How to Survive in Today’s America: Become an Evangelical

Last updated on: November 23, 2017 at 10:16 am by Amy Butler

How to Survive in Today’s America: Become an Evangelical 2017-11-23T10:16:30-04:00 Amy Butler

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.

I proudly call myself an evangelical, though some argue that point with me. The bottom line is that I believe loving God and loving our neighbors can change the world, and that’s good news. Evangelical.

That being said, I have worked long and hard to temper the evangelical mindset I was given, a mindset that taught me everything in the world is easily parsed into crisp categories. These categories include but are not limited to: holy, sinful, heavenly, worldly, Christian, unchristian, etc. Live long enough and you learn that human experience doesn’t always part down the middle, that marriage isn’t forever and rules of ancient biblical cultures don’t translate easily to modern life and not all Democrats are going to hell. Shades of gray, they call it; nuances. And going through life without them makes one bullheaded and very often lacking in joy.

I don’t prefer to be bullheaded and lacking in joy, so my grown up religious expression appears to be less evangelical by these traditional measures. However, I’ve been increasingly turning back toward the lessons of my evangelical upbringing for help navigating the moral, political, and social disaster that is currently the United States of America. It’s surprising that I’d return there, since people calling themselves evange Screen Shot 2017-11-21 at 9.00.33 PM licals are public champions of pretty much everything Jesus abhorred and I spend my Sunday mornings preaching against: hurting your neighbor, amassing wealth, perpetrating violence, prizing individuality.

But in these moments of ridiculously crass political and religious discourse, I’m finding that a turn back toward clear evangelical parsing is helping me make sense of the world. It doesn’t really matter what your political affiliation or geography or religion: we all are choosing these days whether we will be bearers of light or bearers of darkness—people who live exhibiting high expressions of human kindness, or the love of God, or people who wreak havoc and create chaos and practice destruction. These images of a person who carries either light or darkness can sound a bit like background to the Star Wars saga, but they are actually quite biblical. Recall these familiar words from 1 John: “…God is light and in God there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with God while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as God is in the light, we have fellowship with one another…”.

I think this clear distinction is rather helpful these days. For example, instead of arguing over which sexual predator is the worst offender, bearers of the light in this world will always lead with the strong affirmation that exploitation, abuse, and harassment of anyone is not a character trait we’d like to see in our leaders. Want to argue the intricacies of immigration law? Not me. I want to pull way back and say that being a bearer of light in the world always means welcoming our neighbors with care and generosity. If you make more money, you should pay more taxes, because we live in community and we have a responsibility to care for each other. Light-bearers know this, of course. In a civilized society we are armed with kindness, not with spewing, hate-filled insults and definitely not with semi-automatic weapons, because we are bearers of the light.

The times are too urgent now to allow the gradual erosion of all we hold dear by those who insist that bearing the darkness is only a nuance—just another shade of reasonable political discourse. It is not. Things are so bad that it’s time to go back to the beginning, to start with two clear categories:

Some people show up in the world peddling hatred candy-coated with faux moral outrage and greed disguised as rugged individualism. They practice and require uniform political and religious rhetoric. They trade truth for expediency and decency for unmoored self-righteousness. They will stand up and declare wrong right without even blinking an eye. They are bearers of darkness.

And some people walk in the world with open hands and open hearts. They listen to the stories of those who are hurt by abusive people or abusive systems and they work to make sure the most vulnerable are protected. They insist on truth told with kindness and principled commitment to core human values. They will stand up for what is right no matter what it costs. They are bearers of light.

I’ve decided I’m going to stop paying attention to the emperors of this country who walk around naked as if that’s a perfectly normal thing to do, bearers of a darkness they hope will cover their exposed and rotting souls. I don’t want to do that; I don’t want to be like that. Instead, I want to watch and follow and be a bearer of light in the world.

And it seems to me that these days, it’s just that simple of a choice.

Being the Church

Practicing Discipleship

Previous Post

November 19, 2017

How Should the Church Talk About Money?

Next Post

November 26, 2017 Longing For Home

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Answering the Call Being the Church Curating Wisdom Laughing Out Loud Living in Relationship Practicing Discipleship Reclaiming Baptist Speaking from the Pulpit Uncategorized

Select a Month July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 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 March 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 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005

Search for:

How to Survive in Today’s America: Become an Evangelical

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Archives

Categories

Meta

Who was the patriarch whose faith led to the near-sacrifice of his son?