Apples and Oranges

An article on-line caught my attention today. It really isn’t anything too surprising, but it is troubling. The article is entitled 4 Things Jesus Didn’t Die For and when I saw the title, I knew immediately the topic it would be covering. Once I started reading, I found I was right.

There is a new and distinct movement within the modern church that seems to have a complete obsession with attacking the "American Dream". I noticed it a few years ago and remain troubled and heartsick about it to this day.

It comes mostly from young men and women who clearly have a desire to serve the Lord, but have for some reason picked up a mantra that is closely aligned with a leftist agenda and has little at all to do with Christian living.

Richard Stearns, CEO of World Vision, in my opinion, had some to do with this recent dogma permeating the church after writing his widely read book, The Hole in Our Gospel. We have seen the “American Dream” attacked in video after video by pastor and author John Piper, and those attacks have also continued with David Platt’s book, Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream.

Really?? Taking back our faith?  From the American Dream???  I continue to be amazed at this “trend” – for lack of a better word.

Recently a young “friend” of mine on Facebook,  posted an article glorifying this same message. It was an article that once again seems to have the deeper purpose of bashing the American Dream, as opposed to sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, though the latter purpose is claimed. You may read the article here.

Now, I am sure Caleb Flores, the young man that wrote the article, had honorable intentions, and I am quite sure he is sincere in his faith. But what I see when I read this article and others like it is simply a regurgitation of rhetoric that seems to be very prevalent among our Christian youth of today.

There are so many flaws within this short article, that I barely know where to begin; but I do know I can’t let it go without articulating my concerns. For starters, the topic sentence is rooted in a misstatement about the death of Jesus when the author implies that Jesus died for much more than to simply save the sinner from his sins. I have a news flash for this young man: The sin of mankind is exactly what Jesus died for and it needn’t be anything more or anything less.  John 3:16 states it best:

^“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

The author basically tells us of the error that generations of Christians have held when they minimally state that “Jesus died for their sins”.  Caleb, instead, feels the need to inform us that there is much more for which Jesus died. He tells us he wants to reply to that normal Christian response with an “And…?” expecting them to add more to their profession of faith - like there should somehow be more to their reason. And though he tells us he will get to those "other reasons" later in the article, he never does. He only espouses the things that he believes Jesus did NOT die for. Of course at the top of his list is the "American Dream".

To start with, he has no understanding of what the American Dream really is, and it’s clear he is only repeating what he has most likely been taught in the public schools, or what he has picked up from liberal media bias which has attacked America and all for which America stands for the last 50 years or so.

While he has some reason to be concerned about the ill-conceived “prosperity movement” (though he doesn't call it that) that circulated through the church in the ‘80’s, that movement has since fallen by the wayside and once again we have seen a swing of the pendulum within the church body. As far as his concern about the "poor and impoverished" who may be offended by a belief that God offers blessings of favor, we actually have clarity on this subject with the words of Scripture, which presents an understanding that is really very simple: “Rain falls on the just and the unjust.” – Matthew 5:45. When it comes to trouble, there are none that are excused.
 

“That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”

We don’t have to understand that; we don’t get to question it; we don’t need to question it. It is simply God’s Word. And it is concisely plain.

And though the author doesn’t like to admit it, clearly the Bible teaches that God offers blessings to His people and those who are obedient to His word. The Bible is full of examples to that end.

While Caleb obviously understands the beauty of the salvation message and has articulated it well, his need to attack the American Dream, in reality, has nothing to do with that glorious salvation message. He is talking apples and oranges.

No one in all my years of being a Christian ever stated or tried to make anyone believe that "Jesus died for the American Dream". This is a false premise that only leads to an attack on this long held principal of American exceptionalism. The attack, then, in turn is too often twisted to become and understood as an attack on America. That is really where the “devastatingly harmful teaching” he speaks of has ill affects.

Secondly, Caleb warns us that “Jesus didn’t die to be a poster boy for your cause.” Pretty sure no one said that He did. Once again he is talking about apples and oranges, but really he is just spewing rhetoric from the left. “Homophobe?” he asks.  Why the need to regurgitate this name calling? The truth of the matter, the left would have to call God a homophobe, then; for it is God who said that homosexuality is a sin – rather, an abomination - for man to lie with a man. Leviticus 18:22; Jude 1:7; and 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 as examples.

The truth of the matter is that God hates the sin and loves the sinner, just as we are to do. The same is true with any besetting sin that one may be entrapped. No sin is excused. And we are to judge no one. However, my question to present to him and others is why is it that the sin of homosexuality is the subject that is continually pointed to? The answer is easy. It’s because there is an aggressive political agenda tied to this lifestyle that is actively seeking acceptance. These Christian young men and women that fall into name calling such as “homophobe” as this young author has done have merely bought into the mantra and dialogue of the left. Unfortunately this blatant activism will bring harm to American families, and ultimately the church, as well as the Great Commission.

