The Radical Teachings of Jesus That Evangelicals Have Abandoned
The American evangelical church has, by and large, abandoned the message of Jesus in order to curry influence with the rich and powerful and pursue a political agenda in the hope that it will achieve a ‘victory’ in its culture war with the ‘libs’.
What American evangelicals are forgetting is that Jesus, in his teachings and stories, endorses a society that is actually pretty “lib”, which neo-cons would write-off as “woke”. But it’s a society in which I think most people who actually care about others would like to see. A society in which everyone, regardless of race, gender or religion, are treated as equals, treated with care, compassion and dignity, and given help when needed.
A society in which:
Foreign immigrants, specially those fleeing oppression and injustice, are to be accepted, taken in and treated like family, and given shelter.
Non-citizen immigrants in our midst are to be treated like citizens, and given all the same rights and protects (I can hear some of you choking, but bear with me. It’s in the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments.)
Goodbye oligarchy. Rule of law is to be strictly enforced, and rich people are NOT to be allowed to use their wealth to control the country or influence the system.
Social security is a biblical mandate. Those who fall into hard times are to be given whatever they need, and provided for generously. (God’s words, not mine). People are to be helped generously to get back on their feet. The poor are to be fed and clothed and given assistance, with no expectations that they will pay back.
No military draft. Volunteer army only. You don’t have to join the army if you don’t want to.
Women are to be treated as equals. Yes, really. The people who claim that the Bible endorses some sort of male hierarchy are using a few verses in isolation. They’re the cherry-pickers, not me. When you take the time and put in the work to look at the entire Bible, especially Jesus and the New Testament, it becomes pretty clear that women are, in the eyes of God, equal. But more on that later.
The poor and lower classes are to be given the same treatment as the rich and upper classes.
The sick are to be helped as much as possible. We are to share our wealth to care for the sick and provide medical aid. So no more medical bankruptcies. No more people losing their homes because they got sick.
Taxes from the rich are to be used to assist the less fortunate.
People are to live free from oppression.
No deferential treatment for the rich. The rich are not to be shown favoritism in court and the government.
All debts are to be forgiven and erased on a regular basis, so that no one gets trapped in poverty by debt. No matter what. No exceptions.
I’m a theologian with formal Bible training and a Master’s degree in theological studies. The points I’ve listed above are the characteristics of society we’d see if we took Jesus and his message seriously. And let me be real clear here: I detest Christian Nationalism. I’m not talking about some kind of sick ‘Project 2025’ Christian Nationalism in which we use the power of government to impose a religious agenda on the whole country.
It’s not about forcing religion on people, but creating a society that’s safe for everyone, regardless of personal religion, belief, or non-belief. A society that I think most of us would like to see, governed by good laws that benefit all of us, not just a few privileged white rich conservatives.
And I have the biblical receipts for everything listed above, as I’m about to show (I’ll give a list at the end of this article in the footnotes.) And I’m also going to show that it’s not merely cherry-picking a few nice verses from an otherwise nasty book. It’s what Jesus said was his main message, the essence of what he’s teaching. The main course.
It’s not the Bible, but the American Evangelical church that’s backwards and getting it wrong. The New Testament presents a very progressive and ethical vision for society that is far superior to our present-day culture, that’s not just for “believers”, but for everyone.
Am I Just Cherry-Picking?
Now, some of you might be looking at my list above and think one of two things, or maybe both:
- The Bible doesn’t really teach all that… does it?
- You’re just cherry-picking the good parts you like, and ignoring the bad stuff.
To the first question, my answer is, yes, the Bible really does teach all that. And not just a few isolated verses – “it literally pervades the Bible”, most especially the four Gospels and the New Testament. And I will expand on these points to show exactly how the Bible teaches these things.
As to the second charge of cherry-picking, my answer is no, this isn’t just cherry picking. It’s actually the main message of Jesus and the New Testament writers.
So, before I move on to talk about the ‘Good News’ of Christ – and more to the point the Good News that American evangelicals have dismissed as liberalism, I want to deal with the question of cherry picking that is often brought against Christians who talk about the good things Jesus said.
