You’re Damn Right I Believe in Another Gospel.

Since beginning this blog, I have had several Evangelical friends accuse me of believing “another gospel”. At first, I bristled at their accusations. But here today, I would like to say to them all, “You’re damn right. I believe in another gospel.”

If your gospel is that God is some sort of abusive parent who loves you “unconditionally” unless you die without accepting his love and then he sentences you to eternal conscious torment in hell, then YES, I BELIEVE IN ANOTHER GOSPEL.

If your gospel says some people aren’t good enough to help feed, clothe and educate children simply because they are married to someone of the same gender; if your gospel says you can cut off these kids like a subscription to Good Housekeeping because “Ewww, the gays.”; if your gospel closes the doors of heaven in people’s faces because of who they love, then YES, I BELIEVE IN ANOTHER GOSPEL.

If your gospel says women are eternally subjected to men because Jesus is eternally subjected to the Father; if your gospel says women are equal, but men are more equal; if your gospel excludes women from any area of ministry, leadership, service or vocation, then YES, I BELIEVE IN ANOTHER GOSPEL.

If your gospel allows you to feel oppressed when other people gain rights you have always enjoyed, then YES, I BELIEVE IN ANOTHER GOSPEL.

If your gospel encourages you to pass laws that discriminate against others, then YES, I BELIEVE IN ANOTHER GOSPEL

If your gospel encourages you to identify and exclude people who disagree with you, then YES, I BELIEVE IN ANOTHER GOSPEL.

If your gospel permits you expelling a little girl from school for not being girly enough then, YES, I BELIEVE IN ANOTHER GOSPEL.

If your gospel teaches that women are responsible for the sexual sins of men, then YES, I BELIEVE IN ANOTHER GOSPEL.

If your gospel teaches that everything in the Bible is to be taken literally, then YES, I BELIEVE IN ANOTHER GOSPEL.

If your gospel teaches that God is some sort of genocidal terrorist who condones the killing of entire races, including children, then YES, I BELIEVE IN ANOTHER GOSPEL.

If your gospel features a God wrapped in the American flag, who always votes Republican, then YES, I BELIEVE IN ANOTHER GOSPEL.

If your gospel features an AR-15 toting, cage fighting, ass-kicking Jesus, then YES, I BELIEVE IN ANOTHER GOSPEL.

If your gospel is one of “us versus them” or “in versus out”, then YES, I BELIEVE IN ANOTHER GOSPEL.

If your gospel puts anything above loving God and your neighbor as yourself, then YES, I BELIEVE IN ANOTHER GOSPEL.

The Gospel I embrace is one of love; one where we are all equal in the eyes of God. One where neither how much you’ve blown it or how perfect you’ve been is what matters; one where everyone gets to play. One where the Father loves without an unless; one where grace and generosity trump fairness; one where we do not get what we have earned or what we deserve but one where we all get to belong. The Gospel I embrace is truly good news, and if THAT is “another gospel” I am guilty as charged.

 

 

 

61 thoughts on “You’re Damn Right I Believe in Another Gospel.”

  6. First time I’ve seen your blog, but wow, you said it for so many of us! I have a wordpress blog as well, about the ways in which we’re devolving back to the Jim Crow era. You can see it at moraluniversecynthia.wordpress.com.

    Reply

  7. I love love love this!!! I’ll be linking it on my Facebook on Sunday. It will probably make half my blood relatives defriend me, but that’s OK; I’ll see them in heaven. xox

    Reply
  10. Pingback: Grappling with the Gospel | Bloom Where You're Planted
    • storm says:

      So are you saying the Gospel as written by humans is God. Oh my, you certainly worship a different gospel. But what about God? Seems the blogger you link is following the exact same path he accuses this author of travelling by elevating the Gospel above God.

      Reply

      • I think you may be a bit under-informed about what the word Gospel means. Basically it’s the story of God’s plan of salvation, from Genesis to Revelation. I see the Bible as having been supernaturally and divinely written by men, acting on inspiration from the Holy Spirit. It’s called the Word of God for good reason. They did not write their own opinions. They wrote what God told them to write. It’s full of prophecies that have been fulfilled. For it to have withstood the attacks of so many people over so many years, and to have held up virtually unscathed, is a miracle in itself. Without it, we know nothing whatsoever about God’s true nature, and can believe anything we dang well please.

        Reject it if you must. But if you do, you know nothing whatsoever about God.

        Reply

        • Dear John,

          Simply put we disagree.

          #1 The word gospel literally means good news. Your gospel does not sound like such good news to me. Your God sounds more like a terrorist than a God who is all love and in whom is no darkness at all.

          #2. I read the Bible through the lens of Jesus. As my friend Benjamin Corey says, “Whenever there is tension between something Jesus said and something from elsewhere in the Bible, the tiebreaker always goes to Jesus.” When I read the scriptures I read them as the story of how man has related to God. The writers of scripture necessarily wrote in their own days in their own ways and with the limited understanding of their time and culture. When I read passages in the OT that say God said to wipe out everyone, man, woman, child, and animal, I do not believe that was God’s will at all but rather people doing as people often do and using God’s name to sanction evil actions. When Jesus came he set the record straight. Can you imagine Jesus killing anyone? I cannot. In fact Just the opposite. I believe in a loving God who loves and cares for EVERY human.

