more countries with which I've been "affiliated". Probably most of us these days have some sort of cross-cultural knowledge, but it's still not the same as living it. These days there isn't really any excuse not to check out what other countries are saying about this or that. English is an international language and there are news' sources from overseas we can check out. There also isn't any excuse for not thinking critically for oneself and seeking to find the truth rather than accepting what we are told as objective. Everyone has their angle. It bothers me, therefore, that many Americans, and especially evangelicals are unaware of the very influences that are upon them.
To the Christian, truth matters, and truth is deeper than facts. Truth, for the Christian particularly, extends to heart motives, and requires seeking to be found.
The fact is, I have experienced the breakdown of many relationships over the past year, because the truth is, the American evangelical church has elevated narcissism as leadership. (Again, perhaps a leadership fail, but I am uninterested in that and more concerned with how we as individuals respond to it.) Whether The Gospel Coalition or the watchbloggers, the infighting has divided and conquered us. The truth seems to me to be that power and control matter more to most American Christians instead of humility and service. The narcissism that has infiltrated has given birth to the worst betrayal of fellow brothers and sisters and those outside for whom Christ died.
Christians have now been effectively divided by the worst kind of reviler, and those who support him despite his pattern of public abuses are even proud of doing so, and censure those who won't. The very watchbloggers who cared about exposing evil are silent in the face of ongoing public abuse of journalists, attacks on alleged abuse victims, and humiliating by proxy of free thinkers who dare to speak truth to power or simply ask questions. They don't seem to realize these abusive attacks ultimately endanger their own freedom of speech or ability to combat abuse.
Lately, it is the atheists, who are the ones who see clearly and truly tell it as it is. The Christians in other countries who see this may rightfully wonder why we send them missionaries, when the American church acts like spoilt brats complaining of danger while rejecting those fleeing war. If it is for freedom and love that Christ has set us free, why are American evangelicals some of the most miserly and cruel? How is it that they are so easily turned against their neighbor?
The seeds that led to this evangelical betrayal were sown in the willingness to cover up sexual abuses of the most vulnerable and precious people so the show could go on, and in the superior attitudes that lead to world missions that spread Americanity and lack humility. (Again, remember I have personal experience of this subculture, and I have not lost my faith because God is both good and love.) The callousness that it takes to condemn the innocent has manifested itself in a culturally acceptable callousness that hates and rejects innocent victims of war for the religion they were born into overseas. Those 10,000 plus refugee kids that are missing in Europe apparently don't matter to watchbloggers equal to American children, or to the "prolife," equal to unborn American babies. And the same folk who reject all Muslims, send out missionaries and thank servicemembers and their spouses, as if they really care about our emotional or physical safety.
Vomitous.
I frame this as a betrayal because that is the best description of how this has gone down for those of us Christians, from whatever perspective, who stood against this insidious bullyculture. From my perspective, it underlined for me the abject superficiality of many American Christians. Many of them reading this won't be able to get past the fact I frame it this personally- that I see fit to judge them on their character according to their actions and attitudes. Their feelings being hurt is more of an issue to them than getting to and speaking the truth responsibly when human lives are at stake. Bear with me also, because in the government of the culture I grew up in, people yell at and mock each other then go out and get drinks together having had a splendid debate, and having made progress as a nation, despite differences. One of the wider problems of American culture is the inability to debate respectfully and say tough things to each other and yet stay in the debate without insulting each other and being cruel or petty. The evangelical church here is notoriously thin-skinned, and I say this as a sensitive person myself.
Again, if you have hung on this long to hear what I am saying, well done; I respect this isn't easy for many Americans, let alone evangelicals, to hear. But it must be said firmly: this support of an authoritarian, borderline if not supremacist, and bullying regime as government is a huge betrayal of the American values I grew up loving and respecting personally, and the Christian values I hold most dear. And it is a personal rejection of anyone like me who grew up overseas. (I was told to go back to the UK for my concern for refugees back in 2015. Most Christians were silent or said the same kinds of things to me.) To support such cruel folly and call oneself a Christian while rejecting the opportunity to respect the experiences and hear the nuances of a wider worldview from a returning missionary kid: well, if that isn't a betrayal, I don't know what is.