Let me explain. The question of cherry-picking is important, because if I’m just cherry-picking verses to support my views, then a MAGA supporting Christian can cherry-pick different verses to support their MAGA beliefs. Cherry-picking refers to the practise of selecting passages from the Bible to support your preferred view. It’s a common refrain Christians hear from critics, who argue that we are just being selective in what parts of the Bible we like, and ignore the bad bits.
Cherry-picking refers to selecting a few verses and interpreting them in isolation from the rest of the Bible and other passages that might weigh in on the topic at hand. Theologians have long recognized the danger of cherry-picking as a sure-fire way to end up interpreting the Bible wrong.
A classic example of this is slavery in the ante-bellum South. White slaveowners in the South had some favorite Bible verses they’d pull out to claim biblical endorsement for the institution when arguing with abolitionists. Now, this is a huge topic on its own, and I cover it in detail in the 4th chapter of my book, Jesus and Captain Kirk. But I want to briefly make my point about cherry-picking here. The abolitionists also had their Bible passages they used. So who’s right? They were both picking Bible verses to support their cause, right? As some would say, what the Bible teaches depends on who’s interpreting it. So it’s just a matter of what Bible verses you want to use to support your preferred position, right?
No. The slaveholders were the cherry-pickers and as a result, got it wrong, and will answer to God for it. Their reading of the Bible allowed them to draw conclusions that were in stark contrast to the beating heart of Jesus’ message.
Cherry-picking, also referred to as “proof texting” or “parking”, is the practise of lifting a verse out of its context and making conclusions as to its meaning without due consideration of all the relevant passages in the Bible that weigh in on the subject. Prooftexting interprets a verse in isolation from the rest of the Bible.
Pro-slavery advocates used proof-texting when claiming biblical support. They parked on a few passages and insisted on a static interpretation without reference to the rest of the Bible and ignored the overwhelming number of passages which would have corrected their wrong assumptions.
We can know that the abolitionist understanding of the Bible was the correct one because the interpretative approach followed by the abolitionists did a more thorough job of taking all of the relevant passages into consideration throughout the entire Bible. As a result, their interpretation lined up with the over-all spirit and message of the Bible, the example and words of Christ in the Gospels, as well as how Christ told us to interpret the Old Testament.
The abolitionists got it right. They weren’t just cherry-picking, their use of Scripture and interpretation lined up with the over-all message of Jesus’ Gospel, the main message of the New Testament, in which we are to love others as we love ourselves, and treat everyone the way we’d like to be treated.
How do we know that’s the ‘main message’? It’s not all that hard or mysterious, really. It’s about where to place emphasis. The Bible is a big book, really a collection of 66 books and a little over 31,000 verses. And some of these verses when taken in isolation can be contradictory. So where are we going to put the emphasis when it comes to interpretating the Bible and trying to determine what it teaches? What’s the ‘big story’ of the Bible? What’s its overall message? What do we focus on? That means we need to get to an understanding of its meta-narrative.
Well, Jesus told us how to read the Bible and interpret it. And in doing this he told us what the over-all meta-narrative of Scripture is: where we are to place the greater weight of emphasis, if you like, when it comes to interpretation.
In Matthew 23:23-24 he said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness.”
The pharisees were actually just following a biblical command to tithe. They could be very scrupulous in counting the number of mint leaves they harvested from their gardens, making sure to count out a tenth to give to God (via the local synagogue). But then these same religious people would neglect the more important aspects of biblical law, which talks about giving to the poor, helping the needy, showing mercy to those less fortunate.
In other words, they were placing emphasis on the wrong parts of the Bible. They were emphasizing minor, isolated commands while ignoring the greater weight of the biblical message that speaks of showing mercy and love for others. Here Jesus is telling us very clearly where and how to place our emphasis when it comes to reading and interpreting the Bible: mercy, love, compassion, justice.
And let’s be clear, by justice Jesus isn’t talking about some kind of Old Testament legalism. He’s talking about social justice, in the same sense that we would think of that term. The words for justice and righteousness in the Old and New Testament don’t mean mere personal piety and avoiding sin. The words righteousness and justice in the New Testament refer to our behavior as members of a community, and connotes social justice in the context of how we relate and interact with other people.