No one has ever taught or said that Jesus died to promote a conservative or moral cause.  That is simply more rhetoric from the left in their agenda to attack conservatives. And certainly those that carry or work toward a cause understand “causes” do not provide saving grace. Again, apples and oranges, my friend.

On his 3^rd point of what Jesus didn’t die for, (“So you wouldn’t have to change”) Caleb did a beautiful job in his articulation of the change that will take place in the heart of a new believer. The false doctrine he mentions - that a believer doesn’t have to change to be saved - is far from new, however. What is new - in some churches - is the refusal to mention the cross and the blood of Jesus due to the belief that it is inappropriate, gruesome, and offensive.  Some are afraid to speak of the importance of true repentance for fear they may offend those in a besetting sin. Regretfully, repentance is something that we hear far too rarely these days. 

The author gets off track once again, however, in his fourth and final point i.e. “God didn’t die to raise your moral standard.” While this is of course true, it is also true that God does expect a moral standard. Further, history proves that moral standards do improve societies. In fact, many problems of a nation can be solved with fixing the problems of its morality. David Barton has an excellent video presenting a case for this fact.
 



While making his fourth point, it takes Caleb only a couple sentences to get back to bashing America when he states:

“You know what the problem is with grace? It’s not useful. It’s not marketable. It’s also not too complicated, and oh yeah, it’s free. Can you think of anything less American?”

I have more news for Caleb. America is all about things that are free! And it is things that are free that allow him to regurgitate beliefs that are coming not from the Holy Bible, but rather from a liberal, left agenda that he has apparently unwittingly bought into or has simply not taken the time to actually sort through and understand.

For starters, I would like to see Caleb educate himself about what the “American Dream” actually means. Perhaps he could start with seeing Dinesh D'Souza's new movie, America. This movie is an ideal place to get a quick education in truth on a number of issues.

My concerns may seem to some superficial and trivial as opposed to the massive importance of true salvation, and all that Jesus did for us. In some ways I suppose my concerns are trivial. But the truth of the matter is, when the church goes astray on any topic, it affects us all. It can become a slippery slope that leads to a landslide. That is exactly what I see happening in the church today as America is assaulted, maligned, and misunderstood by these attacks on the American Dream.

There is no other nation on earth that is more protective of the Christian and our beliefs than America. There is no other nation on earth that lives out a Christian lifestyle in good deeds and effort than America. (Yes, good works are permitted and expected! – James 2:14-26) There is no other nation that brings the amount of aid and comfort to those in need around the world as America does. And there is no other nation that has done more for the Great Commission than America. Those who continue to jump on the band wagon of bashing the America Dream are in fact attacking that very thing which God has provided and gifted to ensure His work and His Kingdom are made possible. Are we so full of “pride and self-righteousness” that we believe we can berate that which God has ordained? Personally, I believe that would be as “offensive to God as the sins of the prostitute and the pimp.”

Please, those of you who are caught up in this continual assault on the “American Dream”, stop for a moment and ask yourself, “What is this really all about?” Ask yourself these things: “Where is it coming from?” “What is the American Dream?” “Is the American Dream really hurting my ability to share the Gospel?” “Is it hurting my walk?”  "What is so harmful about the American Dream?" “Is the American Dream an attack on the unsaved and lost?” It certainly isn't, but rather it is a tool to reach the unsaved and lost. That endeavor takes capital. Think about it. Could the American Dream instead be a means that provides and brings help to the unsaved and the lost; the poor and “marginalized” - (popular, new key phrase) - through means otherwise not available but for American capitalism.

We should all question the things that we hear. To be Bereans (as shown in Acts 17) in all that we are taught. Search deeply the new "band-wagons" that seem to be so prevalent in today’s society. Simply ask yourself, “What is so scary about the American Dream?” And what is this all-out aggressive attack on it, really about?

Is it really about “social/political kingdoms in this age” as stated by the author of the article? Or could, in fact, the “American Dream” just possibly be about protecting the ability to keep and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Could those that want to protect America do so because they believe America is a gift from God for which we are to be good stewards? Could the concern of those who are offended by this subtle attack on America really be about protecting the freedoms that allow us to share our faith in the first place? One would have to live in a cave not to know that those freedoms are under attack. When you attack America, in any form, you attack those freedoms. We join the efforts of those that seek to destroy America and all that America provides when we attack something as benign as support for the long held belief in the American Dream.

God’s grace and the America Dream. Why are they, in recent years, continually lumped together? They are apples and oranges.  Be careful where and what fruit you might choose to eat.