Right think, different think?
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In making doctrines and orthodoxy idols, Evangelical Christians
diminish the meaning of faith.

March 15, 2023

I am writing this today because of something that’s been heavily
on my mind lately. Beliefs can divide and kill. Having
“correct” doctrines is not necessarily an indicator of life
transformed by the Holy Spirit.

As I observe the Christian world of the United States today, it's
quite fascinating to think about some Christians' willingness to
choose LGBTQ+ issues as the hill they're going to die on, just as
they chose issues such as the defense of segregation and slavery in
the past. As in the past, denominations and churches engage in
acrimonious fights over matters such as ordinations of LGBTQ+
ministers and whether to include non-binary and trans persons into
the life of the church.

The United Methodist Church is one such major denomination in
recent years. The impending schism creates, on the one hand, the
Global Methodist Church that resolutely opposes anything other than
what they believe is traditional and biblical views of sexuality
and gender; on the other hand, Liberation Methodist Connexion,
whose vision is of radical inclusion. Likewise, the Anglican
Communion has become fragmented to a point at which there are now
two de facto world bodies: the Lambeth Conference convened by the
Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Global Anglican Future Conference
(GAFCON).

## Essential?

Those who have spent some time in the church are familiar with this
phrase, “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all
things, charity.” Because this phrase appears in the United
Methodist Church Book of Discipline, many incorrectly attribute it
to John Wesley, but it is thought to be first used in 1617 by the
Catholic Archbishop of Split, Croatia.

So the big question is: What is essential?

Deciding what is essential and what isn’t is always a value
judgment and is often very subjective and arbitrary. Many
conservative Christians understand this when COVID-19 led
governments of the world to decree what constitutes “essential
activities.” A number of pastors defied government orders and
continued their worship services as usual, in person. They argued,
perhaps correctly, that it made no sense that churches were forced
to close their doors while liquor stores, marijuana dispensaries,
and even bars (with some modifications) were allowed to operate. In
Vermont, the state government prohibited big-box general
merchandise retailers such as Walmart and Target from selling
“non-essential” items in stores. This, of course, made a lot of
Vermonters angry. Parents of toddlers could not purchase a baby car
seat required by law. When many people were concerned with food
security amidst the major disruption in supply chains, customers
were also barred from shopping for seeds and gardening supplies.
The top-down, one-size-fits-all government regulation overlooked a
salient truth: What may be non-essential to some is essential to
others.

In theological realms, this sort of divide can manifest because of
history or culture. Quakers do not care about sacramental theology:
whether Christ is present in, above, and below the consecrated
elements, or if the wine and bread are truly the blood and flesh of
Jesus. Since many Quakers do not practice such ordinances, such
controversies are irrelevant to them; however, for sacramental
churches such as Catholic, Anglican, and Orthodox churches,
differences in beliefs regarding this matter can lead to schism,
ex-communication, and even religious wars.

Doctrines and creeds have historically functioned in Christianity
as both tools of unity and of exclusion.

Beliefs are important. Don’t take me wrong on this. Doctrines and
theology have a profound influence on how we live out our lives as
people of faith. How we pray and how we believe inform how we live
(lex orandi lex credendi lex vivendi). Likewise, having
distinctives is not necessarily a bad thing: some feel at home in
an Anglican parish with beautiful liturgies steeped in traditions
than at a non-descript hall where an independent Baptist church
meets. You might resonate with charismatic worship services more
than with a traditional Presbyterian service. Some prefer a
denomination that is committed to social justice actions, while
others desire churches that emphasize Bible preaching and
evangelism. Distinctives are like personalities. Nevertheless,
toxic ideas have consequences, especially when they are packaged in
the language of faith and given an aura of divinity.

The Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed
are often used as the litmus tests of “true Christianity”
versus “heretical cults.” The creeds are recited in many church
services, often preceding baptism and the eucharist.

At denominational and congregational levels, more detailed and
in-depth sets of doctrines are often formulated, again, both as a
point of unity and a tool of exclusion (or, defense). Not so long
time ago, practically every Protestant church website had a
“statement of faith” page. And new members are usually
instructed in their churches’ beliefs.

Yet, there are a lot of doctrinal differences we don’t make a big
deal out of. Calvinism or Arminianism? Pre-trib or post-trib? Young
Earth creationism or not? Cessationism, or are the gifts of the
Holy Spirit still operational? These are genuinely theological
issues but we often agree to disagree. Most preachers (aside from
New IFB types) don’t call other denominations that hold different
views on these matters “demonic” or “hell-bound.”

