No Longer Evangelical?


I got a Bible!

I am having an identity crisis.
For almost my entire adult life I have self identified as an evangelical Christian.
But, my identity has been hijacked.
Evangelical Christianity has been severed from its roots in the gospel and has been replanted amidst very confusing political soil.

And I don't know who I am anymore.

This dilemma traces its origins back several decades. In the 1980's progressive Christian Tony Campolo was loudly declaring that evangelicals in America no longer believed in the Jesus of the gospels, but instead they had transformed him into a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant Republican.
And THAT Jesus is impotent to do anything for us. (Because he is a figment of our imagination).

Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Convention has renounced the label and now calls himself a Gospel Christian.

Evangelical traces its roots to the word evangel - which in turn traces its root to the Greek word euangelion - which means "good news". It was first used to refer to a herald who would travel to a neighboring city and declare the "eungelion" of the king.
Early Christians co-opted the term and used it to label the message of Christ. euangelion = gospel.

The term caught on with British and American Christians who were involved in revival movements in the 18th C. I believe there are 3 essentials of being defined as an evangelical:

1. Bible - Belief in the centrality and authority of the Bible. The Bible is the inspired Word of God.

2. The Cross - Centrality of Cross. Upon the Cross, Jesus Christ died as an atoning sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins of all who will repent.

3. Jesus Christ - 2nd person of the Trinity. Fully God and fully human. Salvation is not found anywhere else outside of Christ's death on the cross.

There are other beliefs that evangelicals hold on to as well - but these 3 are central and primary.

I find it hard to believe that 1 in 4 Americans claim to be evangelical Christians. If they are, they must be of a nominal variety because the general culture in America is decidedly either anti-christian or simply apathetic.

And now evangelical christians are described in the news as simply another voting bloc. This group of voters appear to be white, conservative and nostalgic for a day when the Christian ethic reigned - or at least culture was more sympathetic to it.

I got news for you - we're not going back. We no longer have the biggest seat at the table. Be grateful we still have a seat. We need to learn how to play nice with others. The west is morphing into a pseudo-pluraility of beliefs and cultures.


And Evangelicals need to learn to respond. And building tall walls and banning other religions from immigrating sound like a very odd "eungelion". It is not good news to those not like us and it is not good news for us. I have also been combing my New Testament to figure out how we can possibly justify "taking care" of those Muslims with our concealed carry weapons. Haven't found anything - I did find one part where Jesus yells at one of his disciples for cutting off a guy's ear with a sword. He then heals the ear and tells his follower to put his sword away.

I don't know if I fit in with what evangelical has come to mean. Maybe I'll start something new - like Gospel Truth Christians.

What do you think?

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