There are a little over 31,000 verses in the Bible, and it’s not possible to give all of them equal consideration or equal weight when reading the Bible. Here Jesus is teaching that some passages are more important than others, and therefore need to be given greater weight in our considerations and interpretation of the Bible. So we are to place the greater weight on those passages which talk of mercy, love, and justice in how we relate to the community. When we interpret the Bible along the lines of mercy and love, and take that away as our main message, we aren’t cherry picking. We’re following the core message of the Bible.
This fits perfectly with other sayings of Jesus. In Matthew 7:12 he said, “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” (NIV translation. The Law and the Prophets is how Jews in Jesus day referred to their Scripture, what we call the Old Testament.)
Most of us are familiar with the Golden Rule, and few of us would have any problem with it. It’s called the Golden Rule for a good reason. It’s a really good rule to live by in how we are to treat others. But pay particular attention to what Jesus appended to the end of it: for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. In other words, this is the summation of all the Scripture. What the ‘Law’ is all about.
Or as several other translations put it: “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.”
Jesus is saying to us: “People, this is what it’s all about. This is the essence, the beating heart, the main message, of Scripture. Don’t miss this!”
Jesus pronounced woe on the pharisees because they were putting emphasis in the wrong place. They placed emphasis on obscure laws about tithing, while neglecting the more important aspects of mercy, social justice and compassion.
They were cherry-picking the wrong verses, if you like. The American evangelical church today is doing the same thing. They’re cherry-picking the wrong verses, if they are even bothering to read the Bible.
If you’re going to cherry-pick Bible verses, that’s okay – just make damn sure (and I’m not using that term lightly!) you’re picking the same verses that Jesus would, because he pronounced woe on the pharisees for placing emphasis in the wrong places.
This biblical term woe is very strong – it warns of judgement and damnation. When Jesus said “woe to you, scribes and pharisees”, he was telling them in no uncertain terms, a term that they would have fully understood, that their souls were in danger of hellfire if they didn’t repent and change their ways.
Much of the American evangelical church is in the same position, since they are focusing on all kinds of lesser, minor issues, while ignoring the weightier matters of the biblical message: justice, mercy and compassion.
This of course fits perfectly with what Jesus said in several other places. In Matthew 22:37-40 we have a fascinating passage in which Jesus quotes two Old Testament commands that he says are the greatest.
“Love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength,” (Deut. 6:5).
“Love your neighbour as yourself,” (Lev. 19:18)
Jesus said the first commandment to love God is the greatest, but then he goes on to say that the second commandment to love your neighbour as yourself is like it. In other words, equivalent.
Did you catch what Jesus just said? Loving your neighbour is equivalent to loving God.
And then Jesus goes on to say that upon these two commandments depend, hang, the entire Law and Prophets. This is what the whole Bible is about. Therefore this is the main message of the Scripture, the interpretative lens we are to use when reading any passage of the Bible.
And let’s be clear, this is not some new or unique take on the Bible. The original disciples of Jesus and authors of the New Testament grasped this completely.
John, one of the closest companions of Christ and known as ‘the Beloved Disciple’, made this very clear in one of his letters to the church, when he said:
“If anyone says, ‘I love God’, yet hates his brother, he is a liar, for he who does not love his brother cannot love God. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother” (1 John 4:20-21).
Even the greatest commandment to love God must fit within the rubric of loving people, because we show our love for God in our love for others.
This brings us to one of the scariest passages in the New Testament, Matthew 25:31-46 in which Jesus speaks of the final judgement, when all of humanity will stand before Him in judgement. And he doesn’t leave us guessing, either, as to the criteria he’s going to use when it comes to judging people. To those who, on judgement day, are given entrance into heaven, he says:
“When I was hungry, you gave me food.”
“When I was thirsty, you gave me water.”
“When I was sick, you helped me.”
“When I was in prison, you came to me.”
“When I was naked, you clothed me.”
And then the righteous, those to whom Jesus welcomes into heaven, respond with: “When did we ever see you and do these things?”
Jesus’ answer is striking: “Truly, I say to you, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you did it for me.”
