But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23.
I went to church yesterday with my wife on one of those rare Sundays when not working. We had a guest speaker, the very few people present (largely due to widespread consternation about the mask mandate) were ‘socially distanced’ about the sanctuary, everyone was wearing a mask. I thought it was responsible behavior. (If everyone did this to protect each other—the mandates that so many people complain about would not be necessary; but I digress.) Not getting into the meat of the sermon, I’ll instead focus on one small, almost inconsequential, part of it in which the point was made that “Outrage is not a fruit of the Spirit.”
The statement was well-intentioned. As I understood and interpreted the context in which the statement was made, it implied to me personally that a good and proper Christian response to the raging clown show of dangerous divisions in our country, largely fomented and enabled by the dominant Christian Right, is to be meek and mild. A mousy, kind Christian is a good Christian. I’ve been told this by many people, in various ways throughout my life but somehow, I haven’t been convinced of it yet. Yes sir, I know ‘outrage’ did not make Paul’s list. And yes sir, I realize ‘outrage’ is what is compelling the lies which empower the Trumpites to rip this country apart with all this Q-anon and election fraud nonsense. (And if this is what you meant to address then kudos; however, you did not elaborate and clarify as perhaps you should have.) You, as I interpreted, appeared to be talking mainly about an emotional response (to any stimuli,) which, in and of itself, mildness is not necessarily a bad thing—if it is discerned to be the right response within the given conditions. I don’t believe the emotional component alone determines the ‘rightness’ of any response. The head should govern primarily. As Solomon taught, everything has its season. I believe clearly that this season demands outrage. The debate is not about outrage itself, but concerns the question of whether or not the outrage is justified.
Considering Jesus’ example, I ask myself the question of how ‘mild’ Jesus was in confronting the (most likely very worked up) crowd about to stone a woman for adultery? Can we imagine the tone of the statement, “Who here is without sin?” How gentle was Jesus when delivering the ‘seven woes’ speech to the Pharisees? Were those words peaceful, patient, and kind? Can we say that Jesus was not outraged when overturning the money-changing tables at the Temple? Was He less-than gentle? Did He lose his sense of self-control? Ezekiel (as I brought up in a previous post) recorded the Lord’s words of indignation towards Israel for its lying princes and prophets who oppressed the poor widows, orphans, and aliens. Outrage is listed as a synonym of indignation in my thesaurus. The Spirit is God. These words were spoken according to the Spirit, are they not His fruit since they come from Him?
Context is especially important in interpretation. This is Paul’s list of the ‘works of the flesh.’
“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.” Galatians 5:20-21
The contrast between fleshly and spiritual desires which motivate us to action provides a context for what Paul was driving at. As I interpret the Christian Right’s entanglement with political power to right society’s wrongs, they’ve stirred up (at least) enmity, strife, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, and divisions. As evidenced by the number of enemies I’ve accumulated by being vocal about my opposition to Trumpian-religious syncretism, it seems I could well be accused of many of these crimes on the fleshly list as well; and here is where we are. The difference lies not necessarily in the feeling experienced in the middle of a conflict but in the intention towards a desired outcome–whether it be for selfish reasons or not. The common denominator behind the motivation for causing strife and dissention determining the rightness or wrongness of it lies in the motive of the doer to either gain power for himself or to sacrifice himself for the freedom of others. I do not see any evidence at all that either Trump or his enablers in the Republican party and in the Christian Right are willing to sacrifice themselves for anyone. It is a vicious world these people are creating; the master(s) will turn on even the most loyal supporters if the most absurd demands of the ‘leaders’ are not met. They openly seek to be our lords, and millions of us believe they are only hope for our freedom. This is so sad for all of us.
A majority of Christians recognize the ‘prophets’ (whether or not you even understand this) which inspire the faithful to (as I see the devotion in those who hate me for my view of the man) worship Trump. As I see it, you have sold yourselves to, and effectively worship, a devil. That means I am accusing many in the church of the crime of idolatry for this devotion and adulation. I also am accusing many in the church of following false prophets who make all sorts of claims concerning conversations with God in which they’re given privileged information to then pass on to those who are hungry for this sort of thing, and who also describe trips to heaven to help enforce their ‘favored’ status among the faithful. They make up stuff about future events to satisfy our desire for control over the future (and supernatural things.) This, as I see it, is a form of sorcery which leads to serious dissentions and divisions within the body. This body of lies provides cover for the princes to then lie as well. Peer pressure is applied to silence opposition to the prevailing winds in Christian culture. (Understanding this helps me deal emotionally with how people tend to react to what I have to say.)
