Converts or Disciples Part 5: The Fruit is Shit

Part 5: The Fruit is Shit

 

This is Part 5 of the series. Other parts (will be updated as I post them):

 

Converts or Disciples Part 1: A Musical Analogy

Converts or Disciples Part 2: The Problem With the Missionary Project

Converts or Disciples Part 3: Selling It

Converts or Disciples Part 4: The Theological Story is Shit

 

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“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.” ~Jesus Christ

 

“Why are millennials choosing to part ways with the faith of their parents? No doubt their reasons are many and complex. But one clear factor in the decline of white Christianity is a prevailing sense that Christians are more likely to be racist, homophobic, self-righteous, and blindly patriotic. Not just in the past. And not just in the South. This is the lived experience of twenty-first-century Americans. Theirs is not an angry rebellion against conservative values. It simply seems to them that the Christianity of this land makes people worse.” ~ Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove

 

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If you were to ask the average non-Evangelical off the street what they thought of first as associated with Evangelical Christians, I can bet you (and I would win) that the overwhelming majority would say something like this:

 

“Evangelicals…hate gay and transgender people.”

 

Does anyone think I am wrong about this? Anyone? Buehler? 

 

Not only that, I would also wager that if you asked the average white Evangelical what they thought was most wrong with our country, they would overwhelmingly mention the existence and toleration of gay and transgender people. Or at least something else connected with sex, such as premarital sex or abortion. (And yes, the anti-abortion movement is about sex: specifically whether women can control their own sexuality or bodies or not, which is why anti-abortion people are also opposed to any policies that actually reduce abortions, and instead focus on criminalization.) 

 

The thing is, this perception is exactly correct. When you look at what supposedly Christ-following people actually care about, it turns out to be stuff Christ didn’t even talk about, or that he mentioned in the context of men controlling themselves, not controlling women. 

 

But it gets worse, once you actually look at what white Evangelicals support in the realm of politics. 

 

Let’s see here: the same people seeking to ban books by and about LGBTQ+ people ALSO want to ban books by and about people of color, particularly if they talk about systemic racism, or might possibly make white people feel bad about their ancestors’ treatment of POC in the past (oh, and the present too.) 

 

Well, what about embracing immigrants and refugees? Nope. They want to build a wall and shut down the asylum system. Keep those (brown skinned) people out of our nice white Christian homeland. 

 

When it comes to economic policy, white Evangelicals are firmly in the camp of Social Darwinism - more so than any other group. It is so weird how people who talk so much about “grace” are so terrified that someone, anyone, (particularly a brown-skinned person or a woman) might get something they don’t deserve. Or at least that the white Evangelical thinks they don’t deserve. 

 

How about voter rights? They oppose them. How about affordable college? They oppose it. What about healthcare for everyone? Oh, they oppose that too. Some people just don’t deserve that. 

 

Or how about making sacrifices for public health, like wearing a mask during a pandemic, or avoiding large gatherings? Believe me, they oppose those too. 

 

How about the environment? They don’t believe in science, so of course they oppose trying to keep our planet habitable for future generations. Oh, and God will just destroy and replace it in the next few years anyway, can’t you read the signs?

 

I was thinking through the political commitments of white Evangelicalism early in the Trump Era, and I realized that while the best source for research into what they believe about political issues was to just watch Fox News (which is far more influential than any theologian in existence), one could also figure out their opinion by simply imagining the most cruel, the most selfish, the most callous, the most anti-reason, the most deluded, and did I mention the most cruel? - position, and that would be the white Evangelical one. 

 

It is no accident that the biggest reputational challenge that Evangelicalism faces right now is that the fruit of its theology is absolutely putrid. 

 

Let’s look at that fruit again. 

 

This is what those outside the bubble see happening:

 

Hatred and calls for extermination of LGBTQ people. 

 

Social Darwinist economics - the rich should have more, and the poor should have less.

 

Subordination of women in the church, the home, and in society. 

 

Hostility toward any form of racial justice. Historically, this has included support for slavery and Jim Crow. Now, it manifests as demonization of the perspectives of minorities through the deliberate mischaracterization of “CRT” and being “woke.” 

