What, This Again?

TIME, THE GREAT healer, had almost cleansed my memory of “The Nashville Statement,” that unhelpful treatise from conservative Christians insisting that gay people keep their hands to themselves, despite being squeezed together in the closets they should return to, biblically. But now, only a year later, another document comes out, equally unhelpful, and almost identical in its utter lack of theological necessity.

It’s called “For the Sake of Christ and His Church: The Statement on Social Justice and the Gospel,” and to its credit, it omits the Nashville sex talk, no doubt a disappointment to Bible belters always eager for an excuse to get sweaty and judgmental. The new statement instead focuses on another topic: justice.

Drafted by pastor and author John MacArthur (yeah, I’d never heard of him either) and other Christian leaders, it assumes Christians have grown weary of turning the other cheek (so tedious) or loving your neighbor as yourself (BORING!) and asserts that the gospel has nothing to do with empathy or working for the common good.

“WE DENY that political or social activism should be viewed as integral components of the gospel or primary to the mission of the church.”

You pretty much knew where the author was heading with those first capital letters. “WE DENY” sets a certain tone that brooks no discussion, offers no compromise, and please don’t let my granddaughter hear of it or she’ll be even more expressive when refusing her vegetables.

It goes on:

“WE DENY that anything else, whether works to be performed or opinions to be held, can be added to the gospel without perverting it into another gospel. This also means that implications and applications of the gospel, such as the obligation to live justly in the world ... are not definitional components of the gospel.”

“Perverting it,” eh? Well, I guess he had to put in a prurient element to keep people reading. But I’m SO glad to hear we have no obligation to live justly. Whew! And that new parable of the Bad Samaritan has important life lessons for the busy Christian walking and texting: no need to cross the road. (A “like” on Facebook is as good as helping, right?)

Naturally, the statement was originally signed by 1,400 of the usual suspects. (I’m not saying it was mainly old white guys but, as an old white guy myself, I’ve got my suspicions.) And it’s peppered with the predictable denunciations of “radical feminism” and the like, just to stay in the comfort zone of Jurassic Christians, people who don’t believe in evolution because then they might have to evolve.

THE “SOCIAL JUSTICE” statement is just the latest in the unrelenting efforts of conservative Christians to water down the gospel. It’s what I call the “de-Jesus-ification of Christianity,” an expression that is as urgently poignant as it is difficult to say without getting spittle on your shirt.

By stripping away the liberating components of the gospel that call for justice for the downtrodden, it pretty much ignores most of the red letters of the New Testament. It ain’t Jesus, and it’s not even the Apostle Paul—that bountiful refuge for literalists. (Although maybe it’s Paul on a really bad day. His Third Letter to the Corinthians was returned unopened because the addressees felt he was getting a little bossy.)

Using scripture without prioritizing the teachings of Jesus is what proof-texters have been doing, like, forever. Not that it’s hard, since the Bible is a rich trove of admonitions and behaviors that veteran cherry-pickers can use to validate almost anything, from celebrations with or without dancing to infanticide, fratricide, and even being put to death if you work on the Sabbath. (Note to editors at Hippo: See what happens when you rush a project?)

PICKING AND choosing verses to rationalize your belief system is like playing Bible Twister, but without the physical contact that could lead to stern abstinence counseling.

De-emphasizing the justice components of the Bible completely ignores the words of the prophets, not to mention the life and witness of Jesus, who would be turning over in his grave right now had he not vacated it soon after burial. (Sons of God don’t stay buried long, which is why their families never sign perpetual care contracts beforehand.)

But when pastors issue another missive that desperately clings to tribal notions, they’re just rolling another stone in front of that grave. It’s their way of trying to keep Jesus—and that silly justice stuff—out of sight.