You can guess what Jesus has to say to those who, on judgement day, are banished from heaven and sent to that other place. “When you saw me hungry, naked, sick, or thirsty, you didn’t help me.”
The damned respond with: “When did we ever see you and not do these things for you?”
Jesus’ answer: “When you DIDN’T do it to the least of these, you didn’t do it to me.”
So the damned are banned from heaven, not for what they did but for what they didn’t do for those in need. For ignoring the needs of others.
People won’t be able to hide behind some verse they’ve cherry picked on judgement day to legitimize mistreating other people, ignoring the needs of the marginalized. Or to justify greed, chasing profit at the expense of others, being cheap with workers wages. There’s nothing here that would allow someone to cherry-pick a slavery text, for example, or any other text that might be used to legitimize the oppression, neglect and mistreatment of other people. How you treat others is the criteria he’s going to use on judgement day. So it all gets back to the golden rule, which, as Jesus said, is the essence of the entire Bible. As the essence of the Scripture, it’s to be our interpretative guideline.
As if that’s not scary enough, Jesus was also very clear on who he considers neighbours, as in “loving our neighbour as ourselves”. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus enlarges and expands the concept of neighbour to include anyone who is in need, regardless of race or religious persuasion.
One day Jesus is talking to the crowds and says, quoting a verse from the Old Testament, “Love your neighbour as yourself” (Lev. 19:18). That’s when someone in the crowd asks Jesus, “Who’s my neighbour?”
Jesus, as he so often did, tells a story to answer a question. Most of you are no doubt familiar with the story, but you can read it in Luke 10. In this story a Jew has been badly beaten and left for dead by thieves. A couple of other fellow Jews come by sometime later, see the injured man, and decide they have better things to do and pass on by the other side. Later, a Samaritan comes across the half-dead man and has pity on him. He takes him to a nearby Inn where he takes care of him, and even pays the innkeeper for his healthcare.
Jesus then asks, “who was a neighbour to the Jew?”
The answer, rightly, comes back: “The Samaritan”
Jesus said: “You’ve answered correctly. Go and do likewise.”
There are a few salient points Jesus makes in this story that we must not overlook: Jews and Samaritans had different religions and different ethnic backgrounds. The point of Jesus’ story is obvious: your neighbour is anyone who is in need of help, regardless of race or religion. Our concept of neighbour crosses religious and ethnic lines.
It’s also a not-so-subtle biblical endorsement of social medicine, because the Samaritan pays for the healthcare of a complete stranger. This is reenforced by other passages as well, notably Matthew 25:31-46.
The story of the Good Samaritan is Jesus’ illustration of what “Love your neighbour as yourself” (Lev. 19:18) means. And it means among other things that ‘neighbour’ is stretched across ethnic and religious boundaries. It includes anyone who’s in need of our help.
We are to love foreigners and immigrants as we love ourselves. The Scripture Jesus was quoting from (Leviticus 19:18) also connects “Love your neighbour as yourself” in verse 18 with foreigners and immigrants later in the very same passage. In Lev. 19:33 we read: “When a stranger sojourns (i.e. immigrant) with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as a native among you, and you shall love him as yourself” (Lev. 19:33-34). We read elsewhere that “You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him” (Exodus 22:21; repeated in 23:9).
There can be no mistaking this. This refers to foreign nationals, not just a fellow Israelite visiting from another village you don’t happen to know. “Stranger” here means someone from another land. And it says the non-native is to be treated like “the native among you.”
We are not to be snatching them off street corners and sending them to a gulag in El Salvadore. Would you want to be treated like that? Is that treating others the way you want to be treated? Yet American Christians are supporting a regime that is carrying out such practices. They’re so eager to curry political favour with the rich and powerful that they are setting aside the most basic Christian values and supporting horrible practices that are worthy only of depraved fascist regimes.
The rest of the New Testament supports our conclusion that the story of the Good Samaritan is teaching love, compassion and caring for others that crosses ethnic, racial and religious boundaries. Galatians 3:28 and Colossians 3:11 spell the end of racism, declaring that we are all equal in Christ. There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female. We are all one in Christ. This is a declaration of the erasure of racial and sexist distinctions and any form of elitism. (See also James 2 regarding the end of elitism.) Passages like this point us to God’s ideal for human society.
