A study reported by OneNewsNow revealed that a majority of American citizens view evangelical Christianity in a negative light, but their perception is largely misguided.
The report went on to state that many people view evangelical Christianity as being:
1. Homophobic
2. Misogynistic (hatred of women)
3. Racist
4. Uptight
5. Narrow-minded
The above perceptions are not representative of the vast majority of Christians, including evangelicals and in fact are based on a misunderstanding of what Christianity and the teachings upon which it is founded. Most of those who hold such a negative perception of Christianity have likely never set foot inside a church, nor have they ever taken the time to read the Bible for themselves or even know anyone who is a devout Christian.
Their perception is largely based on misinformation by dishonest media and academic organizations, the vilification and inaccurate portrayals of Christians by the entertainment industry, a bad experience they may have had in a church setting, or a wrong impression given to them by professing Christians going against the faith they profess, which is why in order to reach the lost for Christ, we are required to undo the lies about our faith that those whom we seek to take the Gospel to have been led to believe.
1. Most Christians are not homophobic:
Homophobic is to either fear or hate LGBTs. Christians neither fear nor hate them, yet at the same time, cannot endorse LGBT behavior in word or deed because of scriptural teaching against homosexual behavior. You can disagree with a particular statement made or viewpoint expressed, and not necessarily hate that person. You can hold a certain form of conduct or behavior in contempt and still love the person committing the contemptible act.
Christians separate behavior from people which is how they can still show love and kindness to that person but without doing or saying anything that appears to be an endorsement of a way of life from which Christ calls on all people to turn away from.
But the LGBT community would have us believe that if we do not endorse the life they have chosen for themselves that we are being hateful and intolerant and if public opinion tends to sway in their favor, it is because people do not really know what hate is and because they do not know what hate is, they really do not know what love is and sadly, many who profess Christ do not know what love or hate really is either.
When Jesus healed people of various afflictions, He was demonstrating love and compassion towards them, but He also told them to stop sinning lest a worse thing came upon them (Jn. 5:14) When He delivered a woman accused of adultery from what would otherwise might have been certain death for her, He told her to go and sin no more. (Jn. 8:11) These are two examples in which Jesus demonstrated His love while at the same time commanding them to repent of their sins; He was loving the sinner, but at the same time, hated their sin, making it clear to them that He was not affirming or excusing their sinful living.
It is no different with many Christians today. We love the sinner, because God loves the sinner, but we must hate the sin, because God hates the sin. It is God's love by which redemption was given through the death of Christ and His resurrection so that all those placing their trust in Him for salvation would be forgiven of their sins and no longer be in danger of facing what would otherwise be a immensely dreadful judgment, but it is because of God's hatred of sin, that we are commanded to repent and turn away from those things that displease Him, because that which is sinful cannot dwell in agreement with that which is sinless.
How they decide to live is their choice and for which they will have to give an account before God when they stand before Him. If they have no desire to repent of their LGBT lifestyle and embrace the Savior who can take away their sins, then we leave them alone to live their lives the way the wish.
We wish them no harm nor seek their destruction, but they will not leave us alone to live according to the dictates of our faith. Instead they try to intimidate us, and make us ashamed of our faith and our adherence to the inerrancy of scripture. Whenever possible, they have tried and still try to have businesses civically penalized for refusing to have anything to do with LGBT related events, and in some cases, have even resorted violence and property damage.
The LGBT community would have the public believe that being an LGBT is the same as being a person born of a certain gender, skin color, ethnicity, or nationality, but being LGBT is a behavioral-related matter that transcends skin color, gender, nationality, and ethnicity.
No one can choose what biological gender or skin color they are born with, nor are they able to choose what ethnicity or nationality they are born into. But it has been proven time and time again that LGBT behavior, like any other kind of behavior is something that people can choose or not choose to yield to, yet the LGBT community and their sympathizers have suppressed the voices of those who had once lived an LGBT lifestyle but now no longer do.
