Indiana: You Got It All Wrong

I'm so glad I moved from Indiana. I want nothing to do with a state that legalizes and encourages hatred under the guise of "religious freedom."

Does this mean I stand for nothing or will stand against nothing? Hardly. I'm trying to follow Jesus in this regard. What I discovered is that I had to leave the evangelical church to do so.

Jesus demonstrated his contempt not against sin, but against the effects of sin. What is the controlling dynamic of sin? It is separation--from God and His plans and purposes. Jesus battles the effects of sin by demonstrating how a "curse-free" person should live: through a lifestyle of outrageous acts of inclusive love. Culture wars legislation that empowers religious folk to legally separate themselves from "sinners" only enhances the power of the curse. 

When do we see any human given divine license to rail against "sin"? It is when God turns the prophet loose on His own people. Modern evangelicals have embraced the idea that they can turn a "prophetic" voice against those whom they see as the perpetrators of our cultural slide. The institutional church has embraced hatred under the false rubric of "hate the sin but love the sinner;" which, by the way, is seen by everyone outside the evangelical circle in its true distillation: "Hate."

Why do church people do this? Maybe because it's fun to hate people and somehow think that we are getting away with it--even approved by God for it. Besides, it's infinitely easier to point an accusing finger than to spend oneself in true compassion.

Let's see--who were the first century cultural warriors who stood opposed to and perplexed by a God who demonstrated true culture-changing power through love and compassion? It was the Pharisees; in this regard--and in the most important way Jesus interacted with the world around him--"pharisee" is now spelled "evangelical."

Jesus never embraced the culture wars. He embraced people. The reason for his magnetic personality was that his love was immediately and intuitively understood as genuine. It had no filters, expectations or membership requirements.

Maybe this is why Jesus was able to perform miracles. His unfiltered love gave way to pure, powerful compassion that opened a clear and unobstructed channel to the power in the center of God's heart.

Meanwhile the evangelical church in America is gathering in their buildings and lighting the roof on fire.

The cheering they hear is not God and all of heaven applauding because religious folk now have another legal degree of separation from "sinners." It's the "sinners" cheering because maybe, just maybe, this means the religious haters will go away that much sooner.