Possible Faith, Part II

        I am evangelical, but not in the way it has been coopted by various political and religious tribes and used in popular parlance. For me, the word continues to mean “one who shares the good news of Christ.” It does not describe, for me, those who believe certain doctrines about Jesus of Nazareth or who have sold their souls and dishonor his name for political power. They do not seek this power to serve others and to side with the “least of these” in our society, but to insure the appointment of Supreme Court justices who may overturn the basic divine right given (in the in the Judeo-Christian tradition) to all people to make their own choices, namely free will.
        Christians popularly called “evangelical” overlook basic biblical righteousness in favor of their own “rightness” on cultural issues and to elect government officials willing to discriminate against certain groups of people because of their createdness, including their gender, the color of their
skin, and who and how they love. This brand of evangelicalism values certain personal “rights” above basic human rights, for instance, unlimited rights to weaponry of any design, including those of military grade designed to take human life.[1]
        Mentors along my path of spiritual maturation made this clear to me, “You don’t necessarily have to despise what you are leaving to embrace what you are moving toward.” This testimonial book is not a denial or a rejection of Christian faith, defined as faith in Jesus of Nazareth and the religion that has grown up around him, but a continuing desire to know and honor God in all of the ways God is revealed. Jesus himself prompts this spiritual adventure when he says things like, “I have sheep of other flocks that you know nothing about.”[2] He tells his disciples, “There is more that I want to teach you, but you are not ready to bear it.”[3] It is Jesus and Jesus People who have helped me become ready, even hungry, to bear the more the “more.” I do not despise the faith of my youth. I am in love with Jesus. And I embrace the faith that is emerging at this stage of my adult life.

[1] Quote from Warren Berger, conservative former Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court: “The Gun Lobby’s interpretation of the 2nd Amendment is one of the greatest pieces of fraud, I repeat the word ‘fraud,’ on the American people by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime. The real purpose of the 2nd Amendment was to ensure that state armies – the militia – would be maintained for the defense of the state. The very language of the 2nd Amendment refutes any argument that it was intended to guarantee every citizen an unfettered right to any kind of weapon [including military-grade, of unlimited quantity] he or she desires.” [Brackets, my addition]
[2] John 10:16
[3] John 16:12