The election is over, but I am writing this on Monday, so I have no idea who won.
So—this is not Friday’s Word.
I have to get the church newsletter to Jason on Monday and will wait until Wednesday to post Friday’s Word with the Star Telegram.
I will share that post with our newsletter folk later.
It’s on our minds—here, four days before.
The great Carl Jung, noted psychiatrist, said that, in a crisis, we could depend on only 40 percent of the population to act rationally.
We know already that 46 percent of Americans will not act rationally. They support someone who is clearly racist, vengeful, and cruel.
They have made a firm commitment to values that are nowhere close to Christian.
I used to think we were getting better. I thought people had become less racist, less ugly to the neighbor.
Now, I don’t know.
We may be worse.
There was a time when anyone who admired Hitler would not be considered for any job.
Now, 46 percent of our people don’t seem to care.
And here’s the sad thing:
Most of those people go by the name Christian.
That would suggest to us that something is seriously wrong in the church.
Not in all churches—but in many churches, even in whole denominations.
We need an explanation.
We need to figure out why so many Christians are so accepting of racism, vengeance, and cruelty.
And I do think I know. God, in the Old Testament, is often pictured as racist, vengeful, and cruel.
And for the biblical inerrantists, all scripture is equal. They feel free to choose that vengeful image of God over the God of grace we have in Jesus.
The Gospel has no priority at all with many Christians.
They think God hated the Amalekites, so they can hate immigrants.
Lord, save us.
This is a strange time.
This may turn out to be the quiet before the storm, the days before the fall, the last light before darkness comes.
In just 11 days, we may lose that which so many have died to save: our democracy.
I used to think Germany must have been a truly perverse nation to elect Hitler.
(Yes, he was elected.)
In 1932, the Nazi Party won only 33 percent of the vote, but that was enough for Hitler to insist that he be appointed Chancellor.
That 33 percent looks pretty good compared to us.
Nearly half of our people are vulnerable to the same prejudicial hatreds that drove the Germans.
Germans hated Jews and gay people.
In our country, the reviled groups are still the Jews and gay people, but add immigrants.
Germany was a mostly Christian nation, the land of Martin Luther. But as in America today, Christians in Germany held onto their hatreds and fears of anyone different.
Recently, millions of Methodists left the UMC so they could continue to marginalize gay people.
Millions of American Christians today support someone who called immigrants “vermin.”
(That, by the way, was Hitler’s word for Jews.)
However things go in 11 days, we are looking at a massive failure of the church.
I will tell you again: at the root of our problem is biblical inerrancy.
A majority of Christians worship the Bible, not Jesus. They have never accepted his call to love all people. Now we face the cost of that failure.
May God help us.
The newspaper business is changing. Some people must put in extra effort to keep up with me each week.
Two weeks ago, I asked people to send me an email if they are still reading Friday’s Word.
I was encouraged by the number of responses.
If you did not respond then, I invite your response now. Let me know you are there. Thanks.
I know my preaching can sometimes shock people.
Last week, I said that God did not kill the first-born sons of the Egyptians in the time of Moses.
God does not kill children, not even the children of our enemies.
How do we know that?
Jesus told us so.
He said we are to love our enemies.
Do good to those who do bad to us.
Why?
Because that is what God does. God loves all of us.
So, simple rule of thumb: God does not kill children.
Let me push you further: Any preacher who tells you God killed the first-born of the Egyptians does not yet understand Jesus.
And—yes—I know!
Most preachers will say God killed those children.
But those preachers are ignoring Matthew 5:38-48. Jesus forbids vengeance of any kind.
Jesus begins Matthew 5:38-45 by deliberately contradicting a passage of scripture from the Old Testament.
We must let him do that.
We must let Jesus be Lord of the scriptures.
We must give him the final word.
What I am saying here is not shocking.
But this is:
Many Christians worship the Bible and ignore Jesus.
And that’s a problem.
Drop me that email.
He said, because of immigrants, “we have some really bad genes in this country.”
God, help us!
He said, “Over 13 million immigrants have murdered people.”
God, help us!
Bad genes! Thirteen million murderers!
Eating cats and dogs!
God, help us!
Something is seriously wrong, isn’t it? And sadly, most people who believe the lies are Christians.
Or do they believe them?
Is it possible that a lot of Christians just do not care?
Lie, if it helps.
Lie, if you can get your way.
But make sure to display those Ten Commandments in classrooms, so the kids know the rules their parents are willing to break.
What does it mean that nearly half our population can’t tell right from wrong?
What does it mean that much of the conservative church seems to be a moral mess?
The source of the problem is simple: Too many Christians worship the Bible without paying attention to Jesus.
Christians are trained to accept moral chaos.
God is love, yes, but at the same time, God killed all the first-born sons of the Egyptians.
Love your neighbor, yes, but if your neighbors are the Amalekites, God says destroy all of them—men, women, children, and babes in arms.
For those who read the Bible as inerrant, God is only love sometimes.
Christians who worship the Bible deny Jesus of His authority over Scripture.
Put Jesus first in reading the Bible. His standards do not change with every dictator on the horizon.