American Christians, you have issues.
Do you not see the in-congruence of railing against Saeed Abendini's domestic abuse while supporting the Americanity of Franklin Graham? Do you not understand the craziness of claiming to care about religious freedom while praising Russia? Do you seriously not understand the brazen hypocrisy of claiming to care about abuse victims (or even being a survivor oneself) and still voting for a self avowed "p*ssy-grabber"?
Imagine what you are putting missionaries through- who love their Muslim neighbors.
Imagine how it is for their kids wanting a college education "back home" when a prominent evangelical college president lets slip the idea of "taking out those Muslims," as if all such religious folk are extremist murderers!
I couldn't even post a photo of the Obamas either as a milspouse or as an American citizen to advertise the time of his farewell speech without a nasty ad hominem comment about him on my Facebook from a former watchblogger friend who chose to delete me because I said (in summary) not cool. I had to detach indefinitely from a Christian family member for the same unrepentant uncalled-for response to a photo wishing a former president well. How is any of that behavior Christlike? Do Christians actually want division and broken relationships? Do they seriously believe they have the right to be rude and controlling? "You were bought with a price"..."Love is not rude." And I am a moderate conservative and was no fan of Obama's politically. But I can't say I respect the man on any level without being accused of being a globalist or liberal by so many professing Christians. (As if either is a slur! And as if I "need" permission.)
And all this abuse came from professing Christians.
I could have told you in 2015 that if this person were to become president, our nation would be a bullyculture and that the most vulnerable people worldwide would be harmed by that; that people would die as a result of it. And so it now is. And yes, there have been deaths already. And the worst part? Because I have a perspective from a foreign country, I am repeatedly rejected by the very kinds of Christians who were the supporters of my family of origin while I grew up overseas, and who I thought cared about truth, as all Christians should. The other day I was deleted as a friend by a Christian friend of 4 or so years for stating calmly that someone (objectively speaking) lied. That's all it took. And yet somehow, people like me are expected by evangelicals to be careful not to hurt the feelings of those who have personally betrayed us down to the core of our Christian identity and person-hood.
I cannot walk on egg-shells again- I am free and I will not go back.
Beloved, it is pure cowardice to be willfully silent in the face of any kind of abuse, and there is no Christian integrity in speaking only those truths that do not offend one’s friends. Reality is that a majority of evangelicals support a public abuser to the detriment of their testimony to the humble and holy character of Christ, and they will reap what they sow, if they refuse to acknowledge the pain they have caused so many people, not just me. And to expect any of us to stay silent about abusive attitudes or behaviors to safeguard "Christian" power and control in society or protect guilty consciences and sensitivities is, in fact, an abusive expectation. Such professing Christians with such entitled expectations, whatever good they claim to do, have caused much hurt and done much harm, both to their brothers and sisters in Christ worldwide, and to many who do not yet know our Lord.
"Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?"
Why aren't all Christians calling out unrepentant abuse?
UPDATE: March 21, 2017
The following (names redacted/comment edited for clarity here) was sent as a comment (I am unaware whether it was published or not) to a prominent watchblog, with a link to this post. I have also emailed this link to several evangelical Christians with platforms, for their information. The refusal to discuss "politics" has disturbed me among American evangelicals, because that seems to me to be a cover for complicity with the bullyculture in which we now find ourselves.
It's not "just politics" for the Christian when lives* are potentially being endangered or harmed by policy. It is also exactly the same kind of dynamics we who have dealt with spiritual abuse have experienced in abusive systems. While we have the right to set boundaries in our own spaces and ways, the "Don't Talk" rule is abusive when freedom is being attacked or abused by bullies. We need to continue to talk truthfully about all church abuse issues instead of selectively skirting some in order to keep the peace.
