If we are going to make informed choices that align with our values, we need to know about some of the false theology being perpetrated in Jesus’ name. Here’s a quick take on some of those myths:
Throughout the Creation story, God looks over each new thing and declares it “Good.” Humans, created last, were given stewardship over this good world and the generations to come. Today climate science offers the kind of wise “dominion” the Bible teaches and Jesus sought. The Christian community can be an important moral and economic influence that pushes for policies to address this urgent crisis. [Luke 12:22-32,Matthew 6:25-34, Matthew 25, Proverbs 1:20-22]
Because God granted humans dominion over the earth, we can do with it what we want. In these End Times of societal and spiritual upheaval, worrying about the climate crisis is pointless. By destroying our planet, destructive dominionists believe the sooner Jesus will return. It’s all part of God’s plan.
Jesus may be the world’s most famous refugee but we were all once strangers in a strange land. Welcoming and treating the stranger as we would wish to be treated is the most fundamental Christian value. Dehumanization of immigrants is not.
Immigration reform means adopting humane policies that welcome those fleeing danger, care for families, and treat the vulnerable among us with dignity—as Jesus so clearly taught.
American prosperity, culture, and Christianity have flourished in this nation of immigrants in ways no other countries have. [Leviticus 19:33-34, Matthew 25:31-40, Deuteronomy 27:19 , Matthew 2:13-23, Exodus 22:21, Hebrews 13:2, Romans 15:7, 1 Peter 4:9, Deuteronomy 10:19, Luke 3:11]
“Love your neighbor” means protecting your family and nextdoor neighbor from job-stealing, violent migrants. We need government raids to round up “illegals” in churches, homes, schools and workplaces in the name of national security and family security. We can separate other people’s families because “if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” [1 Timothy 5:8]. Immigration reform calls for doing away with due process to lock up people in internment camps, deport them to dangers they’re trying to escape, and label them as terrorists so we can ship them to notorious prisons overseas.
Reproductive health is a whole lot bigger than abortion—it includes prenatal services, safe childbirth, a mother’s health, family planning, access to contraception, as well as life-saving emergency medical care. .
There are many reasons people seek an abortion. Choosing to end a pregnancy is a very personal and difficult choice and should be made in a doctor’s office, in consultation with family and one’s God, not the government.
Even the Bible says life begins at first breath [Genesis 2:7] and a non-viable fetus does not have rights over a fully formed pregnant adult. [Exodus 21]. Until the 1980s, even the most conservative branches of Christianity supported the right to abortion care.
Making abortion illegal isn’t pro-life. It makes pregnancy and health care more dangerous. Nor does it reduce abortions. In fact, there’s been an uptick since Roe v Wade was overturned.
As for making contraception illegal, that will increase unsafe births and abortions. There is no law telling a man what he can and cannot do with his body. Could we be looking at a first?
Women, their doctors, and modern medicine are taking the place of God when it comes to abortion and contraception.
Christian nationalism enlists Christianity as a clear threat to democracy, religious freedom, and Christianity itself. It perpetuates violence and intolerance and provides a pathway to domestic violent extremism. Christian nationalism violates Jesus’ teaching and America’s foundation of religious liberty. Christians must not allow Christian nationalism to go unchecked.
America was founded as a Christian nation and should be a Christian nation today. Christians are called to take over the core American institutions, called the “Seven Mountains Mandate”: family, religion, government, education, arts and entertainment, commerce, and media.
Jesus calls us to stand up for the most vulnerable and work toward a more equal world. He calls on us to pay our fair share.
Yet in a country as rich as the U.S., where there is enough for everyone, nowhere is inequality more evident than in our economy. Today’s “empire” is made up of political, corporate, and religious leaders who hold onto power and wealth by dividing people and communities with common needs, especially along economic and ethnic lines. Why? Because as Jesus clearly demonstrated, when people with shared needs unite, they are a serious threat to power and greed. [Luke 8:3, Acts 2:43-45, Matthew 14 , Mark 6, Matthew 15, Luke 9, Luke 4:17-21, Deuteronomy 15:7-11, Matthew 6:24, Matthew 19:24, Acts 5, Proverbs 14:31a, Proverbs 17:5a, Mark 12:17]
The Bible tells us God wants us to have abundant life, so if you’re not doing well, then you must be not right with God. The Prosperity Gospel preaches health and wealth are the will of God. Because people should be self-sufficient and independent, charity should be moved to private religious institutions so we can cut the social safety net and shrink government.
Standing up for the most vulnerable requires us to understand the subtleties of systemic racism that have long-denied non-whites equal access to American institutions—like home ownership, education, and healthcare. Like the economy, racism is also a tool for those in power to isolate and divide us.
The europeanized light-skin, blue-eyed image of Jesus has long symbolized the preservation of inequality as the divine order. Christians among white evangelical Protestants, white mainline Protestants, and white Catholics are consistently more likely than unaffiliated whites to deny structural racism exists.
To pursue equality, we can start in our own communities. That’s what Jesus did. [Acts 2, Revelation 7:9, Luke 10:25-37
In America, people are no longer treated unfairly based on race. Whites do not have special privilege and structural racism no longer exists. Emphasizing historic and current hardships placed on people of races other than white harms our white children and is racism against white Christians.
