Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Mercy Not Sacrifice

Home
About
My Book
Archives
More
- Theology
- Culture
- Politics
- Sermons
- Bible
- Devotions
- Daily Office
- Podcast

Home
Progressive Christian
Roy Moore, Jerry Falwell, Jr, and the Evangelical Authority Crisis

Roy Moore, Jerry Falwell, Jr, and the Evangelical Authority Crisis

Last updated on: November 16, 2017 at 8:04 am by Morgan Guyton

Roy Moore, Jerry Falwell, Jr, and the Evangelical Authority Crisis 2017-11-16T08:04:44-05:00 Morgan Guyton

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

In an interview with the Religion News Service about alleged pedophile and Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, Liberty University President Jerry Falwell said, “It comes down to a question who is more credible in the eyes of the voters — the candidate or the accuser… I believe the judge is telling the truth.” In a recent poll, 37% of Alabama evangelicals said they were now more likely to vote for Roy Moore because of the sexual violence allegations against him. Though many evangelicals are horrified by these circumstances, they are completely in line with evangelical culture’s understanding of truth and authority.

As an evangelical, I was taught that the secular world was inherently deceitful, particularly whenever secular science contradicted something that is written in the Bible. I was taught that secular people believe in moral relativism while Christians believe in absolute truth. Our absolute truth is whatever the Bible says, as interpreted by an authoritative interpreter such as my pastor. The slippery slope to moral relativism starts with believing what makes sense to me based on my observations and logic instead of submitting to the truth proclaimed by an authority figure. I cannot trust my own mind and my own senses because they have been corrupted by Adam and Eve’s fall into sin.

Thus, for evangelicalism, truth is not simply what is; truth is what authority proclaims. There can be no access to truth without established, God-ordained authorities. If everyone “does what is right in his own eyes,” like the Israelites did in Judges when Israel didn’t have a king, then rampant wickedness will be the inevitable result.

We are in the midst of an authority crisis in our culture. I think it’s important to name the crisis as one of authority being called into question rather than morality being upended. The young people today are not any more morally depraved than young people a hundred years ago, though their outlets for moral depravity have certainly evolved and shifted. They just don’t submit unquestioningly to the taboos and conventions of older generations, and because of the rise of the information age, they don’t have to. Their morality is not anchored in the submission to authority that many evangelicals presume is the only legitimate anchor for morality. Moreover, the old white men who were the unquestioned, established authority figures for centuries of Western culture are considered morally suspect by younger generations as a default.

To the degree that many young adults today respect authority, it is the authority of the victim that they respect. People who have been hurt are the ones who are believed. Many older white evangelicals mock and belittle this “victim mentality,” but it’s actually very much a part of our Christian heritage. Jesus’ authority is not derived in the institutional power of the church. He doesn’t have authority because the Anglican Church in Australia can take $1 million out of its offering plates for a homophobic propaganda campaign. He doesn’t have authority because American evangelicals have been a reliable voting bloc for the Republican Party for the past forty years. He has authority over us because we shed his blood on the cross. Consider Revelation 5:1-10.

Then I saw in the right hand of the one seated on the throne a scroll written on the inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals; and I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it. And I began to weep bitterly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”

Then I saw between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders a Lamb standing as if it had been slaughtered, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 He went and took the scroll from the right hand of the one who was seated on the throne. When he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell before the Lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. They sing a new song:

“You are worthy to take the scroll
    and to open its seals,
for you were slaughtered and by your blood you ransomed for God
    saints from every tribe and language and people and nation;
you have made them to be a kingdom and priests serving our God,
    and they will reign on earth.”

The first Christians who read Revelation were not in the position of established institutional power that Christians are today, centuries after the Roman Empire and the Church became one flesh. They did not join the church out of fear of divine punishment by a God who was in absolute control and complete approval of every colonial brutality of Christian Empire. They joined the church because they were compelled by the blood of the lamb. Jesus’ blood was itself the authority to which they submitted even to the point of having their own blood shed.

Christians today cannot experience the same reality as the first Christians because the church’s authority is now conflated with its institutional power. But there are Christians today who submit themselves to the blood of Jesus rather than the triumphalist hype of the alpha male in the megachurch pulpit. Those who live under the authority of Jesus’ blood are distinguished by how they treat the victims and outsiders in our world. Because they heard Jesus when he said whatever you do for the least of these, you do for me. So their default is to believe those who have been crushed rather than those who are in charge. Jesus said the first will be last and the last will be first in his kingdom. I think we should listen to Jesus.

Check out my book How Jesus Saves the World From Us!

Please support our campus ministry NOLA Wesley!

Previous Post

November 9, 2017

Roy Moore: The Ultimate Test For Evangelicals

Next Post

November 15, 2017 How Will the Sydney Anglican Diocese Make Up for the $1 Million of Charitable Funds It Squandered Opposing #MarriageEquality?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Advent Beauty Will Save the World Bible Big Picture: Ephesians Bloggers Book Christian salvation and the Beautitudes Culture Daily Office Danceable Homiletics Deadly Sins Deep Roots: Genesis Devotions Dominican Republic May 2011 El Principio Misericordia (The Mercy Principle) Five verses God tattooed on my heart Fundraising FutureGospel Good Biblical Words Henri Nouwen Interview Jennings' Christian Imagination Jesus inside the beltway Jesus Is My Candidate Jesus vs the Pharisees Jesus vs. Plato Journey to Eternity Looking Back on 2012 Love Actually Monday Merton Monday Merton Music Occupy the manger On Earth As It Is In Heaven Original Sin Podcast Poetry Politics Prayer Psalm 119 Radical Jesus 101 Reviews Sermon on the Mount Sermons Spanish Bible study Special Series Spiritual but not religious Synchroblog Theology Things that made me think Thomas a Kempis Ugliness Into Beauty Uncategorized Viaje Dominicano 2013 Walking in the Valley (Lent) Welcome: It's More than a Mat Wild Goose 2013 Wrestling

Select a Month March 2022 January 2022 December 2021 September 2021 April 2021 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What happened when Jesus touched the coffin of the widow's son at Nain?

Select your answer to see how you score.

The son came back to life The crowd dispersed The coffin broke Rain fell