So it is quite telling that churches fight and split over far more
trivial issues such as the ordination of women into ministry,
same-sex marriages, and now acceptance of gender-expansive folks.
Like the questions of slavery and racial segregation, these are
primarily earthly and political matters.

## Neo-Phariseeism in the church today

This leads me to my next point: some Christians are driven by a new
form of “Phariseeism.”

In the first century, C.E., the Pharisees (from Hebrew, P’rushim,
or separatists) was a new Jewish religious and social movement that
ultimately laid foundations of Rabbinic Judaism. One of the key
ideas they held is the concept of “the fences around the
Torah.” They believed that by creating additional rules around
the prohibitions and commandments in the Torah, they protected
people from accidentally violating the actual laws of the Torah.

Jesus critiqued the Pharisee leaders (likely of the House of
Shammai) of his day for imposing onerous and prohibitive burdens on
the populace, and in doing so, alienating them from faith. (It is
worth noting that Hillel the Elder, a contemporary of Jesus,
articulated the Golden Rule first.)

The comparative response to the challenge of a prospective convert
who asked that the Torah be explained to him while he stood on one
foot, illustrates the character differences between Shammai and
Hillel. Shammai dismissed the man. Hillel told the man: "What is
hateful to you, do not do to your fellow: this is the whole Torah;
the rest is the explanation; go and learn."

Like the Pharisees of the first century, many Evangelical pastors
and church leaders construct barriers and “fences” around God
and the works of the Holy Spirit in the church.

A few months ago I came across a video on YouTube (it has since
been deleted, but a copy of it also appears on Facebook) containing
an excerpt of a sermon by John MacArthur, the pastor of Grace
Community Church (a California non-denominational megachurch).

In this video, MacArthur recalls an incident in which he had
inadvertently baptized a transgender woman named Carla. He explains
that this happened because he was busy that day and did not vet
baptismal candidates as he would normally do. Later he felt
“deeply disturbed,” he confronts Carla, calls him a man, and
says:

"You certainly don’t for a moment think that Lord Jesus Christ
accepts you and sanctifies your lifestyle. As a man living as a
woman, in homosexual relationship, or relationships. You’ve
always been a man and now you’re a castrated man. You’re born a
man and die a man, and you must live as a man and and you must
acknowledge your sins of what you’ve done, and if you acknowledge
the sins of what you’ve done, and ask Lord’s forgiveness and
repent, come to Him by faith and be forgiven and be gracious to
you. But you must live as a man, get rid of those clothes, get some
men’s clothes, and prove the genuineness of your repentance
before God."

MacArthur then quips that Carla has left his church and started
attending another church down the street and that church’s pastor
had to “deal with him (sic).”

Here, MacArthur throws a gauntlet down within an hour of Carla
getting baptized and implies that Carla would be accepted into the
church of Christ (and by extension, into God’s salvific grace)
only if she changes and forsakes her “lifestyle,” and conforms
her outward appearance to MacArthur’s satisfaction. And his
church is called Grace Community Church!

Two centuries ago, Western Christian missionaries traveled across
the oceans not only to save the souls of unreached peoples but also
to “civilize the savages.” They also have taught that, as
non-Westerners, Christ would only accept them if they renounced
their “barbaric” cultures and folkways, and dressed and behaved
like Europeans. In the name of Christ, they’ve destroyed
indigenous traditions, languages, and cultures around the world.

Even in the days of the Apostles, there were debates as to what
Gentile believers had to do in order to be accepted into the
assemblies of The Way. Many argued that they had to be first
properly converted into Judaism, be shomrei shabbat and shomrei
kashrut, as preconditions for becoming disciples of their messiah
and to partake in salvation. An apostolic council was convened in
Jerusalem (circa 49 C.E.) and a heated debate ensued. Ultimately,
Peter proclaimed:

"Fellow believers, you know that, early on, God chose me from among
you as the one through whom the Gentiles would hear the word of the
gospel and come to believe. God, who knows people's deepest
thoughts and desires, confirmed this by giving them the Holy
Spirit, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and
them, but purified their deepest thoughts and desires through
faith. Why then are you now challenging God by placing a burden on
the shoulders of these disciples that neither we nor our ancestors
could bear? On the contrary, we believe that we and they are saved
in the same way, by the grace of the Lord Jesus." — Acts 15:7-11,
CEB.

