{"id":90477,"date":"2017-03-31T10:31:45","date_gmt":"2017-03-31T14:31:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/huffington-post-derek-penwell-response\/"},"modified":"2023-10-07T23:41:32","modified_gmt":"2023-10-08T03:41:32","slug":"huffington-post-derek-penwell-response","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/huffington-post-derek-penwell-response\/","title":{"rendered":"Huffington Post Derek Penwell Response"},"content":{"rendered":"

Huffington Post Derek Penwell Response<\/a>\u00a0by Pastor Roger Raker<\/p>\n

Responses are in bold<\/strong><\/p>\n

Derek Penwell, Contributor<\/p>\n

Author, Editor, Speaker, Activist<\/p>\n

Dear Evangelicals, I Don\u2019t Think You Realize How You Sound To Everybody Else<\/p>\n

Dear Progressives, I Don\u2019t Think You Realize How You Sound<\/strong><\/p>\n

Your actions are the best argument for who you really are and what you really believe.<\/p>\n

02\/23\/2017 01:57 pm ET | Updated 17 hours ago<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/entry\/dear-evangelicals-i-dont-think-you-realize-how-you_us_58af2c13e4b0e5fdf6196f4f<\/a><\/p>\n

Dear Evangelicals,<\/p>\n

Dear Progressives:<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to begin with the assumption that your hearts are in the right place. I know that many of my progressive friends would contest that assumption. But I know you. I was raised by you, taught to care about scripture in your churches and schools. You do care about the Bible. You have (as you might say) a \u201cheart for God.\u201d<\/p>\n

As an Evangelical Christian pastor I, too, acknowledge your genuine concern, care and heart for people.\u00a0 Your letter is as thoughtful and honest as is your approachability.\u00a0 And while neither of us can defend the \u2018fringes\u2019 of our respective constituencies, you and I can certainly dialogue to at least a better understanding.\u00a0 Therefore, in reply:<\/strong><\/p>\n

So I continue to hold out hope that you\u2019ll recognize how you sound to those who aren\u2019t evangelicals. I promise I don\u2019t want to sound patronizing by saying that I know what you mean more than you do. But I\u2019m not sure you realize that your moral (and often, political) tone comes off as censorious and unsympathetic to people who are suffering, people who are currently living in fear of what might become of them in this brave new world we all inhabit. I know not all of you, but certainly enough of you that it feels to almost everybody else like all of you.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The \u2018brave new world\u2019 you cite, in a phrase \u2018progressivism\u2019, is through our eyes a devolving \u2018prevision\u2019 of orthodox Christian mores. Hence, our alarm.\u00a0 Evangelicals hold that if God created us, then His biblical convictions (as opposed to evolving mores) by-right define us, informing our thoughts, motives and actions.\u00a0 As a creation, we have no \u2018right\u2019 to alter the Creator\u2019s intent as if we are returning the favor.\u00a0 Conversely the Disciples of Christ, your affiliation, emphasizes Christian unity, inclusiveness, and social action at the expense of defined Biblical convictions, failing to \u2018stand firm\u2019 (1 Corinthians 15:58), resulting in one of the most theologically un-Biblical denomications in America today.\u00a0 So while you see us as \u2018intolerant\u2019 we see you as \u2018apostate\u2019.\u00a0 This is not to say some, on either side, are handling this development well in the context of a response, but it does explain the visceral reaction of us both.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Muslims, for instance, often think that you hate them. They hear you and your support of policies that target them as threats to a comfortable middle class Christian existence. They feel like they only have value in your eyes as potential candidates for conversion. But here\u2019s the thing I think you might not get: Why would they ever convert to your understanding of God when they\u2019re happy with the one they have \u2014 one that, in many cases, asks for more commitment from them than yours does from you \u2014 and when they\u2019re convinced that you think of them somehow as inferior beings, duped by a terrorist god?<\/p>\n

    Now, I suspect that sounds shocking to you, since you\u2019re convinced in your heart that you love them as Christ loves you. But ask yourself this: How would Christ treat them? What kind of politics would Jesus support when it comes to sharing the same planet with them? Would you extend them the same benefit of the doubt you grant yourself, that their disagreement with your theology is an expression of their love for you?<\/p>\n

