Republican Religion vs the Great Commandment

Brethren, if any among you have been led away from the truth, and one brings them back (to Biblical truth), understand, that the one who turns the sinner away from error (deception) shall save a soul from (spiritual) death, and shall cover over many sins (help the deceived return to the path of salvation). Jas 5:19-20

In my last post, I promised to discuss some specific actions and attitudes in the modern American right-wing “evangelical” church that oppose the two great commandments – to "Love GOD and love your neighbor as yourself."

First though, in response to objections from previous commenters, I want to clarify 3 points:

1. I use the terms “American, right-wing, and political” to describe the people I am addressing. I am talking to people who consider themselves to be Christians but have made an idol of republican politics and Christian Nationalism.
2. Some of these people can only see someone who points out their unchristian attitudes as a political enemy – not as someone who is judging the corporate Church like the BIBLE commands - not judging towards condemnation, but judging towards helping the sinner receive a pardon by repentance.
3. The focus is on the right-wing political evangelical church because it is currently the most recognizable public face of American Christianity. Unfortunately, it’s loud remorseless embrace of hateful nativist, dominionist, proto-fascist politics makes many non-believers in this country, and world-wide, see all American Christians as dangerous hypocrites.

Back to the main theme - Let’s examine two very fundamental (pun intended) attitudes in the American right-wing political church that oppose the Great Commandment.

In recent months racism and bearing false witness (lying) have been skillfully employed by right-wing propaganda merchants to create yet another big lie meant to frighten and further enrage petty racists, especially those who subscribe to Christian Nationalism. I am of course, talking about the critical race theory (CRT) strawman that is currently being demonized in the right-wing media cesspool, (i.e., satan’s lie machine).

What is Critical Race Theory? Simply put, it just an academic concept put forth to encourage law students to recognize the fact that racism leads to unequal outcomes in the American legal system.

The creation of the CRT strawman was/is an intentional lie, just like the long-standing conservative efforts to tie any call for human decency (e.g., social justice) to communism/socialism in order to encourage people to believe that the BIBLE commandment to “love your neighbor” actually opposes Christianity! (SMH…)

Conservative pundits are encouraging the belief that “love your neighbor” opposes Christianity

It is bad enough that the conservative media continually promotes lies that encourage anti-black racism, but now nationally known right-wing church figures are adopting these tropes to vilify any truthful examination of American history that exposes its racism. Portraying truth telling as being unchristian and even antichrist is a deception from the pit of hell! Rev 22:14-15

This points to a larger trend in the right-wing church - biblical concepts are being weaponized and christian language is being used to verbally demonize anyone seen as a political enemy of the far right. Outrageous (fox news type) lies are being willfully employed not only to slander enemies outside of the church - but also those inside conservative churches who make even the mildest attempts at acknowledging the truth.  

  

Is it any wonder that so many critics characterize American Evangelicalism as being nothing more than a fig leaf for white supremacy?

The demonization of the BLM/CRT strawman is brazen, open racism. American racists are currently refusing to acknowledge or repent of any racism, past or present, by convincing themselves that anti-racism equals anti-white America. The pretense that CRT will somehow be used as “reverse racism” against white people is just a projection of the fear that someday someone might do to American racists what they have done to their victims for 400 years. That is, of course, use history books to shame their children into believing that they are worthless and undeserving of decent treatment. They pretend that learning history will harm White children when Black and Native children are still living racism everyday. 

A false definition of CRT was specifically created to be demonized by the right-wing media cesspool (the strawman)

Black-Lives-Matter is, in reality, nothing more than a slogan - one that most Black Americans understand to mean that Law enforcement and the Criminal Justice system in this country should not be allowed to destroy black peoples’ lives on a whim without any legal consequences. (The fact that an organization was built around this slogan does not diminish its underlying truth.)

CRT is merely an academic acknowledgement that legal injustice is the long-standing reality in America for Blacks and Natives. (Note that CRT has never been taught in public schools at any level.) The people demonizing these terms – including Christian Nationalists who are going so far as to claim that systemic racism doesn’t even exist - obviously don’t care anything about the truth and care even less about the human rights or aspirations of America’s traditional victims. Rev 21:8

The right-wing media continues to suck the deceived into a cesspit of hate, fear, and delusion - exactly as the BIBLE predicts for the last times. satan - the liar - is your enemy, not other Americans. Come out of Babylon. Jer 51:6  Rev 18:2 

Christian - do you love your Neighbor?

Although JESUS told us to love our neighbor, the modern American right-wing evangelical church has come up with many political justifications to ignore what JESUS called the second greatest commandment.  

In Mat 22:37, JESUS was asked to name the greatest commandment. HE responded:

… “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment…” (See Deut 6:5)

Then, without being asked, HE added: “… And a second (greatest commandment) is like it: You shall love your neighbor as (much as you love) yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets…”

Looking more deeply at the key words, we can see just how comprehensive these commands really are.  

Love – from the ancient Greek word, agapao. It means to do and prefer what GOD prefers; which is to show love to GOD through willing obedience.

All – holos – The entirety (with no part left or given over to the world) of your:

Heart – kardia – Our internal emotional desires; the feelings that evolve into thoughts.                                             

Mind – dianoia – The critical thinking process.

Soul – psyxe - A person's unique individual personality.

When JESUS said that all the law and prophets depended on these two commandments, HE meant that they are the underlying lessons that GOD meant us to get out of all scripture.

When HE said that the second commandment was like the first, it inferred that loving your neighbor proves that you love GOD, i.e., how can you love GOD who you have not seen, if you don’t love your neighbor who you have seen? 1 Joh 4:20

If you don’t love your neighbor, do you really love GOD?

The next time we will look at several specific attitudes and doctrines rife in the modern American right-wing church that willfully oppose the two great commandments.