The Christian Left Blog
  • Blog Home
  • Mission
  • Website
  • Store
  • Find Church
  • E-Mail List
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Donate

The Big Four - Agree With Us Or You're Not A Christian

2/24/2015

 
Picture
... and you know what that means. You're going to Hell.

Evangelical Christianity has become a cult. Does that sound like a game changing statement? It is, and it should be. We’re sounding the alarm. We hope some people listen. It’s not about Jesus any longer, and what he taught. It’s about thought control.

Over the last 35 years we’ve been the proverbial frog in the kettle. The water has gotten warmer and warmer and we’ve stayed in without asking questions. No one knows exactly when it happened but the water reached a boil, and our faith has been cooked beyond recognition. It’s reached the point where the doctrine we churn out is absurd.

Here are the “Six Sociological Characteristics of Cults,” as defined by Ron Rhodes, in “The Challenge of the Cults and New Religions: The Essential Guide to Their History, Their Doctrine, and Our Response.” (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001), 31–34:

1.) Authoritarian Leadership. You have to see it our way. There are no other options.
2.) Exclusivism. We’re the only ones who are right.
3.) Isolationism. There’s us and there’s them. You can’t be part of both.
4.) Opposition to Independent Thinking.
5.) Fear of Being “Disfellowshiped.”
6.) Threats of Satanic Attack. Members may be told that something awful will happen to them should they choose to leave the group and its way of thinking, and Satan will be behind it.


Picture
Now let’s read a brief excerpt from the beginning of the book “Broken Words: The Abuse of Science and Faith in American Politics,” by Jonathan Dudley, Crown Publishers, (2011-04-05).

We believe this is a must read book for Christians who vaguely, or not so vaguely, realize that something has gone very wrong:

I learned a few things growing up as an evangelical Christian: that abortion is murder; homosexuality, sin; evolution, nonsense; and environmentalism, a farce. I learned to accept these ideas— the “big four”— as part of the package deal of Christianity. In some circles, I learned that my eternal salvation hinged on it. Those who denied them were outsiders, liberals, and legitimate targets for evangelism. If they didn’t change their minds after being “witnessed to,” they became legitimate targets for hell.

In this book, I explore these ideas, the “big four,” from the perspective of one racked with ambivalence toward the evangelical community. Racked with ambivalence, I say, because I am emotionally attached to the evangelical culture. I grew up in it; all of my family and most of my childhood friends are from it; and I have many fond memories of singing songs at Bible camp, playing drums in my church’s praise band, and reciting Bible verses in Sunday school. But I am intellectually turned off by much of the evangelical culture. Its homogeneity, politicization, naive views of biblical interpretation, embrace of pseudoscience —they all serve to turn me away. I also explore the “big four” ideas as a seminary graduate and, now, aspiring medical scientist, and one whose theological and scientific training results in a rejection of standard evangelical thought on the big four issues. This background is especially appropriate because all four topics involve the Bible and biology: Life begins at conception and terminating it before birth is murder. Homosexuality is an abomination and gays don’t have to be gay. Intelligent design is the best synthesis of biochemistry with belief in God. Global warming is a myth and the earth will be destroyed when Jesus comes back anyway.

When the Bible and biology are mixed in this way, the products are boundaries. The preceding stances on each issue, in the eyes of many, define the perimeter of the evangelical community. Like walls surrounding a city, the issues serve to distinguish evangelical insiders from nonevangelical outsiders. If you don’t think life begins at conception, or you believe gay marriage is OK, chances are many evangelicals won’t see you as a fellow Christian. When Richard Cizik, head of the National Organization of Evangelicals, declared in 2007 he believes in human-made global warming, going counter to the views of many evangelicals, who have long insisted that global warming is a hoax, evangelical leaders demanded he resign. During the 2008 Saddleback Forum, when Barack Obama told Rick Warren he’s not quite sure when life begins, his response was immediately distributed to evangelicals as proof that McCain (who told Warren that life begins at the moment of conception) was the evangelicals’ candidate. When the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America voted to support gay marriage in 2009, and a tornado occurred on the same day, a leading evangelical pastor declared that God sent the tornado to punish the church. Evangelicals continue to rally around intelligent design and evince grave suspicion toward evolutionary theory. When evangelical pastor Greg Boyd wrote a book arguing that evangelicals needn’t be Republicans in 2007, he lost 20 percent of his five-thousand-person congregation. The problem is not so much that evangelicals are generally Republican as that valid perspectives are squelched, while perspectives that are substantially weaker (as I will argue) are held up as defining “orthodoxy” for evangelicals.

For me, the function of these beliefs as litmus tests for Christian faith is not just an observation of the culture from afar. It is profoundly personal. I recall several stories, whispered in hushed, solemn tones after church, about the latest members who had “wandered from the faith.” This often referred to supporting a pro-choice politician or accepting the theory of evolution. Assenting to the big four, on the other hand, was taken as evidence of moving into the faith, crossing from worldly to Christian and entering the kingdom community. A church friend once commented, “God’s been working in my neighbor’s heart lately.” How did my friend know? Over the years the neighbor had gradually switched from supporting gay rights to opposing them.