Comment:
I heard through comments elsewhere that another blogger was censured here for talking about politics. I find that strange, since anti-abuse advocacy in itself is political. My question to you is this: what is your motive for suppressing honest discussion of alleged abuse on any political side, especially when it is relevant as undeniably linked to evangelicalism?
This administration has put military families I know personally under intense stress, and they can't speak freely as civilians can. Neither can missionaries I know who are financially supported by folk
who voted a certain way. What happened to speaking up for those who can't speak for themselves?!
This silence and silencing is, objectively speaking, complicity with a bully- ie an abuser.
Instead of silencing the concerned who are trying to seek the truth honestly, perhaps you should try listening to how much your silence hurts those of us with personal experience and/or expertise in politics, culture, national security, foreign policy, and/or military life. I am aware there are
many who would disagree with my understanding who have expertise or experience in those also,
but if we cannot even discuss it when it is pertinent to the topic up for debate, you have effectively pushed those out with whom you apparently disagree.
As your sister in Christ, you must know, your selective silence and silencing is not consistent with integrity and truth. Truth, even spoken in love, can hurt, but it does set us free, and it does require
conversation and freedom. This needed to be said, whether you publish it or not. No response
required, peace.* https://twitter.com/AllegraJordan1/status/827158000645332992
https://twitter.com/olex_scherba/status/840247879419736064
More context: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ojs1QfCAPs&app=desktop
Further Viewing Context:
(playlist: The Cognitive Dissonance of American Evangelicals)
How Corporate America Created Christian America
UPDATE March 23, 2017:
Recommended Reading:
Monday, October 24, 2016
The Aftermath.
I planned to write a followup to my original book: Fragments and Faith: An Adult Third Culture Kid Experience In Evangelicalism , but I am prioritizing getting back into my career and completing my Masters degree. I wanted to give a little plug for my first book here. The evangelical church in America is going to have to do some soul-searching and/or decline, because it has chased people out with its worldly enmeshment in politics, as well as its total lack of love for foreigners like me. Too many privileged American evangelicals have forgotten Christians are aliens and strangers here, as well as responsible to love, not bite and devour, because God is love. For this reason, I am exiting "Christian twitter" for a more broad twitter experience. I can be followed @PeaceOfResista1 . Opinions my own, not reflective of my loved ones or employers.
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| "Bridges that connect" (Bath, England/San Antonio, Texas) by Melody Kay Young (Post revised 3/27/17 and 5/26/17.) |
Sunday, October 23, 2016
When people fail; God is faithful.
Seeing abuse victims betrayed by our system promoting abusers, and instead of standing against abuse, Christian leaders complicit in promoting abusers, has stolen much hope for a "United" States.
And still, the truth is that my God so loved the world that He allowed Himself to become a victim of severe abuse to save us from our sins. Jesus is the only hope for the nations. Follow Christ.
John 16:33 (NLT)
Saturday, October 22, 2016
A Warning Hope Must Heed
Galatians 5:15 NLT-"But if you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another."
Watch:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=PLdviqEygJzjNREuKMvv74jWYecC3u8zqI&v=Ax0FRBF8rVM
Watch:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=PLdviqEygJzjNREuKMvv74jWYecC3u8zqI&v=Ax0FRBF8rVM
Friday, October 21, 2016
Awareness Of Greatness
For all the "wake up America"s I have seen this year, even the church is still too often foolish when it comes to narcissism. There are many resources and ways to recognize it. It seems to me, too many in the American church have traded, "May I never boast except in the cross of Christ" for "Make America Great Again." That's been a long term problem; it's not Trump's fault. I'll add resources on narcissism on here in hopes that we Christians can instead "shine like stars in a crooked and depraved generation."