White Christian nationalist groups promote belief in a superior white race. The majority believe in the “Great Replacement Theory” which promotes the invasion of mass immigration led by Jews to replace white culture and ethnicity. Ultimately it will lead to the extinction of the white race.
Jesus prophesied that he and his followers would need to be prepared to meet adversaries where they preached. He knew his small band of followers could win only with their metaphorical weapons—radical acceptance and challenges to inequality. He called on his disciples to be prepared for hard times, but never supported using weapons and always called for nonviolence.
But today, the majority of guns in the U.S. are owned by Christians. Christians are uniquely positioned to support common sense policies that make gun ownership safer, aligned with the Second Amendment, and in recognition of the sanctity of life. When they oppose commonsense gun safety reforms, they are ironically fulfilling the violence Jesus predicted. [Luke 22:35-38; Matthew 26:52, 10:34].
Because Jesus warned his disciples to prepare to meet violence, his biblical prophecies support gun ownership.
The Bible is not a sex manual, and thank God for that! Modern science understands sexual orientation is a complex mix of genetic, hormonal, and environmental influences, yet nowhere is scripture more manipulated than when it comes to sex and gender.
Prejudice against the LGBTQ+ community is very unchristian—it drives people from our pews; forces many to hide who they are; puts them at risk of physical violence and emotional trauma; and denies them their basic human right to flourish. Suicide and homeless rates among LGBTQ+ youth, especially trans kids, are shockingly high, leaving behind so much lost human potential and grieving families. The LGBTQ+ community has Jesus’ love, they deserve our love, too. [Matthew 19:12, Isaiah 56, Matthew 11:28-30, Galatians 3:28 and Acts 10]
Sexual orientation is a choice and a violation punishable by God. In some countries, policies that condemn LGBTQ+ to life in prison and even death have been initiated by white Christian American leaders.
We are called to care for the poor, widow, orphan, and foreigner in recognition of our shared humanity, for all are created in the image of God
U.S. foreign aid is our nation’s expression of care and compassion and through our government’s funding, influence, and leadership, the U.S. has been the foundation for unparalleled global health and development success. Christian organizations, churches, and individuals are essential partners in this progress.
“Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.” [Deuteronomy 10:18–19; Isaiah 58:6–10; Genesis 1:26-27; 2 Corinthians 9:6–8].
“If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” This scripture calls Christians to prioritize our family, friends, and immediate community when Jesus commands us to “love your neighbor.”
Federally funded foreign aid is government overreach, contradicts conservative Christian morals, and should be delivered by private faith-based organizations and charities that focus on missionary work. [1 Timothy 5:8]
“Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.” Empathy is a way of relating to others that reflects Jesus’ love and compassion. He wept with others, healed the untouchable, and walked with the marginalized.
Our Christian discipleship calls us to actively feel with a person, not simply feel sorry for them. Empathy is a much-needed bridge to help us cross divides and nurture understanding, reconciliation, and healing. Something in dangerously short supply these days. [Romans 12:15]
Helping someone is good, but empathy can be a sin because it can lead us to feel too much and blur our ability to determine right from wrong. Empathy makes us vulnerable to emotional manipulation and moral compromise.
Jesus shocked his world as he defied prevailing customs by elevating women as equals. Scripture offers many examples of women in practically every imaginable role: prophet, deacon, judge, negotiator, teacher, evangelist.
But as women continued to be active in the life of the early Church, their standing posed considerable threat to the old guard system. That system soon reasserted itself and patriarchy took its firm hold in Christianity, which it maintains to this day.
Today, half the world’s population remains second class citizens. Women and girls are exploited, trafficked, abused, denied equal access to jobs, pay, and healthcare everywhere.
Perpetuating patriarchy is a choice. Christianity has the power and the responsibility to choose to stop holding back women and girls around the world with biblical justification. [Luke 7:12-13, 8:1-11, 8:45, 10:38-42, 13:10-16; John 4:1-26, 19:25, 20:11-18; Matthew 27:55-56, 28: 8-10; Romans 16:1-2, 16:3, 16:7; Acts 15:40, 18:26, 21:9; Phil. 4:2,3; I Corinthians 16:19, Col. 4:15.]
In the natural order of things, the husband is superior and the wife is subordinate and that’s the way God means it to be. God created women for man’s pleasure and entertainment, but her sexuality is also source of temptation and evil. She must be protected and kept in her place. Her primary function is propagation and when women forgo their natural role as the submissive helper of a male leader, society falls apart.
When tempted by Satan with complete political authority Jesus embodied servant leadership instead. He showed us how to lead with love, dignity, humility, and justice in the service of others.
Likewise, Romans 13 puts government in its place, as institutions for maintaining public order that will be judged for their policies. Government is not divine.
When politicians are turned into prophets, personal ambitions are prioritized over the needs of the common good. The servant leader becomes the served. The failure of leaders to model core Christian values—like integrity, compassion, and unity—will create conflict, fracture a community, and impede growth. This kind of leader, no matter their politics, is a clear threat to Christianity, and our American Democracy. [Luke 4:5-8, 22:26, Matthew 20:26, 25:32; Proverbs 29:2, Mark 10:45]
Some leaders are ordained by God, above the law, and even their weaknesses and misdeeds are part of God’s plan.
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