Col. 3:14. “… and above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”
Paul in Romans 13:9, also referencing Leviticus 19:18, said that “all the commandments are summed up in this word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”
Paul, like James, John and the disciples of Jesus, wrote in Galatians 5:14 (again, quoting Lev. 19:18): “The whole law is fulfilled in one word, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’”
The whole law – the entirety of Scripture – can be summed up by this one command to love others as you love yourself. This is the message of the Bible. Therefore, this is how we are to interpret the Bible. This is where we place the emphasis.
So when I write, as I did above, that all these things I listed above as the superior vision for society we find in the Bible, I’m on solid ground. I’m not just cherry-picking what I like, I’m following the main spirit and emphasis of the Bible. How we treat other people is how we treat God. When we ignore the plight of those in need, we ignore God: “Truly I say to you, what you did not do for the least of these, you did not do for me” (Mat. 25:45).
So that makes it pretty clear where our emphasis should be, when it comes to interpreting the Bible. As long as your interpreting – cherry picking if you like – brings you to understandings of mercy, love, compassion, you’re going to be on pretty safe ground.
As a theologian and Christian interpreter, therefore, I believe I’m on very safe ground by following the emphasis Jesus placed. So it’s not just selective reading on my part when I say that the Bible presents an over-all vision for society that is characterized by love, compassion, caring for others, providing for the struggling and the marginalized, which would entail social programs of assistance for those in need. A compassion that must also cross over to other people who may not share my skin colour or religious beliefs.
That’s okay because Jesus told me to not be afraid or anxious for anything. To love other people as I love myself. So I don’t have to engage in misguided culture wars because I’m afraid of immigrants and foreigners changing my country.
I’ve always found it very interesting what Jesus didn’t say in Mat. 25:31-46 to the crowds gathered before him on judgement day: he didn’t say anything like – hey guys, you failed to maximize business profits. Did you miss that verse in Proverbs about the shrewd businesswoman making good money? And you neglected that verse in Leviticus about stoning fornicators. You were a bit negligent in that area, I noticed. And you ate bacon! Did you forget Deuteronomy?
I could continue all day along this line, having all kinds of fun with it, and I’m sure it would make for some very humorous memes on social media, but I’m going to stop myself here and get back on the main track of this article, which, sadly, is about the American church’s abandonment of genuine, historical Christian values.
The Bible commands justice for the poor, the elimination of poverty and the cancellation of debt. We are to generously provide for the needs of others; feed the hungry, heal the sick, take care of other people and not expect that they be able to pay for it. Jesus warned against the dangers of materialism. He said that we are not to be greedy or selfish; that we are to love people, not money.
The Gospel tells us that we are to accept and welcome the immigrant whether in our country legally or not. It tells us that all people, regardless of race or skin colour, are our brothers and sisters. It commands us to love other people as we love ourselves. To treat the stranger and foreigner in our midst as family. To shelter and protect those fleeing oppression. It means the end of hate and racism. When those who believe in the Bible take its core message to heart and act accordingly, then those who don’t believe or aren’t so sure may be more inclined to listen to Christians when they talk about Jesus.
If I’m loving other people as I’d want to be loved, I think the following conclusions are pretty safe to make:
· I wouldn’t be cutting back on USAID that feeds hungry people around the world. I’d be expanding it.
· I wouldn’t be cutting back on Medicaid and Obamacare. I’d be expanding it.
· I wouldn’t be supporting big businesses that seek greater profit at the expense of vulnerable workers.
· I wouldn’t be cutting old age security benefits so that billionaires can put more money into their pockets.
· I wouldn’t be cutting back on federal departments like the EPA and FDA that protect consumers and society from the predatory practices of businesses whose only concern is improving ‘stockholder value’.
· I would hate and detest an economic system that has removed morality and ethics from the equation when it comes to business considerations and the pursuit of bigger profits.
· I’d be happy to see a portion of my hard-earned tax dollars go towards providing healthcare – because frankly, if for no other reason – the day will likely come when I will need it too.
· If I was rich and successful in business, I’d be happy to share with others and happy to pay my fair share of taxes so that society in general can be benefitted, knowing that I benefit greatly from a good, stable, safe society.