Selected Resources:
https://soundcloud.com/kendall-beachey/narcissism-and-the-system-it
https://graceformyheart.wordpress.com/2016/10/21/collateral-narcissism/
https://littleredsurvivor.com/2016/09/09/the-hidden-elephant-of-narcissism/
http://www.manipulative-people.com/malignant-narcissism/
Matthew 18:1-10 New Living Translation (NLT)
The Greatest in the Kingdom
18 About that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?”
2 Jesus called a little child to him and put the child among them. 3 Then he said, “I
tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like
little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. 4 So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.5 “And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf[a] is welcoming me. 6 But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea.
7 “What sorrow awaits the world, because it tempts people to sin. Temptations are inevitable, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting. 8 So if your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one hand or one foot than to be thrown into eternal fire with both of your hands and feet. 9 And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.[b]
10 “Beware that you don’t look down on any of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels are always in the presence of my heavenly Father.[c]
Wednesday, October 19, 2016
The Death of the "Moral" Majority and the "Christian" Right
There are many articles being written about the hypocrisy among American Christians supporting and excusing, even defending, Donald Trump this year. This post will be a space continually being updated with links to pertinent pieces.
May I say this: the death of the enmeshment in politics, that is the state of American evangelicalism, is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it gives me hope that those who really love God will shine brighter than ever. But on the personal grief side, what a way to go.
The twisted Scriptures and the spiritually abusive bashing of believers as Pharisees, when they stand against abuse, is nothing new, but what a tragedy. What blatant wickedness.
I follow Christ, who set me free from the legalism of such things as "having to vote" according to the consciences of esteemed religious leaders, as well as who instructs me to be holy, not to share in the sins of others.
I will never excuse nor defend those who call themselves Christians and use or un-repentantly abused their faith to promote Donald Trump. What they are or are not is known to God, but they are not people who have any right to speak into my life with spiritual advice, that I can tell you.
Thinking Through American Politics and Christian Ethics:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdviqEygJzjNREuKMvv74jWYecC3u8zqI
"Neither Trump nor Clinton are coming out clean from this one if this is the logic and metric we use. Even so, only one candidate has been the darling of so-called Evangelical leaders who allegedly take the Bible and its measures seriously."
"“When your leaders come out and make excuses and use biblical analogies to defend and promote Donald Trump,” she added, “that to me crosses a line I’m not comfortable with.”"
"After decades of hearing the Christian Right bleat about the importance of “moral character” and lamenting the “coarsening of our culture,” they’ve been finally exposed as amoral charlatans who give less of a f*ck about actual morality than the supposed heathens they hate."
"I refuse to be a Christian who believes that God blesses America more than God so loves the world."
"Trump is what happens when you wear your Christian conservative values like a cardigan to conveniently slip off when the heat rises."
"Realistically, there is no room at all for Christianity in Trump’s ego-driven narcissistic world."
Abusive immorality is what "The Moral Majority" are willing to overlook in Trump rather than stand against as Christians.
"He would reject Jesus, who threw money changers out of the Temple and who is coming back with a sword in hand to mete out justice, for a man who thinks it is okay to grab women by their genitals. "
"Evangelical leaders are going to lose an entire generation of Christians in the wake of our current political and social climate. "
"The misery is compounded when longtime friends and allies dismiss my experiences and the experiences of my colleagues as nothing more than the normal cost of public advocacy. It’s not.
"The Religious Right’s jaundiced presidential endorsement can’t but reveal the movement for what it is: an unscrupulous political machine that has nothing to do with genuine Christianity and everything to do with lust for power."
"Surely it is not the calling of the devout to put aside glaring assaults and affronts to morality in favor of winning a political race, one whose outcome could determine how Christians themselves are treated,” Ben Howe wrote last week in Red State, a conservative blog.
"The “religious right,” which I’ve defended my whole life, abandoned the posture of “family values” when they had the chance to gain a seat at the table."
"You have subverted and perverted the Word to justify and excuse the behavior of a man who finds it acceptable to degrade others and revel in sexual sin."
"How can we trust a man who says one thing but does another? Apparently, Trump’s evangelical supporters are asking us to do exactly that. This sort of ethical suicide is what gives evangelicals a bad name."
