I’m teaching a class on US racial views & bell hooks is such a massive lament knowing that 90+% of our 2020 race tensions wouldn’t exist had white Christian conservatives from 1965-1996 chosen love & solidarity w/the black community instead of fleeing to create suburban shires.
What should have happened: (1) they should have rejected the church growth movement, (2) rejected the church planting movement based on HUP, (3) only opened Christian K-12 schools w/black church partnerships to have black students at “ ___ Christian Day School/Christian Academy”
4) Christian colleges should have out-enrolled black students by percentage than state colleges from 1965-1996. 5) White Christian businessmen should have invested/co-invested with blacks to start new enterprises, 6) White law firms should have out-recruited black talent;
7) White Christians should’ve purged the GOP out of their churches & not been seduced by power nor let themselves be so easily manipulated because pagan conservatives know that low-church evangelicals lust after cultural credibility & evidence of “cultural engagement/influence.”
8) White Christian conservatives should have made the case the “#AllLivesMatter” (1955-1996) by doing the exact opposite of white conservative pagans & Southern morally therapeutic deists and pursued interracial intimate relationships & social lives *within* their social class.
9) White Christian conservatives should have placed themselves on city councils, county commissions, & state legislatures, etc. for the purpose of expanding economic & political liberty for low-income/working class blacks against the federal programs undermining black families.
(10) The South: White conservative Christians, from 1965-1996 should have led to fight to integrate fraternities, country clubs, etc. instead of following the lead of white conservative pagans & Southern idolatrous evangelicals who were trying to resist desegregation everywhere.
Finally, had white Christian conservatives (1965-1996) chosen Jesus instead of politics: (1) their kids & grandkids would still be members of their churches (no “declines”); (2) & conservative white GenZers (esp. males) wouldn’t be attacked & racially shamed for merely existing.
White conservatives Christians, should have rejected white evangelicalism’s intentional neglect & benevolent absence in the transition out of Jim Crow because of its unbiblical focus on “winning souls for Christ” & should have, instead spent 30 years in the book of Isaiah only.
Why Isaiah? Because the book shows the consequences of idolatry & cowardice. That’s the best way for explain American evangelicalism from 1965-1996. White GenZ males have every right to be pissed in 2020 at the faith their fathers & grandfathers gave them. It’s not fair to GenZ.
Without the cowardice and idolatry of white evangelicalism, white Christian conservatives who be enjoying the most black/white integrated marketplace, educational, & social spaces in America. Why? B/c 1965-1996 most blacks actually shared (most still do) their cultural values.🤦🏽‍♂️
It’s sad to think about fact white young adult conservative Christians (born after 1996) are paying a heavy social price in 2020 for the neglect, cowardice, blindness and idolatry of their fathers & their father’s fathers. They should’ve read more Bible than Psalms, Acts, & Paul.

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More from @drantbradley

23 Sep
Southern Baptists, 1689ers, the TGC/T4G-ish pastors have misled entire churches about Puritan theology for decades. New England Puritans were the chief architects of US white supremacist theology through Edwards. Does this explain the 2020 "blindspots?" amazon.com/dp/0199377820/…
In fact, Southern racists first learned racist theology from New England pastors and seminaries. There's no racist Dabney with out racist New England Puritans.
When you're mis-educated about the history of Christian traditions, and their doctrinal flaws, you're much more likely to repeat their "blind spots." Uncritical presentations of history, contrary to what's modeled in the Old Testament, sets churches up for moral failure.
Read 7 tweets
18 Sep
Rev. Jeff Hemmer has written a 1st class book on masculinity meets the Reformation! I spoke to him about men in the church & raising sons. Presbyterians/Lutherans baptize their infant sons, so THE MEN of the church, not youth pastors, are charged as the "priests" of their kids. Image
The priesthood of believers means that the men in the church, in a fellowship, form the church's sons. Men are checked out because they've been sidelined from jointly fathering their boys & forming them to "use their masculine power for the service of others." Takes years!
Reformational Lutherans like Hemmer have absolutely nailed this. The unique part about this book, which the others I've read don't address, discusses the need for men to have local intimate friendships. Wives, if your husbands need local male friends. amazon.com/Man-Up-Masculi…
Read 4 tweets
17 Sep
Got a UK’ers copy! I’m convinced that the PCA would be a stronger denom had it chosen to be “Faithful to the Scriptures, True to the Reformed Faith, and Obedient to the Church’s ‘Prophets, Priest, & King’Calling(1920),” rather than hitching wagons to low-church evangelicalism. Image
Can’t find “The Great Commission” phrase in here anywhere. Why? Seems to focus more on covenant theology, blessing people, evangelism, interceding, feeding “the sheep,” acts of mercy toward the disadvantaged, etc. Not looking like a hotel lobby w/a praise band to grow numbers.
One day there may even be a repentance statement for embracing church growth strategies of US evangelicals rather than building a robust Presbyterianism🤷🏾‍♂️...Having Presbyterian in your church name is actually a good thing. Depth>growth? This prophet, priest, king model=ThirdRail
Read 4 tweets
15 Sep
Tom Nettles is the Reformed evangelical norm, not Charles Spurgeon in 2020. One of the dark secrets of American Calvinism, is that its entire US history has been on the side of theologically & anthropologically advancing white supremacy over blacks... baptistnews.com/article/baptis…
It was this way during slavery, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, desegregation, white flight in the 1970s, 80s, & 90s, locking arms with the GOP stigmatizing black inner-city residents & then using that to justify "mission," & so on. American Calvinism did not end slavery nor Jim Crow.
The shame this brings must be overwhelming to those who consider Reformed Evangelicalism the standard of how the gospel should be defined & those who believe their tribe is absolutely right. That is, "we get the gospel right." "If are right, how were "they" (not us) so wrong?"
Read 20 tweets
8 Sep
Just had my mind blown. Interviewed @scchristoforou from @goarch about Orthodoxy vs. Evangelicalism & he blew my mind with this: Christian parents can create life-long college football fans but strangely can’t raise their own children to be life-long followers of Christ.🔥🔥 Image
It’s in the first five minutes here. Could you imagine if Ohio State or Alabama parents invested the same time & practices forming their children’s faith as they do their life-time sports commitments? 🤯🔥🤯🔥😳🔥They absolutely do not, esp. in the South.
It’s odd that the average child who grows up the church-going Alabama football family, won’t have that *same* allegiance to church and what the church teaches for their personal life in high school, college, or beyond. Ouch....
Read 4 tweets
5 Sep
Peter Leithart’s Institute is having a conversation about why guys like John Piper, Matt Chandler, etc. beat up on men for women’s ears in sermons. They’re kind’a anti-men. Complementarian Reformed churches shame men to reach women. theopolisinstitute.com/conversations/…
Here’s why: Complementarians are matrilineal. Sermons & staffing exist to meet the needs of mothers. Any church with a youth pastor is matrilineal. His job is to assist mothers(not fathers) with the spiritual nurture of teens. Sunday is for mothers. mereorthodoxy.com/evangelicals-m…
The irony, suggests Renn, is that Reformed guys complain about young guys reading Jordan Peterson, listening to Rogan, etc. but they get *nothing* but shame from Calvinist pulpits while women’s sins are never addressed. In the Reformed world, sin=men & grace=women. Is Renn wrong?
Read 4 tweets

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