Becoming ‘outraged’ about this mass apostacy is largely unacceptable; this majority acceptance of what is ‘love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control’ has taken decades as the charismatics have done their work to remove reason and the really hard scholarly work out of the biblical interpretation equation. Feelings now rule. (Surveys showing the very significant decline in biblical literacy among churchgoers objectively demonstrate this.) People like me are shamed as troublemakers who, in ‘fits of anger,’ create strife and dissention where there should be none. The peacemakers amongst us do the gentle thing to remind the fierier souls to take it easy. What is seen by the passionate as being left out are the commitments (faithfulness) to the fruit of goodness which is being trampled by all the liars feeding on the gullible. Saying that ‘goodness’ is only distantly related to ‘truth’ uncouples what could anchor the more emotionally fragile among us from confidence in believing any promise. This is the theology which is strongly implied by today’s feelings (as guided by our leadership which appeals to our authoritarian proclivities as a species) which are understood to have an almost direct correlation to the ‘truth’ of whatever proclamation is being made or other stimuli being experienced. It’s in the music, atmosphere (lights and special effects,) liturgy, and physical structure of how we do church. The ‘feelings’ approach to ministry among the faithful, and evangelism to the young, both does not work (as the young are leaving the church in droves—they want moral substance, which they largely not getting) and alienate the broken (as they are taught they must feel and express ‘joy’ to be a true part of the club.) This, quite frankly, is cruel and alienating to those who have not submitted and acclimated to that culture. The dispelling of reason and diversity which leads to the formation of a cultural exclusivity (in the process ‘Americanizing’ our Christianity) should be (seen as) outrageous; but it isn’t.
This is why I had such a visceral reaction to the well-meaning statement that “Outrage is not a fruit of the Spirit;” I am outraged by the feelings dominant theology which alienates and separates, as it (among other things) leaves the faithful unable to morally reason well enough to understand that worshipping, as the hope for a future Christian America, a man like Trump, is morally bankrupt and a terrible witness to the love of God. We’ve been blinded by a large group of evil ‘teachers,’ ‘prophets,’ and ‘apostles’ who are well-connected politically. The faithful, understandably, do no wish to hear that they’ve been duped. How easy it is to preach a sermon urging us to be gentle, ‘not judge lest ye be judged,’ to be ‘meek’ and mild, to exhibit patience, and self-control which does not seek to inform the listener of what the grammatical-historical, in-context, approach (and, getting really deep into hermeneutics, the ‘relevance theory’ approach, which I’m familiar with this methodology having taken an intro to linguistics class in college; here is a very brief introduction) to interpreting what the biblical meaning of those qualities is (or should be) to then act accordingly as situations and conditions dictate. Taking a host of biblical virtues and qualities as an absolute can lead to conflicts between seemingly conflicting virtues; considering this reality, there has to be a season for everything.
Throwing out a term like ‘outrage’ without a whole lot of discussion about its possible justification, leaves the listener to fill in his or her own meaning (as defined by the dominant culture in which the word is heard) to reaffirm what they already believe. One can simply fill in the blank of ‘outrage’ with ‘lefty’s’ burning, looting, and breaking windows—‘nough said. There is little to challenge the listener with the idea that there may be issues worth being outraged about. This can close avenues to conversation, to people being heard, which leads to alienation, resentment, hatred, and ultimately, violence. As Dr. King wisely pointed out, “Riot is the language of the unheard.”
