I enjoyed an enriching conversation on Facebook yesterday -- yes, it is possible! -- with two high school classmates that I've not seen in person for nearly 50 years. It began when I 'shared' an article about why Christians voted for Donald Trump. While we differ on some political views, we agreed that the label "Christians" is very broad and that the article failed to recognize that the category includes different races, different socio-economic backgrounds, different creeds and, of course, different political preferences.
The descriptor 'evangelical' has been used this election season and I have bemoaned its use to describe a voting bloc rather than a theological distinctive. We used to say "born again Christian" until that label was robbed of meaning by overuse and misuse. Many evangelical Christians prefer the label "Believer" to convey an adherence to traditional Christian orthodoxy; "Bible-believing Christian" is another. But those labels are primarily for us to communicate with others of our own ilk.
I am a Bible-believing, born again Christian Believer. And I know other Bible-believing, born again Christian Believers who are brothers and sisters in Christ but have different views than I on politics and public policy. Occasionally our discussions will refer to Scripture, but we can still differ on how to apply the words to a specific public policy argument. E.g., there is no debate that caring for the poor among us is a Biblical value -- the Church has demonstrated that through the centuries in countless ways, from orphanages to hospitals to schools to micro-economic development. The quarrel is over what the role of government should be. (II Thessalonians 3:10 is often quoted in this discussion: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.”) Even if we agree that government has a role to play, how to shape that public policy will likely bring about further debate based less on Biblical principles than on political perspective.
During the election, I heard "I don't don't know how Christians can vote for Clinton/Trump." When said of Clinton, it usually had to do with her position on abortion or religious freedom. When said of Trump, it usually had to do with his character and behavior which were far from what Christians expect of themselves and others who call themselves Christian.
In the conversation on Facebook yesterday, one of my classmates referred to "the modicum of accommodation required to continue being a public business." This was a reference to bakers who won't bake a wedding cake for a gay wedding or photographers who won't do gay weddings, etc. While I think that the vendetta against the Portland OR bakery was completely overblown (and Oregon voters must have agreed, since the man responsible was the only Democrat not to win his election for State office), I think that the refusal of the bakery was not "the Christian thing" to do. Unless they use litmus tests for every other customer to determine their 'moral fitness' to be married (did they have sex before marriage, are either of them divorced, do they attend the same church and confess Jesus as their Savior, etc.), they did in fact discriminate against the gay customers.
More to the point, though, is that the refusal of service "witnessed to" the wrong thing; it essentially said, "My moral purity requires that I condemn your sin." Even if you believe that the gay lifestyle is sinful, condemnation is not Christ-like. (See John 3:17 and 8:11) How much better would it have been to deliver quality service with a loving spirit and demonstrate that Christians don't hate LGBTQ persons?
To me, 'evangelical' means proclaiming the Gospel in word and deed. And at the heart of the Gospel is Jesus' command to love one another, an instruction that is repeated nineteen times in the New Testament. And it is not just love for other Christians that is commanded. The "Great Commandment" -- which Jesus quoted from Leviticus -- is to "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" (Luke 10:27)
Folks my age will remember the "Jesus Movement" of the 1960s when we sat around campfires and earnestly sang, "We are one in the Spirit. We are one in the Lord. And we pray that all unity will one day be restored. And they'll know we are Christians by our love -- by our love! Yes, they'll know we are Christians by our love."
The proof of our faith is not our adherence to a creed, but our faithful obedience to Christ's commands. (James 1:27-2:18) I don't think it's too much to ask for us to show love when we have received the love of Christ in abundant measure.
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