 

Exclusion of immigrants - at least the ones that are poor and/or brown skinned. 

 

The termination of democracy - because only people like them should have a say in our society. (That’s what Christian Nationalism is.) 

 

Support for Fascist politicians like Trump and DeSantis. 

 

Control of women’s bodies including forced gestation. 

 

Bans on books and ideas that differ from their theological, cultural, and political beliefs.

 

Forced indoctrination by government (including schools and libraries) of their particular theological, cultural, and political beliefs.

 

Contempt for younger people and their needs. This includes active efforts to shift costs onto them, as well as refusal to address student debt, unaffordable housing, and gun violence. 

 

Worship of a mythological past, when America was supposedly great. 

 

Hostility toward science of any sort (except some technology.) 

 

Hostility toward public health measures. 

 

A sense of entitlement and a belief that the law shouldn’t apply to them. 

 

The core behind ALL of this is a fundamental belief:

 

Some People Are Better and More Deserving Than Others

 

People like us are better, and deserve privileges that others do not. Society has natural hierarchies - men over women, rich over poor, whites over minorities, cishet people over LGBTQ people, Evangelicals over those with other beliefs. 

 

Is it any wonder my kids’ generation hates religion? 

 

This is the fruit.

 

This is the fruit.

 

It is thoroughly putrid, and everyone outside the bubble can see that. 

 

Is it any wonder why those outside of the Evangelical tribe want to vomit? 

 

If Evangelicals want to know why they aren’t making coverts, this is the reason. If you go around with a plate of fresh dogshit and try to sell it, of course people won’t be buying. 

 

You can’t sell putrid for very long, even with better marketing. The truth gets out, which is why “evangelism” and “witnessing” are doomed to fail until the product changes. This is why I believe that “evangelism” has a different purpose than actually making converts (let alone disciples) - see the previous installment for more on that. 

 

I will also add that I believe these political/cultural beliefs and practices are not “christian” at all in the sense of Christ-following. They are straight up Republicanity and Ku Klux Klanity - and you can literally follow the history of the ideas and policies back to white supremacy and social darwinism/eugenics. It isn’t a mystery at all where this is from - and it sure isn’t Christ. 

 

This is the crux of the difference between “making converts” and “making disciples.” Converts believe in the theological superstructure. Disciples follow Christ. 

 

By their fruits you shall know them. 

 

By itself, the rotten fruit is enough to prove that the theology is shit. You can know it by its fruit. However, in the next installment, I want to show how the shitty theology and the shitty fruit are intertwined and inseparable.

 

I’ll close with another quote from Jesus Christ about this whole business of proselytizing:

 

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.”

 

The world does NOT need more Evangelicals. It needs a lot fewer of them. Because right now, they are the greatest driver of harm to vulnerable people in our country. Consumed with fear, hate, and entitlement, they harm others in the name of Christ.

       It has just become a bit more obvious what the actual god Evangelicals worship is...

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“But but but…” 

 

Not all Evangelicals. Sure. And not even all white evangelicals, or all white evangelicals in ultra-conservative churches. Fine.

 

But north of 80 percent vote for these policies and politicians and parties. And they usually express support for every single one of the policies I have named. This is far higher than the general population. So, at minimum, there is strong correlation. 

 

One could speculate about causation. Maybe people who hold to bigoted and selfish views are attracted to the theology which gives them moral cover for harming others. Or maybe the theology itself (along with church culture) makes people more hateful and less loving. Take your pick.

 

But let’s just cut to the chase: I’m sure plenty of people at Klan rallies went because of peer pressure, and may not have believed in all the hate. But I wouldn’t recommend that an African American try to join the Klan. Or that a decent human being should do so. 

 

So likewise, if people who hold hateful views and support hateful policies are welcome in a church or a movement or a subculture, don’t be surprised if decent people don’t want to become converts. 

 

If you invite and welcome white supremacists, don’t be surprised if people of color aren’t interested in being a part of your group. If you invite and welcome misogynists, don’t be surprised if strong women do not want to be part of your group. If you invite and welcome anti-gay and anti-trans bigots, don’t be surprised if affirming people do not want to be part of your group. And so on.