· We wouldn’t be putting profit ahead of people.
· We’d be willing to take a little less profit if it meant protecting the environment, protecting the health and safety of consumers, paying workers a living wage, and providing universal health care so that people don’t have to go bankrupt and lose everything if they get sick.
The practical applications of how we are to treat “the least of these”, and how we are to “love others as we love ourselves”, are not actually all that difficult to work out. It only becomes difficult because those who benefit from the status quo and getting wealthy from it are unwilling to make the serious structural changes in our businesses and economy that would allow us to do these things.
It’s only a problem when we are unwilling to share.
As a result, the so-called ‘land of the free and home of the brave’ enjoys the lowest standard of living in the developed world. Much lower than Canada, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, France…
It always gets back to greed, doesn’t it? The very thing Jesus warned us of more than anything else. When future historians do an autopsy on the collapse of the United States and the death of its once free and great society, the disease that killed it is going to be identified as “greed”.
Greedy rich people who’d rather watch the country crash and burn than share their wealth.
Greedy rich people who supported the Trump regime stealing money from the poor and working class – via various cutbacks in programs like Medicaid and Social Security – so that a few billionaires could make more money.
Greedy people who don’t think they should have to pay a fair share of taxes, and who didn’t think their taxes should go to help others.
I could continue, but I believe the point’s made. Unfortunately, much of the evangelical church seems to have forgotten what Jesus taught. Loving other people as we’d like to be loved isn’t some quaint aspiration, a side point, or a nice add on to our religion. It’s His main message.
Instead, the American Evangelical church has abandoned His words in order to pursue worldly power interests. They are supporting (84% of them!) a right-wing government that’s pursuing a fascist agenda. A government that is enacting legislation that hinders workers from organizing, hinders social assistance and affordable health care for the working poor, and supports big business in their tight-fisted approach to dealing with employees, who – thanks to the law – are relatively powerless.
They are supporting a government, even cheering it on, as it kidnaps people off the street – people who just happen to be non-white and from another country, but here legally all the same, and sends them to a gulag in El Salvadore.
They are cheering the government as it persecutes and rounds up immigrants. (Mostly the non-white ones, of course.)
They are supporting a government that is threatening military assaults and annexation of peaceful, friendly countries like Canada, Denmark, Greenland, Panama, that were friends and allies (until Trump started making his threats).
The American church supports a government that is pursuing the following policies (I’m going to quote Obery Hendricks at length, from his excellent substack post of March 28, 2025 “A New Commandment: Hate Your Neighbour – The Central Tenet of Christo-fascism”). He summarizes it very well. I quote:
In addition to his (Trump) consistently hateful and intentionally divisive rhetoric, here are just a few of his most recent destructive schemes that seem specifically crafted to cause needless suffering:
· Destroying USAID, which helps starving and hungry neighbors around the globe.
· Cutting billions of dollars from state health services used for tracking infectious diseases, mental health services, addiction treatment and other urgent health issues.
· Destroying the Consumer Protection Agency, whose mission is to protect consumers from every manner of financial abuse, fraud, and exploitation by corporate predictors.
· Destroying the Department of Education which, among other things, enforces civil rights statutes in order to ensure equal educational opportunity for all students, regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, disability or age.
· Detaining and deporting legal immigrants for protesting against Israel’s unbridled attacks on the Palestinian people.
· Destroying the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, which works to prevent and end homelessness;
· Destroying the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, which works to prevent and resolve work stoppages and labor disputes;
· Destroying the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, which provides financial assistance to struggling communities;
· Destroying the Minority Business Development Agency, which aims to bolster minority-owned businesses.
· Crippling the National Labor Relations Board from fulfilling its mission to enforce worker’s rights.
These are just a few of Trump’s actions that are clearly crafted to wreak widespread pain, suffering and destructive social chaos. We might as well call it what it is: the evil ideations of an evil man who thrives on cruelty. (1)
Right-wing Christians support all this, via their unwavering support for Trump or, at the very least, their craven silence in the face of such atrocities.
