Reviews, Interviews, News, Commentaries, Excerpts, My Top 5 Books, Wilson's Bookmarks, Book AwardsQ & A: Ross Douthat on Rooting Out Bad Religion
Lincoln was not an orthodox Christian, but we can look at his second inaugural address as a model for how Christians should think about these issues. He was open to the idea that history unfolds in a providential way, that the American Civil War could have theological as well as political significance.
But he tempered that by emphasizing that providence and God's purposes are mysterious. He emphasized that God simultaneously passed judgment on North and South alike, that the war is a chastisement rather than a pure apotheosis of the American idea. If you're too confident in assuming that America's and God's purposes are one, you tiptoe toward idolatry.
Why do you say that Mormons and evangelicals can bridge their divides through their love for the Constitution?
Mormons and evangelicals share the temptations that come with an admirable patriotism. There's a tendency for them to take patriotism one step too far and say not only that the Constitution is a wonderful document, but that it is divinely inspired. There's a reason so much of Mitt Romney's campaign rhetoric has focused on "believe in America," singing "America the Beautiful," and so on. These kinds of gestures and emphases offer a way to ease evangelical doubts about his theology. In effect, he is saying, "Whatever our different beliefs about the nature of the Trinity, we agree that America is uniquely favored by God."
Are there parallels between the desire to build an "evangelical empire" and the desire to build up America as a Christian nation?
You could connect the prosperity gospel—especially its idea that good Christians need never be poor—with Glenn Beck's view, that if America had stayed true to its founding, then God would not have given us the Great Recession
But the nature of heresy is not that it takes a Christian teaching and gets it completely wrong. Instead, it takes a Christian teaching and emphasizes it to the exclusion of anything that might counterbalance it. It isn't wrong to suggest that there are biblical passages that state that God blesses his servants in this life as well as the next. There are biblical passages that suggest a link between a nation's morality, a nation's religious beliefs, and its historical fate.
But Christian orthodoxy always counterbalances those emphases with other truths. Sometimes God uses a pagan nation to bring forth his justice. So you might succeed and prosper not because you are particularly virtuous, but because you're that pagan nation, Babylon or Assyria, not King David's Israel. You have to be aware of these possibilities. The same is true for wealthy people, and obviously all blessings come from God. But sometimes what you think of as "blessings" may be ill-gotten gains. Or the guy who is suffering financially isn't suffering because he didn't pray hard enough; he's Lazarus on your doorstep and you're the rich man who's ignoring him.
Star Trek Into Darkness
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Like Abel
There's a lot of brainwashing of the sheep and any voice that can shatter the image of idolatry of the prosperity gospel is a blessing to the body of Christ. The worst case scenario is an evangelical media preacher that preaches compromise. When compromise is part of whats fed to the sheep…its no wonder Evangelism is a missing element in most of these churches, you eventually have to face reality and ask for repentance. ( I myself made a life commitment to stay in a prosperity gospel infected Charismatic church…its like being in North Korea )
russell rentler
"I'm sorry, i'm either brainwashed by my bible school professors, or the religion teaches some heresy." As a former evangelical Protestant for 31 years I need to be painfully truthful here. In answer to your question, your bible school professor probably brainwashed you. I too was never told that the early Christians believed and practiced a sacramental theology. No one told me that the early christians believed that Jesus truly became present in the consecration of the bread and wine and the early church services have been documented to be the Mass as it is now called. You asked for help. I humbly suggest you buy a Catechism, or email me I will send you one free, and learn what the Catholic Church says about itself, not what you were told. Once I discovered that the Early Church had beliefs and practices IDENTICAL with the Catholic Church, I had to surrender, despite my reservations. Becoming Catholic has been the greatest move I have ever made. .www.crossedthetiber.co
Bob Bobo
This is an excellent Q&A. I think he's done an amazing job putting all this in focus. Well said. This man knows his stuff. But I have one question. I think this is one of the best articles I've read in CT. But to be honest, I do find it funny that he's catholic. Why? Sure many christians are "catholic" and find the structure/ ceromony a spiritual experience. But, some of the most important doctrines passed down from Rome are such heresy (to many evangelicals). Some priests say works is the way to salvation. The idea that each sacrement in order saves the soule from birth to death only in the catholic "church". The wafer actually becoming the bread and body? I'm sorry, i'm either brainwashed by my bible school professors, or the religion teaches some heresy. In polictics we must embrace all diferences and common ground. We all have to live together, only God is the judge. I wish I could emprace the catholic doctrine as reliable, but I can't. Help please.