Let everything you've read above sink in a bit. The conclusion is undeniable. Now for the scary part. The list is getting longer and it's driving national policy!

What constitutes "the list" is debatable but one thing is for sure, it's growing!

Here are some notable new additions to "the big four."

5.) You can't be a liberal;
6.) You can't vote for any other party but the Republicans;
7.) You can't support President Obama on anything and he's a Muslim anyway;
8.) Islam is NOT a religion of Peace

It's beyond time for the followers of Jesus to speak up. The extremists have taken over the camp and they're running the show, and the nation. It is no longer Christianity. It's a cult. Now what are we going to do about it?

Comments are closed.
    Picture

    Picture

    Picture
    The Christian Left Store
    Picture
    Chalice Press has the best selection of Progressive Christian Books in the world.
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Advertisement
    Picture

    About TCL Blog

    We’re not about Dogma here. We’re just Christians who think the political and Christian right-wing have their priorities wrong.

    This blog seeks to express the places where, because of biblical perspectives, we see political priorities differently than our brothers and sisters on the Right.

    The Christian Left doesn’t tend to march in lockstep.  All of our blog posts may not speak for all members of this group. The Christian Left is a spectrum. We believe that in diversity there is strength.

     

    Featured Bloggers


    Picture
    Charles Toy is the founding member of The Christian Left. We're sure you will enjoy his passion as well as his wit. Guest bloggers featured often.


    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Archives

    December 2020
    August 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    September 2019
    July 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    May 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    September 2016
    June 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    August 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011

    Categories

    All
    Abominations
    Abortion
    Activism
    Adultery
    All 50 States
    Autism
    Ayn Rand
    Bi
    Bible
    Bpfna
    Change
    Charity
    Chickenhawks
    Chris Hedges
    Christ
    Christian
    Christianity
    Christianity And Islam
    Christian Left
    Christian Right
    Christians And Muslims
    Church
    Comment Of The Day
    Comment Of The Week
    Community
    Conception
    Concern Trolling
    Conservative Economics
    Culture
    Demonizing
    Do Gooder
    Dream
    Economics
    Email List
    Equality
    Evangelicals And Muslims
    Fascism
    Father
    Fetus
    Following Jesus
    Gay
    Gay Marriage
    Glbt
    Glbt Rights
    God
    God's Children
    Golden Rule
    Good Works
    Gop
    Gop 2012
    Gop Jesus
    Gratitude
    Greed
    Ground Zero Mosque
    Harvey Milk
    Healthcare
    Health Care
    Heaven
    Hell
    Historical Linguistics
    History
    Homosexuality
    Hope
    Ird
    Islam-Christian Relations
    Jesus
    Jesus Christ
    Jesus Liberal
    Justice
    Kirk Cameron
    Lame Things
    Leftism
    Lesbian
    Letters
    Lgbt
    Liberal Jesus
    Living Wages
    Love
    Lust
    Marijuana
    Michael D Higginse2ee9ace3d
    Military Industrial Complex
    Miscarriage
    Mittco
    Modern Christainity
    Mole
    Money
    Mother
    Muslim Americans
    Myth Of War
    Nonviolence
    Parent
    Peace
    Peace Camp
    Pentecost
    Plutocracy
    Political Left
    Political Right
    Politics
    Poverty
    Prochoice567dc1f0ca
    Progressive
    Progressive Christianity
    Progressive Christians
    Pro-life
    Prosperity Gospel
    Reaganomics
    Redistribution Of Wealth
    Reli
    Religion
    Republican Agenda
    Republican Lockstep
    Republicans
    Rick Santorum
    Right-Wing Extremism
    Right-wing Talking Points
    Rush Limbaugh
    Salvation
    Self-righteousness
    Shane Duran
    Socialism
    Sorry
    Spirit
    Stereotypes
    Student Loans
    Summer Conference
    Tax Cuts
    Test Everything
    The Christian Left
    The Christian Right
    The Handmaids Tale 2012
    The Interfaith Dilemma
    Theisms
    The Least Of These
    Theology
    The Rapture
    Top 10%
    Transgender
    Troll Hall Of Fame
    Trolling
    Trolls
    Unmerciful Servant
    Vision
    Vote Republican 2012
    Wall Street
    War Pigs
    We The People

    Picture
The Christian Left is user supported. We're one of very few voices offering a counternarrative to the billion dollar empire of The "Christian" Right. We need dedicated people who believe in this mission to participate by backing our effort financially.  Please don't scroll on by. Make a contribution today and sign up to make it monthly. Any amount helps. Here's how (click here).
  • Blog Home
  • Mission
  • Website
  • Store
  • Find Church
  • E-Mail List
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Donate