Even those who still struggle with same-sex attractions have chosen on principle not to yield to those attractions, just like those who may be tempted to steal during desperate times refuse to yield to the temptation to steal, like or the husband or wife who is determined to keep their marriage vows refuses to give into lusts and infatuations that might lead them into an adulterous affair.
They understand that the same-sex attractions that they have struggled with are not part of God's perfect design but are the product of a fallen sin-cursed world (Rom. 8:19-23) and they, like other followers of Christ, look forward to the day when they will be free from the presence of sin and no longer have to contend with the sinful tendencies within them that are constantly at odds with their desire to live a life pleasing and honoring to God. (Rom. 7:14-25)
Any Christians who have expressed hatred towards LGBTs are but on the fringe and do not represent the greater part of the Christian community, including those who describe themselves as fundamentalist. But even the hatred of any professing Christians towards the LGBT community still pales in comparison to that of the hatred of Muslims who routinely commit various acts of violence against LGBTs in nations and societies dominated by the religion of Islam which forbids LGBT acts and the penalties for such acts can range from prison sentences to even death, yet the LGBT community is largely silent about LGBTs suffer at the hands of Muslims while they try to shame and persecute Christians who refuse to give affirmation to LGBT behavior, even though Christians do not wish evil upon LGBTs, but only that they might turn away from their sins in repentance towards their Maker and receive Jesus to be their Savior and their Lord.
2. Christianity is neither racist nor misogynistic:
While it cannot be denied that racism and misogyny have infiltrated the Church, if one would only read the following passages from the scriptures (Lev. 24:22, 2 Sam. 14:14, Acts 10:34, Gal. 3:28, Jas. 2:1-9) they would see that Christianity is a religion that teaches that all men are created equal by God. It is also the foundational principle found in the American Declaration of Independence which set the precedent for all people to receive the same benefits and protections guaranteed to them by our Constitution.
There is not a single passage in scripture that condones slavery or racism but rather it has been the Christian religion which has largely been credited for advancing equal rights and bringing an end to slavery throughout the world, even here in America, though this is a little known fact.
You will not find anything in the Bible that disparages women. In fact, there are a number of women in the Bible who are held in high esteem and known for notable deeds such as Rahab who hid two Israelites who came to spy out the city of Jericho before it fell, (Josh. 2, 6) Deborah who was a prophetess and judge over Israel for forty years, (Jdgs. 4) Esther who a queen who interceded on behalf of her people when they were being threatened with annihilation, and Phebe whom the Apostle Paul listed as being an important figure in the Church. (Rom. 16:1) There is nothing in scripture forbidding women to do most things that men do and historically, women, even under worst of circumstances, have enjoyed more rights and prestige in Christian societies than in many non-Christian societies, and in some regards were also treated with more respect and dignity in previous generations than they are today.
Yet if racism has infiltrated the ranks of adherents to a faith that teaches that all men are created equal by God and if hatred and disparaging of the opposite gender has found its way into the hearts of those who profess Christ, it is because of a lack of accountability among the members, neglect of solid biblical teaching, and conforming to the ways of the world and the present culture rather than to the mind of Christ.
I do not pretend to be an expert historian, but I do know this much: Racism and misogyny were not tenets of the Church in the Apostolic generation. It was in the first century that everyone in the Church was treated the same regardless of who they were and during which women were granted the most freedom. But as the centuries progressed, women's freedoms began to get stripped away by an apostate Papacy, and racism began to rear its ugly head, beginning with an antisemitism that emerged in the second century within the Church, reach its peak under the Papacy and was sadly carried over into many Protestant sects.
3. Most Christians are not as uptight as they are made out to be:
Granted that there are a few sects that have overly strict dress codes, forbid women to cut their hair or wear make up and jewelry, who condemn certain genres of music and forbid the use of musical instruments altogether. There are sects that demand that we observe the Sabbath on a certain day, abide by certain dietary laws, and who go so far as to oppose dancing, card games, and the use of modern conveniences, but such legalistic traditions and doctrines find no solid basis in scripture.