"Donald Trump is the apotheosis of the sexual revolution’s worst male impulses. He has spent his entire life creating the culture that encourages abortions."
"His Bonhoeffer was a born-again Christian who espoused traditional family values.
This is complete nonsense. ...honest engagement of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s life and thought moves us a long way from the harrowing worldview of Donald J. Trump. It moves us to behold the world anew in the light of the Cross and Resurrection."
“Moral precepts are real; they are not like warm candle wax, easily shaped to fit the ends of this or that president, or this or that cause.”
"Christianity, with fundamentalism leading its charge, has just become SO shallow in this country. It literally diminishes its adherents, yet we think that we have some kind of national patent on Jesus Christ. No wonder we haven't noticed the rest of the world leaving us in the dust."
"Jesus never once sat on a throne here. The closest He got was the back of a donkey. God did not blaze a trail with the gospel galloping on a horse through the halls of government."
"People were being ushered into a deeply religious experience...and it made me completely uncomfortable."
"For today’s evangelical leadership, though, “Now go, and sin no more” seems to have become inconvenient to the church’s newest idol and most precious mission: Republicanism."
"Fundamentalists–including the vast majority of white Evangelicals in the US–are inherently authoritarian."
“Move along Jesus, we don’t give a damn about you.”
"After Trump’s victory, Edwards ferociously attacked the president-elect’s critics, Bible in hand."
"the authoritarian tactics of deflection, false equivalence, and whataboutism. "
"The American evangelical church is showing its heart online by how it shuts down dissent and bullies its own to fall in line. It is sick."
"People who defend Trump must behave as functional relativists, relegating all of his statements and actions to a place of fluid meaning and interpretation. His gross language about women is just “locker room talk,” so it can’t be held against him. His horrifying language about immigrants and Muslims is just a healthy zeal for the law. His covert dealings with Russia . . . well, maybe Russia’s not so bad after all. All presidents lie, you know. We’re not electing a “pastor-in-chief,” after all."
"To speak only in the language of pragmatism is to bring nothing distinctive to the table; to speak only a private language of revelation and self-proclaimed authority is to leave the table altogether."
"The Divinity of Donald Trump"
"At what point have Christians crossed over into dangerous wishful thinking that inhibits their ability to have eyes to see and ears to hear?"
I see the culture of Trump as undermining any net positive legislation from Trump. Who he is, how he leads through his leadership, undermines any net positive laws he might make possible.
“Donald Trump is the only candidate who has dealt almost exclusively in the politics of personal insult,” DeMoss said. “The bullying tactics of personal insult have no defence — and certainly not for anyone who claims to be a follower of Christ. That’s what’s disturbing to so many people. It’s not [the] Christ-like behaviour that Liberty has spent 40 years promoting with its students.”
"As a survivor of oppressive Christianity, I feel erased by claims that the Christianity I grew up with was not “real.”"
"Trump is a man who violates women, steals other peoples money, praises foreign enemies of the United States, persecutes human beings in 140 characters on social media, torments, harangues, doesn’t give alms for the poor, nor attends church, (he golfs). He doesn’t pray unless there’s an audience, or the cameras are rolling, and bears false witness to the American People on a daily basis. The Toronto Star’s Daniel Dale keeps a running list of every lie. The Lord our God sees every good, and every sin human beings commit on earth. How we act in public, and in secret. Words used like brickbats, carry consequences unforseen. For politicians, lobbyists, corporations, and moneychangers, they are deemed hypocrites in Scripture. Reverend Falwell and Liberty U believe Trump’s violations of moral law circumscribe Christian values. The Book of Matthew alone is the antithesis of Trumpism."
"In months of discussions with evangelical Christians, none of the president’s self-inflicted wounds seem to register. Trump is one of their own now— his grievance is their grievance..."
May I say this: the death of the enmeshment in politics, that is the state of American evangelicalism, is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it gives me hope that those who really love God will shine brighter than ever. But on the personal grief side, what a way to go.