          #3 Just because I disagree with you does not de facto make me wrong. Many many people of good will read the same scriptures and come to very different conclusions. Have you ever stopped to consider that perhaps it is you who do not know who God truly is? You, of course, may choose to continue in your current way of thinking. I will choose to continue in what I have some to see as the way of love, the way of peace and the way of Jesus.

          I wish you well. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and make a comment.
          M

          Reply
    • Karl says:

      John, you’d be a lot more credible without linking to those clowns at the Institute for Creation “Research”

      Reply

      • I’m more of an intelligent design kind of guy, given that there’s more evidence to support those theories than there is for most of the ‘no intelligence allowed’ crowd. But I don’t mock young earth creationists. The fact that evidence does not seem to be on their side yet could simply be because nobody’s looking for it. Few were looking for evidence of a sun-centered system until a few “clowns” went off on their own and proved it.

        Do you think Clare is justified in mocking the Gospel because she judges it unworthy?

        Reply
  13. Andrew says:

    What is so good about a gospel where everyone just does as they please?

    God has set clear standards and a way of life for Christians that, yes, are summed up in “love God, love others”, but does not include directly contradicting his Word, even if that falls under loving others in our minds.

    Being a Christian means loving everyone, but it does not mean accepting their sin as acceptable to God just for the sake of being inclusive.

    We need to love others in a way that we see everyone’s sin as an offense to the Lord and because of that, we desire and pray for their repentance. We plead with them to turn away from their choices, not rejecting them, but lovingly walking through life with them, showing them that there is a better way.

    I know Christians have messed so many things up and have done many wrong things that have offended people, but the wrongdoings of Christians do not nullify the truth and Word of God.

    Reply
  14. Minnesota Jeff says:

    May God bless you always. I pray for a renewal of the Christian faith. Particularly in my church, the Catholic Church, which also is infected by the venom of the pharisees. Too many concern themselves with the letter of the law, while neglecting the core of why Jesus allowed himself to be bullied, beaten, and killed. He did it for love.

    Reply
  15. Renie says:

    I believe in a sovereign God of who’s depth of mercy is unfathomable. Who loved me enough to sacrifice His place in glory so that I could be released from my own bondage and learn to love with an open heart and share the story of His mercy on me and others, this is the Gospel I revel in daily and will share from the rooftops if I can! I am weary of diviseness…

    Reply

    • Yes, Renie, I do too. And If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. But He calls us to follow Him, and He asks :”Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” Only those who humbly admit that He is the only righteous judge can be His disciples. Rodney King famously asked, “Can’t we all just get along?” The answer is no, unless we all agree to live by faith in the only righteous judge.

      Reply

  16. My favorite inconsistency is God’s unconditional love with the “or else” clause. I like your Gospel better than the one I usually hear from church people.

    Reply

      • I don’t understand why anyone would like a gospel that includes eternal torment for unbelievers, infinite punishment for finite defects. I can see why you would follow the program out of fear, but I can’t see why you would like it. Imagine yourself in heaven, rejoicing in the screams of anguish of the damned being properly and justly punished. Such a heaven is not for me.

        Reply

      • Well, in place of “your” Gospel, let’s say “your interpretation” of the Gospel. Christians are never all going to agree on one interpretation, and we can’t know exactly what Jesus meant to say, or even what he said, unless you think the Bible is perfectly reliable. I think it is obviously not.

        Reply

      • I am not, Landon. I was a born-again evangelical Christian from 1985 until a few years ago. I consider myself a naturalist; that is, I don’t believe in the existence of anything supernatural. I don’t deny the existence of some sort of god, but I don’t see any evidence of such a god as the Bible describes. I am not trying to belittle your faith. I understand that you accept other ways of knowing reality that I consider unreliable.

        Reply
    • Landon says:

      Absolutely, sir. I do not think for one second you’re belittling my faith and I thank you for that. I very much respect a civil conversation.

      I only asked about your faith so that I could more readily understand the worldview upon which your comments were formed.

      Reply

      • Good! There is a lot of mud-slinging and name-calling between believers and unbelievers, as well as among each group, and not enough civil discourse. I tend to upset people who, in my opinion, are afraid of examining their faith. You appear to be more secure than that.

        Reply
    • Landon says:

      I’d like to think I’m more secure than that, yes. But, that security comes from my daily study in the Word and prayer. Unfortunately, there is an epidemic in the Christian church of those professing to be regenerate Christians while not living the way Christ spelled out in the Bible and spewing hate, as opposed to Biblical truths about behaviors.

      I’m just as guilty of that by the way. I sin on a daily basis and it breaks my heart. That’s why I am so thankful that the God of the Bible and the Son of God are so loving and forgiving and full of grace.

      Reply

      • “Daily study in the Word and prayer” sounds to me like taking care to reinforce your indoctrination. On the other hand, it is part of what led me to question my faith and ultimately break free.

        Reply

      • I have found that any sense of certainty of faith (whether in the guise of religion, humanism or ideologue for instance) is always a trigger. As Landon has shared, my own exploration of awakening through the Christian path has only reinforced a sense of humility and (therefore) hopefully an openness to civil dialogue. Does that make sense?

        Reply
  17. Landon says:

    Regardless of the body of your article, and assuming you hold fast to the Bible, how do you reconcile your title with Eph 5:4, Eph 4:29, and Col 3:8-10?

    Reply
  19. Pingback: When Your Gospel is Technically Warlike Propaganda for Klingon Christians | Ecclesia Extraneus

Leave a comment