Call me a radical commie if you like, but I really don’t think Grandma should have her social security cheque stolen from her by a billionaire so that he and his rich buddies can get richer. Yet the American evangelical church has abandoned biblical values it deems as too “liberal”, and instead pursues a political agenda that’s antithetical to pretty much everything Jesus said.
If your selective reading of the Bible allows you to justify, or even just tolerate or remain silent, while rich people and businesses keep getting richer at the expense of others, the sort of thing big business does all the time, the sort of thing DOGE and the Trump administration is pursuing, then you can’t be reading the same Bible Jesus did.
If your selective reading of the Bible allows you to support government and business that is, as the quote from Obery Hendricks above says, gut social security, cut back on and even destroy programs that provide healthcare, food security, clothing, education to the less fortunate, than you aren’t reading the same Bible Jesus did.
The American ‘church’ (I use the term loosely) needs to abandon its culture wars with the rest of society, it needs to repent in sackcloth and ashes for it’s support of Trump and Christian Nationalism, and it needs to get back to the heart of Christ’s message, or it’s not the church of Jesus Christ.
Footnotes:
1. See
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2. Biblical receipts:
Here are just some of the biblical receipts I promised at the beginning of this blog to prove the points I listed about the sort of just society Jesus and the New Testament talks about. A full treatment can be found in Jesus and Captain Kirk. Most of the values expressed here have been written off by the American evangelical church as ‘socialism’.
This vision for society is all-inclusive. It’s for everyone, not just for an in-group of fellow believers. It’s for everyone, regardless of religious affiliation (or lack thereof); regardless of race or creed. I believe I’m on very safe ground saying this because Jesus said as much in his story of the Good Samaritan.
There’s no wiggle room here for right-wing extremism, or the Christo-fascism of Christian Nationalism and Project 2025. Call me a radical commie, but this means we should not be supporting a government that wants to cut back on Medicaid and other social programs that assist the needy. Yet American Christians dismiss all of this as ‘liberal’ socialism. The American evangelical church, by their deeds and their continued support for a man like Trump, no longer represent the gospel of Jesus or the true Christian faith.
Deuteronomy 15:1-3. All debts cancelled every seven years. “At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release. And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor (fellow Hebrew). He shall not exact it of his neighbor, his brother, … for there will be no poor among you.” This biblical law is linking debt with poverty, recognizing something we know to be an issue in our own society. The biblical law is meant to break the cycle of debt that so often traps people in poverty that they can’t escape.
Deut.15:4. “There is to be no poor among you.” This commandment to end poverty, along with the law to cancel debts every 7 years, would lay the groundwork for a just society in which all forms of oppression would be impossible.
Deut. 15:7-10. Give freely and generously to those in need, even if the seventh year is approaching. “If among you, one of your brothers (i.e. countrymen) should become poor…you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. Take care lest there be any unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh year is approaching’, and you look grudgingly upon your poor brother…you shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging.”
In the Psalms, ‘justice’ and ‘righteousness’ are often paired. It is fair to say that this typically means what we would call today ‘social justice’, not just personal piety. This is because the Hebrew words for justice and righteousness carry with them strong connotations of community behavior, righteousness in how we treat others and behave as a member of a community, not just personal abstinence from sin.
Psalms 72:12-14. Have pity and deliver the needy from oppression and violence.
Psalms 82:3. Give justice to the weak, and maintain the rights of the afflicted and destitute.
Psalms 112:3-9. “He has distributed freely and given to the poor.” Generosity to the poor is closely linked to righteousness.
Proverbs 19:17. “He who is kind to the poor lends to God.” (See also 11:24),
Is. 58:1-12. True religion is expressed in setting the oppressed free, sharing your bread with the hungry. God isn’t impressed by any show of religious devotion if we are also being unkind in our business dealings or using our position and power to oppress others. Instead of religious observance and rituals, God would prefer they practice social justice: “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and to bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him?” (vv. 6-7). God wasn’t interested in their show of religion because “in the day of your fast (religious rituals) you do as you please and oppress all your workers” (Isaiah 58:2-3). The prophet called on them to “take away the yoke (of oppression),” to “pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,” then they would be a righteous nation, and the Lord would be with them.
