Allegedly, Evangelicals are “people of the book.” Most Evangelicals believe the Bible was written by God and is inerrant and infallible. Yet, despite believing the Bible is the very words of God, I don’t know of one Evangelical who believes and practices all of the Bible.
Most American Evangelicals vote Republican. Eight out of ten voting white Evangelicals voted for Donald Trump in three straight general elections. No matter how vicious and vile Trump is, he’s their man. Some claim Trump is a Christian, despite his lifestyle and insane religious statements that suggest otherwise. How can someone who says they believe and practice ALL the teachings of the Bible vote for Trump?
As I was reading yesterday, I stumbled upon a verse that played an instrumental part in my life:
He has told you, O mortal, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8, NRSV)
To Evangelicals who are reading this post, let me ask you one question: What does the Lord REQUIRE of you? Not the church, not the society, but God himself. According to the inerrant, infallible words of God, every Evangelical is REQUIRED to do three things (drumroll, please):
- Do justice
- Love kindness
- Walk humbly with your God
Don’t try to exegete or hermeneutically explain away the clear meaning of this text. What does God (Jesus) demand everyone one of his followers do? Not believe, but DO. As James clearly stated, “Faith without works is dead (lifeless)”.
How many Evangelicals do you know whose focus is on justice, kindness, and humility? Not many. So the next time someone tells you he is a “Bible believer,” ask him if he practices Micah 6:8. Be prepared for lots of Bible gymnastics. If Evangelicals actually practiced Micah 6:8, Trump wouldn’t be president, and many of the Republicans (and Democrats) would no longer be in office.
If Evangelicals can’t or won’t practice the clear teachings of the Bible, why do they expect unwashed, uncircumcised Philistines of the world to do what they won’t do?
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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I remember, throughout my 20’s being lost and confused about what God really required of me. When I was 30, that verse spoke to me. Seek Justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God.
I grew frustrated with evangelical theology that told me that there’s no “doing” on my part.
The Evangelical church needs a cold bucket of reality dashed in their faces. I’ve mentioned that I have an Evangelical cousin who rarely admits to being wrong about anything, although I don’t know if she stands with Trump ( she votes for anyone claiming to be Christian & Republican, very naive, very gullible. ) & I honestly DON’T WANT TO KNOW just so I can still have some tattered shreds of something resembling RESPECT for her. If she reads the Bible as much as she claims to, she’d KNOW that this disaster / TRAVESTY of an administration has NOTHING Christian about it, not even nominally.
And how about the verses about millstones for child abusers? – Or not even child abusers, but anyone who ’causes one of these little ones to stumble.’ And my secret favourite….’ye also ought to wash one another’s feet….’ Ain’t ever seen any x-tians preach about the necessity of the former or perform the latter. I predict the resident fundy trolls will tell me I’m All Wrong Here. ….Their jesus didn’t really mean those things…we only need obey the commands they personally think he did mean. As yesterday’s rebuttals of one of them said ‘Words have meanings.’ Their (fictitious) jesus couldn’t be clearer on these topics could he?