Today for the message at church I touched upon what the meaning of “evangelical” is since it’s a term that has recently come up in Japanese news. From my own recollections as well as a helpful article by John Stackhouse Jr. pushed me to speak of the differences between evangelicalism from the global perspective, and current evangelical trends in the US. For better or worse, the influence of America is greater than other countries, so while there are evangelicals in all countries, places like Japan first learn of and then define many terms from what goes on in America. Which is a shame because, what is being called “evangelical” now has little to do with evangelicsm and much more to do with “white” and “American”…perspectives regarding refugees are widely different in other countries., The same could be said for views regarding the poor, welfare, unions, etc.. The reason being, evangelicalism is by nature not a political stance (in other countries).
I generally understood the term to be used (up until recently) to distinguish between the both conservative and liberal strains. It was used to distinguish itself from fundamentalists who would have a tendency of making almost every held doctrine absolutely essential (if a person baptizes in a different way…then they must be of the devil…that sort of thinking). But it was also used distinguish itself from liberal theology which generally disavows the inspiration of the Bible and God’s ability to work in the form of “miracles”,. In short, it held to some key essentials (the Word, the need for conversion), while allowing for leeway on some other subjects that were not so clear in scripture (church government). Thus, a very wide definition was in place for sometime (thus there have been many “evangelical Catholics” which I assumed to be Catholics who took their faith seriously).
But the whole point of this post was to mention about where things went awry, and I think it has been well meaning people wanting to protect important values, but out of fear of loosing them in the “culture war”, they took their eyes off of God as their first love and instead have focused on protecting the values. In other words, God has been replaced with “Christian values”. Just as Peter took out his sword to “protect the Kingdom” but was rebuked by Jesus, so often many people go about trying to defend God, but do so in away that is not “Christlike”. They may not take a sword out, but perhaps certain tactics and rhetoric. But anything that takes the place of God Himself as our first joy will in the end twist our hearts since, in a wide range definition, we have turned those good things into idols.
It’s late, so later posts will be focusing on the 1. values it seeks to protect 2. the temptation to put these values above God 3. the result of this form of “idol worship” in large and smaller settings 4. Jesus as the One who overcame temptation (Matthew 4:8-11). But its late now, so, good night.
Quinby 