In my mind, if you really want to be a peacemaker, you should work to hear everyone and provide a forum in which they may be heard by opposing those who build systems which keep people out. We honestly believe we can keep the peace by building walls—either literally or figuratively. We divide others to protect ourselves; we segregate and isolate one group from other in some self-protective scheme using echo-chambers, special interest economic protections, churches, and prisons to do it. This is easy road we’ve been on. Peacemaking, as I understand it, is the hard road of getting rid of presuppositions, lies, and the automatic labels; ‘god-haters,’ ‘socialists,’ ’communists,’ ‘criminals,’ and the like. This may mean getting uncomfortable with and then outraged about our extensive efforts to reassert a ‘white, Christian values America’ which actively persecutes the most vulnerable amongst us to live lives of shame and separation. Instead of taking the harder road by looking for the elusive ‘mean’ in understanding, for the compromise, or the extended offer of peace, and a ‘place at the table,’ we do the ‘easy’ thing by going scorched earth to demand that those who have been mistreated by us should ‘none-the-less’ bend the knee so they may gain our favor. This is a recipe for war, and it is what the Christian Right has brought us (now having its nadir in its champion and representative Donald Trump.) I’m afraid this atmosphere has led me to believe those who shush me to be gentle (and that good fellow yesterday was not personally calling me out as he likely doesn’t know me from Adam,) are likely either totally blind to what is happening or are actively working (conscious of it or not) to keep the status quo because it ‘feels’ safer. It isn’t.
These days are outrageous and as such ‘these days’ are screaming for moral discernment and courage. As I understand it, in a biblical sense, ‘outrage’ can be righteous since, as pointed out previously, God Himself has been ‘outraged.’ I’m called to be an imitator, am I not?
Difficult times are ahead, which will be largely governed by fear. The church is governed by fear as evidenced by the kind of man they chose to be their representative. Unthoughtful, arrogant (which pairs well with ignorance,) fearful (unable to tolerate dissent or question,) authoritarian (demanding total loyalty to him, all others be damned,) uneducated and uninterested, pragmatic, and dishonest (weaving tales which have no bearing in reality,) compiles a pretty good representation of our neo-apostolic, politically connected, mega-church networks of today. The voice projected by these networks is extremely loud, as the world sees ‘Jesus-people,’ the image they see is largely of them. It is about time to get educated, which will provide a proper base for the outrage; then grow a backbone and speak out against this evil—no matter what it costs. Our country must have its reckoning.
We must demand that the dirt be exposed despite the pain and embarrassment. It did not work out well for the former Soviet Union to forego its reckoning with the evils of communism and corruption; it fell right back into nostalgia longing for the good ol’ days. Likewise, if we do not expose all the crime, corruption, incompetence, and evil in the Trump administration, and all of the complaisance to all these evils by his Christian enablers, then the nation will not, and cannot heal. The echo chambers will be filled with smug, confident, self-righteous, and woefully ignorant crusaders who will perpetuate the culture of lies by just making stuff up without evidence which a more capable authoritarian will advantage himself to bring us even greater evil in the future; and the (Q-anon infested) church will cheer this.
Truth will be merely limited by the number of possibilities which is (and will continue to be) a total disaster. If this claim is confusing to you, think of it this way: [Q1] Is it possible there are little green men zipping about in outer space in flying saucers? [Q2] Is it likely? [Q3] Is there reason to believe this is happening? Yes is the obvious answer to the first question [Q1] and no is the reasonable answer to the following questions [Q1 & Q2] due to the complete lack of evidence [for Q1] which determines that it would be unjustified to believe there are little green men flying around in alien spacecraft. Trump’s claims of election fraud are functionally equivalent as there has been a complete lack any evidence to support the many accusations. Yet people believe flying saucers without evidence just like they believe in Trump by the millions—and in the genuine and truly funny co-believer Melissa Carone! (Thank you, God, very much for humor to get us through! Getting back into seriousness…)
Barring any hunger (or at least curiosity) for actual evidence to back the many claims from our authorities, the ‘apostles’ and ‘prophets’ will ‘whitewash’ for their princes, and the vulnerable (and the skeptics) will continue to be outcast. But man, will we feel righteous and confident…
It is time for outrage. It is time for division. It is time to argue. It is time to expose. As it is also time to laugh, and teach others to laugh, at just how stupid this ‘movement’ is (here is an old example of how this could be done,) so we can all lower our guard enough to repent, forgive ourselves and each other, and then laugh at our own stupidity to hope that we don’t get fooled again.