Jeremiah 22. In a lengthy message to the king, Jeremiah says: “Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the oppressor him who has been robbed; do no wrong to the resident alien, the orphan or widow, nor shed innocent blood.” If they do that, it will go well with them (Jeremiah. 22:1-5). Desolation is promised to the king that does not do these things (v.5). The king and his court were the form of government at the time. Clearly, government is expected to take an active role in defending the welfare of the poor and powerless. Woe is pronounced on those who expand their fortunes at the expense of others, who oppress workers by keeping their wages down. The good king (i.e. good government) defends the cause of the poor and needy (Jer. 22:13-16). Leaders not interested in doing that are warned of harsh judgement (v.17). The Bible warns that a society that has gone too far into systemic corruption and injustice is bound for self-destruction.[1]
Jer. 22:3 “Do no wrong or violence to the resident alien.”
Matthew 3:13-15; 5:10; 6:1-5,33. The Greek word for righteousness, dikaiosune, does not mean just personal piety. It has an expanded meaning into the public sphere that goes beyond simply avoiding personal sin. It stands for how we behave towards others as members of a community. It strongly connotes social justice. Therefore Matthew 3:13-15; 5:10 and 6:1-5,33, should not be understood as referring only to individual piety, but justice in the community.
Mat.5:43-44. Love your enemies, do good to them. In other words, don’t start culture wars with people who believe differently from you.
Mat. 6:19-21. Do not lay up for yourself treasures on Earth.
Mat. 6:24-34. Don’t be anxious for money; don’t chase wealth. You can’t serve both God and money. You have to pick one. Either you’re going to worry about money, or you’re going to serve God. And the Bible is pretty clear, as we’ve seen in this survey, that serving God heavily entails being richly generous to the poor.
Mat. 7:7 Show mercy to those who need mercy.
Luke 4:18-19. Citing Isaiah 61:1-2, Christ defined his ministry as setting the oppressed free.
Luke 6:30. Give to anyone who asks of you.
John 15:12. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
Acts 4:32-33. Describes Christians who held everything in common. As a result, there were no needy among them, because those who had possessions and money shared with those who didn’t.
Romans 12:9-21. Bless those who persecute you. Do not repay evil with evil, but instead, love your enemies. If your enemy is hungry, feed him. (See also “Put your sword away. He who lives by the sword dies by the sword” (Mat.26:52). “Love your enemies” (Mat.5:43-48; 1 Peter 3:9)).
Romans 13:8-10. Owe no debt but the debt of love. Referencing Leviticus 19:18, Paul wrote: “all the commandments are summed up in this word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”
2 Cor.9:6-9. Give generously.
Galatians 3:28. Racial, class and gender divisions are not to be recognized, because in Christ we are all equal.
Galatians 5:14 (again, quoting Lev. 19:18): “The whole law is fulfilled in one word, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’”
Colossians 3:11. Racial, class and gender divisions are not to be recognized, because in Christ we are all equal.
Col. 3:14. This sounds like a Beatles song, but this really is in the New Testament. Love binds everything together in perfect harmony. “And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”
Philippians 2:3-4. “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
James 2:14-19. We are to be practical in our faith through giving to the needy. “Faith without action is dead.” Genuine faith will be expressed in practical ways, notably in assisting “the hungry” (the less fortunate). Faith that does not express itself in practical ways is strongly denounced as useless and dead. “What good is it my brothers if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and you just say, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled’, without giving them what they need. What good is that?”
James 5:1-6. The rich are invited to weep and howl over their coming misery, because they’ve oppressed their workers and defrauded them of wages.
1 Peter 3:9. “Do not trade insult for insult, evil for evil, but on the contrary bless.”
1 John 4:18. “Love drives out fear”.
1 John 4:20-21. We love God by loving people. Echoing the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah and Amos, the Apostle John makes it very clear that there is no room for the type of religious devotion that thinks it can ‘serve God’ by adhering to a religious ritual of some sort, yet have little compassion for needy people. That doesn’t fool God. “If anyone says, ‘I love God’, yet hates his brother, he is a liar, for he who does not love his brother cannot love God. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.”
[1] This is the primary warning of the biblical prophets, notably Isaiah, Amos, and Micah.