Yet, it is the uptight, overly judgmental, legalistic Pharaseeistic fringe sorts that the entertainment industry and media deceitfully prop up to deceive people into thinking that Christianity is some boring and drab way of life dominated by a strict and stifling set of rules, but most Christians are actively involved in their communities, work normal jobs, engage in recreational activities, watch television, play video games, surf the web, have social media accounts, and go to school and college just like everyone else.
In fact, one of the greatest problems facing the Church today is with professing Christians being too much like this present world and the culture around them rather than living their lives and conducting themselves in a way that shows them to be set apart from the rest of the world. When Christians are too much like the non-Christian world, their credibility as a servant of Christ is destroyed because they are not showing themselves as being able to offer something that is different than what this present world system has to offer and therefore offer no incentive to anyone to turn away from their sins and the darkness of this present world to Christ and the light of His truth.
4. As for being narrow-minded, a narrow mind is at least, not a closed mind:
A closed mind is without understanding, opinionated, refuses to consider that what it adheres to may be in error, and will not consider all sides in any given case, and fears challenging questions and arguments.
An open mind is quick to believe anything without question, is easily deceived and manipulated, unstable, and without a clear sense of direction.
A narrow mind is still an open mind but it is not so open that it loses itself, nor is it so closed so as to refuse to consider all sides on any given matter and to weigh all the facts presented before drawing a conclusion. It confidently holds to a set of absolutes but it is not afraid of arguments challenging those absolutes, willing to at least understand where those of dissenting viewpoints are coming from but promises no agreement.
The Christian faith is founded upon a set of non-negotiable absolutes and tenets that are regarded by professing Christians as being absolute truth pertaining to:
1. What we believe about our origins.
2. Who God is and what kind of a God He is.
3. The nature of man.
4. What is pleasing and honoring in the sight of our Maker and what is displeasing in His sight.
5. The consequences of falling short of our Maker's standards.
6. The means of redemption set forth when we do fall short of our Maker's standards; the means of redemption being Jesus Christ our Lord whom God sent into the world to die on the cross for our sins and raised Him from the dead so that anyone placing their trust in Him for salvation would receive forgiveness of sins.
7. Who Jesus is.
8. What our responsibilities are to our Lord by whose death and resurrection we are saved.
9. Where everyone spends eternity is dependent upon whether or not they place their trust in Christ alone to redeem them of their sins by which they would otherwise be condemned to a terrible eternal judgment.
10. What the fate of mankind and this present world will ultimately be.
All that we believe we credit to our Maker and what our Maker has revealed to us is settled truth because He Himself is the source of all truth; there is no denying that, but we also understand that there are matters that do not pertain to essential doctrines and on which scripture does not comment in which liberty is allowed and in which tolerance must be exhibited.
The scripture admonishes us to be "wise as serpents, but harmless as doves"; meaning we are to retain a healthy sense of skepticism and not throw caution to the wind, which applies to trends to which we are introduced and information with which we are presented. We certainly do not want to be of the attitude of discounting anything without investigating it, but at the same time, we do not want to fall into the trap of believing and receiving all that is presented to us either.
Scripture admonishes us to test all things (1 Thess. 5:21) and we have an authoritative guide by which we can measure all things (Acts 17:11) but unfortunately there have been those in the Church that have been so closed-minded so as to hold in contempt other people over non-essential matters and cleave to traditions and doctrines so tightly so as to react with hostility when their beliefs are challenged, even by scripture. And then, there are those within the Church who are so open-minded that they have no sense of moral or theological direction and are subject to doctrinal confusion and the reason for both extremes is because of the failure and even refusal of many within the Church to rely on the sufficiency of the inerrant and divinely inspired scriptures for all that they need for their doctrine in all things pertaining to this life and our God.
Christianity cannot fairly be judged by what has been done in its name throughout history, a bad experience, how it is portrayed in entertainment, or even by what other people say about it, but by its very source which we find in the scriptures. I would challenge any skeptic and anyone who has a negative impression of the faith to take some time to read the Bible from beginning to end because that is the source from which we learn about what the Christian faith is really all about and how Christians are really supposed to live and conduct themselves, even if they do not always do so.