And the apostles agreed to issue a short statement (Acts 15:28-29,
CEB), which bears similarities to the Noachide law:

"The Holy Spirit has led us to the decision that no burden should
be placed on you other than these essentials: refuse food offered
to idols, blood, the meat from strangled animals, and sexual
immorality. You will do well to avoid such things. Farewell."

[Many conservatives may argue, predictably, that being transgender
or non-binary is inherently considered “sexually immoral”; yet
it is telling that these same pastors do not place the same sort of
burdens and barriers before cisgender heterosexual new believers
who have a history of divorce. One can be cisgender, straight,
monogamous, and still sexually immoral. Conversely, it is wholly
possible that a trans person may be in what conservatives consider
a faithful “heterosexual” marriage. For that matter, if he
demands a burden of holiness on the day of baptism, why wouldn’t
MacArthur require rich persons to “Sell everything you own and
distribute the money to the poor. Then you will have treasure in
heaven. And come, follow me.” (Luke 18:22, CEB)? Like some of the
believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees (Acts 15:5),
many Evangelical Christians reject those who are too foreign to
them — all in the name of biblical orthodoxy and commitment to
holiness.]

(For more on this topic, I encourage you to read Acts 10 and Acts
8:26-40 and meditate on the texts. What would the apostles do if
they met a non-binary or trans person whose heart is open to God?)

## When holiness and orthodoxy subvert Christian witness

The United States has historically been the most religious nation
on Earth outside the Islamic world. In the 1970s, nine out of ten
Americans identified themselves as Christian. Now the figure is 64
percent, according to the Pew Research estimate (2020). So-called
“religious nones” now account for 30 percent of the U.S.
population, and at this rate, Pew predicts that by 2070, maybe only
one out of three Americans will profess to be Christian.

Brandon Flanery, writing for Baptist News Global, recently
conducted a survey to find out why people are leaving Christianity.

The top three reasons are:

* LGBTQ acceptance

* Behavior of believers

* Intellectual integrity

As in the days of Jesus’ life on Earth, people are increasingly
alienated from God because of the barriers erected by religious
leaders and because of obvious hypocrisy among them. He was
critical of this two millennia ago. Indeed, he got flak for hanging
out with “sinners” while reserving his choice words for the
Pharisees and Sadducees who were so sure of their own holiness and
orthodoxy.

## Head beliefs and heart faith

Orthodoxy comes from two Greek words, meaning “right thinking.”
The opposite of it is heterodoxy, which means “different
thinking.”

Many Christians obsess with orthodoxy above all, but even with the
best of orthodoxy, it's never perfect. Our beliefs are based on
fragments of revelations interpreted by fallible men, further
filtered through the canonization process, translations, and
countless interpretations by preachers, teachers, and theologians.

Evangelicals oft like to say their faith is not religion but
relationship. We can have a relationship without knowing
everything. When was the last time you had a relationship with
someone and you had a perfect, complete, infallible knowledge of
who they are?

As an autistic kid, I was a veritable religion geek. Comparative
religion became one of my special interests. I’ve spent hours at
libraries and bookstores perusing books on many different faith
traditions and I was fascinated by them.

Because of this, I became Christian head first. I was drawn to
churches that emphasized their doctrines. I studied and read a lot
about the beliefs of the churches. But I felt an insurmountable
barrier between my brain and my soul.

Beliefs can be intellectual exercises. Faith is something deeper.

One could have faith without having to know and understand
systematic theology at a postgraduate level. Indeed, the greatest
faith is found among those who don’t (see Luke 7:9).

"At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the
greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Then he called a little child
over to sit among the disciples, and said, “I assure you that if
you don't turn your lives around and become like this little child,
you will definitely not enter the kingdom of heaven." — Matthew
18:1-3, CEB.

This week’s Willow Letter has gotten very long, even though it
has been edited twice and cut some extraneous sentences. This is
not an easy topic for discussion. In every church, there is always
tension between grace and sanctification, and between childlike
faith and a well-formed understanding of doctrines. But orthodoxy
has become toxic in Christianity today, especially when it is
politicized and weaponized.

"He has qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not based on
what is written but on the Spirit, because what is written kills,
but the Spirit gives life." — 2 Corinthians 3:6, CEB.

Love,

Willow.

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=> https://thewillow.substack.com/p/right-think-different-think An
enhanced version of this article with graphics and hyperlinks is
here.

=> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUeRtdse2HI Church and the
transgender community - a sermon by Pastor Paul McIlwraith, North
Park Community Church, London, ON.