Thread by @PastorJS3000

Okay, church. I’m angry. Flipping tables angry. On politics, I’ve been quiet & neutral. I’ve played the inspirational blogger to not alienate anyone. I’m the token diversity & “atheist turned Christian.” But I can’t stay silent when this foolishness has gone on long enough. 1/

I’m surprised (and not surprised) how blinded the western evangelical church has become, calling “evil” good and good “evil.”
I mean really—can’t we see we’re being had? 2/

That the church is choosing party over Jesus?
That politics are a temporary manmade institution that has become the church’s new god?
That the church has killed compassion and made an idol of cultural war? 3/

That the western church has become a laughingstock and I can barely look my persecuted eastern church families in the eye?
Isn’t the cognitive dissonance just unbearable?
How many of our Christian values did the church have to suppress? Compartmentalize? Ignore? 4/

How many rationalizations can the human brain endure? 5/

I’ve been bitter & embarrassed & exhausted to call myself a “Christian.” Mostly I’m in grief, enough that I want to quit on faith & quit the whole dang church. I’m ready to give up. 6/

Everything about the western church right now makes me sick. Like twisted up knot in my guts always dreading the news kind of sick. 7/

I’m bewildered by those who’ve defended sexual predators like Roy Moore. Yet that precedence was set long ago when the church defended guys like Mark Driscoll, Perry Noble, and Franklin Graham. 8/

Can these leaders be redeemed? Yes. Should they stay in positions of authority? No. Not until and unless they’ve repented for a long, long time.
That goes for every party. For all of us. It’s that simple. 9/

I’m not above any of this. I want to be held accountable. I want to know where I’m blind & where I’ve gone wrong. I want to repent. I want true humility, without a reward for vulnerability. I don’t want to play the authenticity game with spiritual buzzwords. 10/

I want real, gritty, painful, dirty, risky, self-surgical authenticity. Who cares if I lose reputation? I’d rather be right with Him. 11/

When I sit with dying people at the hospital & the news is on, they see through the fog. Mortality & eternity sober up the mind. They laugh. They shake their heads. The young & old, every race & creed, every walk of life: those who are about to see God have a crazy clarity. 12/

The dying don’t need to defend their camp or tribe. They call it like it is. Some of them make the same joke: “It’s a good time to go these days.” Or they whisper, “I wish they could just see.” 13/

Be real with me. Be real with yourself. If you’re endorsing the likes of Roy Moore, then 1) please kindly explain why, but without political language, or 2) please unfollow immediately. 14/

And dear evangelical: Are you mad while reading this? What are you mad about exactly?
Because what you’re mad about will say a lot about you. 15/

If you’re mad someone dare question you & you’re thinking of ways to defend yourself (or your party), I think you’ve been deceived. 16/

Then it’s possible you care more about defending your fragile precious strongholds than upholding the Scriptures you claim to believe. I’ve been there & it’s ugly. I say that to my own shame. I have defended the wrong things, too. 17/

If you’re mad at yourself because you want to do better for the love of God and for people—well, I hope I’m not alone. I’m not saying I’m doing this perfectly. I’m saying that I don’t want to be fooled into thinking I already am. 18/18

I was honestly terrified to write this. I’m grateful to know I’m not alone. I really thought I was going insane by myself, I’m just about in tears at the wonderful responses (and I also knew the unfollowing would happen). I wrote it on my Facebook too: facebook.com/pastorjspark/p…