Us vs Them

More questions for Tolstoy

7-17-22

Okay, so Leo Tolstoy declared that all people fall into one of two camps: those who only love themselves, and those who love everybody. So, I asked myself, what about those who love only some people and not the others, where to they fit into the world Tolstoy saw.  

Last week I offered what came to mind about the challenge Christ presents by insisting we need to love God (and so maybe everybody) more even than family. All I will conclude about that challenge is that it is tougher than I have proven I can meet.  A favorite writer of mine, Andre Dubus, goes deeper, in "A Father's Story", which you all, especially parents of daughters, ought to read. 

Today I will  move on to another issue regarding the Tolstoy vision. Now I'm wondering  about people who love a certain group but don't love those outside of that group.

Before I taught at a certain Christian college, I didn't know much about the difference between fundamentalists and other evangelicals.

After a couple decades mostly avoiding churches, I found myself engaging with evangelicals because I found them the most serious about attempting to connect with and stay connected with God.

In an Assembly of God and a Calvary Chapel, most of the believers I got to know seemed openminded enough to allow for some doctrinal variety. One preacher told a story about a famous theologian who, after a lecture, was asked "Do you really think a serpent spoke to Eve?" He answered, "Ma'am, I don't care if the serpent spoke, I care about what he said." As far as I could see, none of the congregation found that story offensive. Another preacher recounted hearing philosopher Dallas Willard respond to a query about why he attended church when he so often criticized churches. Dr. Willard  replied, "Well, we are commanded to love our enemies, and church is a good place to find them." That story got plenty of laughs. I noticed no one who seemed to object.

But a college where I taught for several years was quite different. I knew from the start that the party line was the literal accuracy of the Bible, including the doctrine that all things in the universe were created by God in what they called the six days of special creation, meaning six days as we commonly measure time.

I supposed that doctrine was largely a marketing strategy, which gave the college a brand so conservative parents could feel sure their kids would be protected from heretics. I surely didn't expect to see professors fired because they questioned whether certain Bible stories might be other than literal. Yet that happened.

The college had some Baptist affiliation. Which branch, I never learned because I simply didn't care. I just wanted to teach writing and literature. Of course, from the reaction of some students, I wondered if I might at least get chastised for using Catholic authors. I guess no students ratted on me.

When Tim LeHaye, author of the Left Behind bestsellers and one of the college’s founders, came to speak at a ceremony and informed the students they were God's chosen and so should beware of outsiders, I hoped he was simply engaging in book promotion.

But then an exceptionally bright student came to me quite disturbed because a professor he much admired, who was also the dean of the college's seminary, assured him -- as a warning after hearing that my student had read some unorthodox theology -- that any deviation from correct (meaning the college's) doctrine promised an eternity in hell.

About that time, I gave up considering a career at the institution.

Lately Southern Baptists have made headlines about sexual improprieties and systemic cover-ups. I won't comment on those issues, because they aren't anything I have witnessed or experienced, though my concern, the know-it-all attitude -- which might also be looked upon as a holier-than-thou attitude -- may play a role in the cover-ups.

Anyway, I was reading a blog post by Kristin DuMez that touched on the scandals when I encountered the following passage, which prompted my recollections of the fundamentalist college:

From James Draper in his book The Church Christ Approves, published in 1974: "In the name of the Lord, the Fundamentalist condemns all who disagree with him…. He uses the Bible as a club with which to beat people over the head, rather than as a means of personal strength and a revealer of God. To the Fundamentalist, the test of fellowship is correct doctrine. If you do not agree with his doctrinal position, he writes you off and will not have fellowship with you. There is no room in his world for those who have a different persuasion. He feels threatened by diverse convictions and writes them off as sinister and heretical. As long as you support his position, he is with you. Cross him, and he has no use whatsoever for you."

With that attitude, I have some experience.

Also, as a writer and promoter of literature, I worry about the fact that fundamentalists, largely Southern Baptists, have succeeded so well in their attempt to fill the reading life of churchgoers with publications approved by associations such as the Christian Booksellers Association and their collaborating publishers. One of these weeks, I will rant about that movement.

Meanwhile, when you encounter fundamentalists, remember that Jesus commanded us to love them too.

If this message has offended anyone, before you consider cancelling me, please listen to Andre Crouch singing "Soon and Very Soon."    amazon    you tube 

And if you have no beef with Catholics, or even if you do, you should consider the honestly beautiful vision promoted by Perelandra College professor Steve Saint in his blog The Catholic Farmer.

And of course, if you haven’t yet subscribed to this strange church, please do so.

Happy forever,

Ken