It is only then will you really discover where your heart and attitude concerning the faith really lies and who and what it is that you really are at odds with.
For my part, at a critical conjuncture in my life, when I began reading the Bible, I found a Christianity different than the Christianity portrayed by the culture and which defied the impression that I was given of it. And the Christians I met when I came to Christ were not uptight people, but were very loving and caring. They became like another family to me; they did become another family to me because I became a part of that family when I asked Jesus to be my Savior and Lord and my life has never been the same since.
I did not really concern myself with any of the negative connotations that the unbelieving skeptics had associated with the faith and challenged me with because what negative connotations with which I was challenged did not reflect the Jesus that I had read about in scripture and came to know, nor did it reflect the church family into whose fold I was brought in. And already having read the Bible ahead of time, I already knew what to expect. And all I cared about was being the best servant for Christ that I could possibly be.
That is not to say that I have not been faced with difficulties and challenges, but overall, Christ has brought a fulfillment and a sense of purpose to my life that I never had before and it is in Him that my entry into Heaven and into the world to come is made certain.
My faith is not built upon any particular denomination, nor is the doctrine to which I adhere founded upon any preacher or seminarian, but upon the character and person of Christ and the divinely inspired Word of God.
And while God does use men to communicate His truth that leads to the salvation that can only be found in Christ and though there are people within the Church whom God has placed in positions of influence and authority and to whom He has given the ability to provide valuable insight, to keep us informed about things going on in the world that we would otherwise not know about, to instruct us in the faith, to give clarity to our understanding of scriptural teaching, to give council designed to strengthen our faith, impart knowledge that we might otherwise not receive, and help us to understand how the Word of God applies to us and the issues of our day.
But I also understand that those same people are just as fallible and subject to error as anyone else. There will be times that they will disappoint us. They will not always do everything right and proper. They will not always treat the people around them the way they should. There will always be something that they have overlooked that someone else might take note of. And they will not always have the answer to every question asked no matter how knowledgeable they may be. Yet, at the same time, we cannot allow their failings and shortcomings to overshadow what they can teach us, or the good examples that they have set forth that we ought to follow.
But the one before whom we are going to stand and give an account to one day will be no one except the One who is without fault, is infallible, and is without sin, who is the source of all truth, and the definer of what is right and wrong. He is the one who has defined the standard by which we will all be judged; that being the standard of moral perfection, but who can claim that they are morally flawless? No one. And what are the consequences of falling short of moral perfection? Separation from a morally perfect God for all eternity because He cannot allow into His presence that which falls short of that standard, nor can the corrupt be allowed to dwell in a place of purity, nor the unholy with the holy. The two will always be at odds with one another, and if we should choose the darkness of sin instead of the light of holiness, then the judgment will be eternal torment for all eternity, but if we choose to turn from our sin and submit ourselves to our Maker, redemption has been provided for us in Jesus Christ who, by His death, paid the necessary penalty for our sins and was raised from the dead so that we would not have to pay that penalty, which would be a penalty that we would be paying for all eternity. But if we place our trust in Christ alone for our salvation and surrender ourselves over to Him, there is forgiveness of sins and entry into Heaven.
End Notes:
Michael F. Haverluck, "Survey: Americans view evangelicals as political above all else,"
OneNewsNow, December 18, 2019
https://onenewsnow.com/church/2019/12/18/survey-americans-view-evangelicals-as-political-above-all-else
Scripture references:
1. John 5:14
2. John 8:11
3. Romans 8:19-23
4. Romans 7:14-25
5. Leviticus 24:22
6. 2 Samuel 14:14
7. Acts 10:34
8. Galatians 3:28
9. James 2:1-9
10. Joshua 2, 6
11. Judges 4
12. Esther
13. Romans 16:1
14. 1 Thessalonians 5:21
15. Acts 17:11
Helpful article - Thanks
ReplyDeleteYou are very welcome. This is why Contender's Edge exists.
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