The twisted Scriptures and the spiritually abusive bashing of believers as Pharisees, when they stand against abuse, is nothing new, but what a tragedy. What blatant wickedness.
I follow Christ, who set me free from the legalism of such things as "having to vote" according to the consciences of esteemed religious leaders, as well as who instructs me to be holy, not to share in the sins of others.
I will never excuse nor defend those who call themselves Christians and use or un-repentantly abused their faith to promote Donald Trump. What they are or are not is known to God, but they are not people who have any right to speak into my life with spiritual advice, that I can tell you.
Thinking Through American Politics and Christian Ethics:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdviqEygJzjNREuKMvv74jWYecC3u8zqI
"Neither Trump nor Clinton are coming out clean from this one if this is the logic and metric we use. Even so, only one candidate has been the darling of so-called Evangelical leaders who allegedly take the Bible and its measures seriously."
"“When your leaders come out and make excuses and use biblical analogies to defend and promote Donald Trump,” she added, “that to me crosses a line I’m not comfortable with.”"
"After decades of hearing the Christian Right bleat about the importance of “moral character” and lamenting the “coarsening of our culture,” they’ve been finally exposed as amoral charlatans who give less of a f*ck about actual morality than the supposed heathens they hate."
"I refuse to be a Christian who believes that God blesses America more than God so loves the world."
"Trump is what happens when you wear your Christian conservative values like a cardigan to conveniently slip off when the heat rises."
"Realistically, there is no room at all for Christianity in Trump’s ego-driven narcissistic world."
Abusive immorality is what "The Moral Majority" are willing to overlook in Trump rather than stand against as Christians.
"He would reject Jesus, who threw money changers out of the Temple and who is coming back with a sword in hand to mete out justice, for a man who thinks it is okay to grab women by their genitals. "
"Evangelical leaders are going to lose an entire generation of Christians in the wake of our current political and social climate. "
"The misery is compounded when longtime friends and allies dismiss my experiences and the experiences of my colleagues as nothing more than the normal cost of public advocacy. It’s not.
"The Religious Right’s jaundiced presidential endorsement can’t but reveal the movement for what it is: an unscrupulous political machine that has nothing to do with genuine Christianity and everything to do with lust for power."
"Surely it is not the calling of the devout to put aside glaring assaults and affronts to morality in favor of winning a political race, one whose outcome could determine how Christians themselves are treated,” Ben Howe wrote last week in Red State, a conservative blog.
"The “religious right,” which I’ve defended my whole life, abandoned the posture of “family values” when they had the chance to gain a seat at the table."
"You have subverted and perverted the Word to justify and excuse the behavior of a man who finds it acceptable to degrade others and revel in sexual sin."
"How can we trust a man who says one thing but does another? Apparently, Trump’s evangelical supporters are asking us to do exactly that. This sort of ethical suicide is what gives evangelicals a bad name."
"Donald Trump is the apotheosis of the sexual revolution’s worst male impulses. He has spent his entire life creating the culture that encourages abortions."
"His Bonhoeffer was a born-again Christian who espoused traditional family values.
This is complete nonsense. ...honest engagement of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s life and thought moves us a long way from the harrowing worldview of Donald J. Trump. It moves us to behold the world anew in the light of the Cross and Resurrection."
“Moral precepts are real; they are not like warm candle wax, easily shaped to fit the ends of this or that president, or this or that cause.”
"Christianity, with fundamentalism leading its charge, has just become SO shallow in this country. It literally diminishes its adherents, yet we think that we have some kind of national patent on Jesus Christ. No wonder we haven't noticed the rest of the world leaving us in the dust."
"Jesus never once sat on a throne here. The closest He got was the back of a donkey. God did not blaze a trail with the gospel galloping on a horse through the halls of government."
"People were being ushered into a deeply religious experience...and it made me completely uncomfortable."
"For today’s evangelical leadership, though, “Now go, and sin no more” seems to have become inconvenient to the church’s newest idol and most precious mission: Republicanism."
"Fundamentalists–including the vast majority of white Evangelicals in the US–are inherently authoritarian."
