#evangelicalism

[juneaugustine]

modern four horsemen:

1. billionaires

2. tech bros

3. wellness influencers

4. evangelical pastors

[arcenciel-par-une-larme]

Even as someone who has a lot, a whole lot of beef with Evangelicalism...I must confess that I'm getting increasingly uncomfortable with the way in which the label of "evangelical" is used as a pejorative by many -- almost like a ""Christian"" equivalent (Kyrie eleison!) of "gammon". Or even worse, how Evangelicalism is treated by some as a sort of Grand Unified Monoentity Of Evil on which all the ills of modern Western Christianity can be blamed.

I have Evangelical friends -- real friends -- and more than a few at that. One of them is my foremost spiritual mentor, and a godsend father figure which I sorely needed in my life (especially having laboured under a horrible natural father for more than 20 years). They make the biblical moniker of "brethren" a tangible reality like few others do -- yea, though I be that Anglo-catholic screwball who likes holy smoke and coloured windows and plays those queer gigantic panpipes. Their wisdom makes me feel like a fool, and their fighting zeal for the Kingdom and against the forces of darkness makes me feel like a toddler waving around a wooden toy sword.

Say what you will about their blind spots, the errors in their theology, liturgy, ecclesiology, cultural philosophy, political affiliations, or what have you. But the very moment that you start treating them as a "Detroit of the Holy Ghost", you have lost every right to consider yourself part of the "Spiritual Belgravia" which you supposedly inhabit.

They, I, AND you, by the merits of the most precious Blood of the Lamb, are all brethren in a sense, kind, and level which trumps even our greatest affections and admirations for men of our political, cultural, or philosophical Tribe which reject Christ and His Church.

Repent.

[xx-all-purpose-nerd-xx]

I’m gonna talk about Eden for a minute.

Has anyone else noticed that there are no women? All the children of Eden in flashbacks are boys, the Father is the highest authority, Simon only refers to Brothers. We don’t know that the SM-8 crew are from Eden but I assumed that they weren’t, I think if they were it would have been prominent. Simon lost his mother very soon after joining the grove, which leads me to believe that her death was not accidental and that Eden believes in some version of “absolving Eve’s sin”.

Father only refers to the sons of Eden, the brothers of Eden, the Last Son joining the grove.

I don’t know, I just feel like the death cult reminiscent of evangelicalism and Mormonism—a cult with no intention of reproducing, mind—would have ill will towards women.

[apilgrimpassingby]

Comment from under this video; extremely based and deserves to be shared.

[powerupcomicstonight]

[idylls-of-the-divine-romance]

I do think a distinguishing between 18th (and early 19th in the US) century evangelicalism and 20th century evangelicalism is important. 18th century evangelicalism is Methodism which was marked by an intersectional view of holiness and evangelism where preaching and protest, holiness and justice, went hand in hand: abolishing the slave trade, reforming prisons and asylums, temperance (this was a feminist movement alongside being a moral concern), school reforms, women’s suffrage, “hospitals for homeless women” (that is, prostitutes trying to escape) — many of these “social justice warriors” as they would be called today were evangelicals. And all that meant was “low church denominations that appealed to lower classes, stressed personal and social holiness, emphasized the equality of all humankind, and pursued social transformation”. 

It is not a coincidence that this period in the US is the first time we see as mass conversion of black people, who understood this gospel message better then the white men who preached it to them (“you don’t know the gospel until you hear the poor preach it to you”).

[iustuspeccator]

I saw a post about the antichrist and the fact that fundamentalist christians believe it'll come to end all wars. Is this true? Ans why would people belive this, like where does it come from)? I've never heard of it

Here is the post in question: https://www.tumblr.com/glacecakes/810621283626860544/hey-so-i-still-see-people-utterly-baffled-by-how?source=share

As a disclaimer, I don't know a lot about fundamentalist belief. That said, I would rate this post as basically true but unhelpfully sensationalist. I'm unfamiliar with this belief, but yes, it some people believe this or something like it. This is the end time variant of the "new world order" conspiracy theory, which political scientists warned in the early aughts could have drastic effects in the future due to right wing populism. That prediction has come true. This belief has outsized influence in American politics. For example, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation has received over 200 complaints from troops who were told that the strikes on Iran were necessary as part of God's plan.

I really dislike this person's framing, which asks you to be aware and freaked out without giving you anything you can do about it. They also frame it as if you can't argue with these people ("they'll think you're the antichrist"). We live in a time of rampant conspiracy theorizing. It's important to know that you don't have to abandon people to their conspiracy theories, especially if they've just started to be drawn in. This article from MIT discusses how.

There are people who will be too deep to be reasoned with. That doesn't mean all of them are and I remain committed to compassionate discourse as means of making change. If you don't know any of these people, all you can really do is keep voting for candidates that don't believe wackadoo nonsense and aren't driven by right-wing populism. Those are my main points, but I'm still going to get into the nitty gritty of how OP is overblowing the prevalence of this belief.

23% of the US population is evangelical. That gives them a majority as any singular Christian group, but mainline Protestants, historically Black Protestant and Catholics are 35% of the US population. These beliefs are fringe and most people find them strange and off-putting. 15,000 notes in agreement with this person don't prove that it's a majority belief, it proves that it's widespread. The notes aren't a randomized survey of diverse people, rather it's spreading among people who already have this experience (confirmation bias). Overstating how many people believe this isn't helpful. As the MIT article points out, most people don't like to be extremists, and extremists usually overestimate how common their beliefs are. OP is engaging in and supporting that overestimation in a way I think is unhelpful.

On the other hand, expressing disapproval and unfamiliarity about people's extreme beliefs is helpful! it can be as simple as like, "Wow that sounds scary, where did you hear that?" or "Weird, I've never heard that." Honestly, just being mildly disapproving and disengaging in someone's conspiracy can help keep them from continuing down that line, if you have a close and trusting relationship. What's not helpful is large amounts of fact-checking, freaking out, getting angry or anything else that makes people double down.

Although this is a fringe belief, it does wield a lot of power in politics right now. The problem isn't really that some people believe this, it's that it's a belief that's useful for manipulating people, which is what politicians are doing. Here are my favorite videos on the religious right's infiltration of politics:

Samantha Bee - "The Religious Right"

Some More News - "How (And Why) The Right Stole Christianity"

Some More News - "How The Right Sold Christianity"

(As a heads up, Some More News is quite crass.)

Tl;dr: Yes, some people believe this. It's weird that they do and we should tell them that (nicely).

Thanks for the question! I hope this isn't too long haha. And for the record, this belief is completely abiblical. "Antichrist" is used four times in the New Testament, in 1 and 2 John. People create this belief by attaching that word to Revelation and ignoring that Revelation is a coded letter about Christian opposition to the Roman Empire. So on the off chance you were asking me if it's true that the antichrist is coming, it's not. "Antichrist" is just a word the author of those letters uses to describe people who don't confess Christ.