“Move along Jesus, we don’t give a damn about you.”
"After Trump’s victory, Edwards ferociously attacked the president-elect’s critics, Bible in hand."
"the authoritarian tactics of deflection, false equivalence, and whataboutism. "
"The American evangelical church is showing its heart online by how it shuts down dissent and bullies its own to fall in line. It is sick."
"People who defend Trump must behave as functional relativists, relegating all of his statements and actions to a place of fluid meaning and interpretation. His gross language about women is just “locker room talk,” so it can’t be held against him. His horrifying language about immigrants and Muslims is just a healthy zeal for the law. His covert dealings with Russia . . . well, maybe Russia’s not so bad after all. All presidents lie, you know. We’re not electing a “pastor-in-chief,” after all."
"To speak only in the language of pragmatism is to bring nothing distinctive to the table; to speak only a private language of revelation and self-proclaimed authority is to leave the table altogether."
"The Divinity of Donald Trump"
"At what point have Christians crossed over into dangerous wishful thinking that inhibits their ability to have eyes to see and ears to hear?"
I see the culture of Trump as undermining any net positive legislation from Trump. Who he is, how he leads through his leadership, undermines any net positive laws he might make possible.
“Donald Trump is the only candidate who has dealt almost exclusively in the politics of personal insult,” DeMoss said. “The bullying tactics of personal insult have no defence — and certainly not for anyone who claims to be a follower of Christ. That’s what’s disturbing to so many people. It’s not [the] Christ-like behaviour that Liberty has spent 40 years promoting with its students.”
"As a survivor of oppressive Christianity, I feel erased by claims that the Christianity I grew up with was not “real.”"
"Trump is a man who violates women, steals other peoples money, praises foreign enemies of the United States, persecutes human beings in 140 characters on social media, torments, harangues, doesn’t give alms for the poor, nor attends church, (he golfs). He doesn’t pray unless there’s an audience, or the cameras are rolling, and bears false witness to the American People on a daily basis. The Toronto Star’s Daniel Dale keeps a running list of every lie. The Lord our God sees every good, and every sin human beings commit on earth. How we act in public, and in secret. Words used like brickbats, carry consequences unforseen. For politicians, lobbyists, corporations, and moneychangers, they are deemed hypocrites in Scripture. Reverend Falwell and Liberty U believe Trump’s violations of moral law circumscribe Christian values. The Book of Matthew alone is the antithesis of Trumpism."
"In months of discussions with evangelical Christians, none of the president’s self-inflicted wounds seem to register. Trump is one of their own now— his grievance is their grievance..."
Psalm 101
A psalm of David.
1 I will sing of your love and justice, Lord.
I will praise you with songs.
2 I will be careful to live a blameless life—
when will you come to help me?
I will lead a life of integrity
in my own home.
3 I will refuse to look at
anything vile and vulgar.
I hate all who deal crookedly;
I will have nothing to do with them.
4 I will reject perverse ideas
and stay away from every evil.
5 I will not tolerate people who slander their neighbors.
I will not endure conceit and pride.
I will praise you with songs.
2 I will be careful to live a blameless life—
when will you come to help me?
I will lead a life of integrity
in my own home.
3 I will refuse to look at
anything vile and vulgar.
I hate all who deal crookedly;
I will have nothing to do with them.
4 I will reject perverse ideas
and stay away from every evil.
5 I will not tolerate people who slander their neighbors.
I will not endure conceit and pride.
6 I will search for faithful people
to be my companions.
Only those who are above reproach
will be allowed to serve me.
7 I will not allow deceivers to serve in my house,
and liars will not stay in my presence.
8 My daily task will be to ferret out the wicked
and free the city of the Lord from their grip.
to be my companions.
Only those who are above reproach
will be allowed to serve me.
7 I will not allow deceivers to serve in my house,
and liars will not stay in my presence.
8 My daily task will be to ferret out the wicked
and free the city of the Lord from their grip.
New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
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