    \u201cI\u2019m not sure you realize that your moral (and often, political) tone comes off as censorious and unsympathetic to people who are suffering.<\/p>\n

    Because here\u2019s the thing: No matter what you feel about Muslims in the interior of your heart, your actions and your political support communicate something entirely different. They can\u2019t see your heart through the veil of condescension and hostility that seems to be floating in the atmosphere; all they can see is how you live, the Islamophobic things you post on Facebook, the laws you lobby for. Why would they ever think anything other than that you hate and fear them?<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/strong>I agree that some have a misperception of Jesus Christ as a white, Anglo-Saxon, protestant Republican which has tainted thinking which, in turn, taints responses. In truth, despite condemned by the Roman political authority, Jesus fostered no political movement opting, in every New Testament engagement, for a heart decision for or against Him as the only true God.\u00a0 Everything else flows from this decision.\u00a0 Politics for Evangelicals shouldn\u2019t be viewed as electing enough of the like-minded to force America to be like-minded.\u00a0 This isn\u2019t conversion but coercion.\u00a0 If Jesus had felt this way, there would have been only two crosses atop Golgotha.\u00a0 No, THE question is \u201c\u201cWhat do you think about the Christ?\u201d (Matthew 22:42)\u00a0 If someone rejects, the worst Jesus counseled was shaking off the dust from your feet (Matthew 10:14).\u00a0 But note: He didn\u2019t say agree with them either\u2026but hold to Biblical conviction; leave the ultimate judgment to God.\u00a0 Given conviction affects every aspect of life, yes Evangelicals reflect this even in the voting booth as part of the process open to every citizen.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    And what about undocumented immigrants? They hear you talk about family values, then see you support a politics that tears children from the arms of their parents. They hear you talk about loving the Bible, but find it inexplicable when they see you ignore the raft of Biblical passages that enjoin God\u2019s people to welcome the foreigner. They hear you talk about how in Christ the walls separating us are all torn down, that there is no longer male nor female, slave nor free, barbarian nor Scythian, but then they see you defending a man whose crowning political aspiration is building a wall that will keep them away from you \u2014 that will make it clear to everyone that you believe there really is an \u201cus\u201d and a \u201cthem.\u201d<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. In Romans 13 Paul says that the government is in the best position to judge wrongdoers and find solutions to the problem of lawlessness. At the same time, as Christians, we have to separate our attitude toward the act of entering the country illegally from our attitude toward illegal immigrants themselves. On this point, you are to be commended.\u00a0 Illegal aliens are individuals for whom Jesus died too. The first obligation of a Christian is to express Christlikeness in all our thoughts, words, and deeds (Romans 8:29). Therefore acts of hatred or violence toward illegal immigrants are never to be tolerated by those who name the name of Christ.\u00a0 We support the rule of law; we show compassion to all.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Or what about my LGBTQ friends and family? They hear you talk about love and grace \u2014 except when it comes to them. All they see is you keeping open the option to treat them \u2014 as a supposedly orthodox expression of your faith\u2014like malformed deviants. They hear you talk about turning the other cheek, but then they see you arguing for legislation that would keep children safe from bullying in the name of religious freedom. They hear you complain in high dudgeon about the invasion of privacy of underage girls when transgender people want to use the bathroom that corresponds to their gender identity, but then they see the white folks among you vote overwhelmingly for a man who is on record multiple times bragging about his ability to invade the privacy of underage girls.<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Scripture says God is not the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33). Genesis says God made us male\/female at birth, clearly defining sexual mores for His creation.\u00a0 Jesus, by example, rescued an adulterous woman from the persecution of a mob without condoning her sin (John 8:10\u201311), point being to show compassion is not the same as sanctioning a person\u2019s lifestyle. Compassion does not require agreement or approval \u2013 a lesson for evangelicals. Our response to persecution against the LGBTQ community should involve prayer, a rebuke of the persecutors, and charitable action while advocating God\u2019s convictions.\u00a0 I sense the former from progressives, but what about the latter?\u00a0 To fail in the second part is to fail to represent the whole Gospel.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        How about African Americans? They continue to bear the burden of a country founded on racism and slavery every time they see a police car in the rear view mirror, or interview for a job, or endure the indignities of a justice system designed it seems to impact them disproportionately, but then they hear white evangelicals talking about how we live in a society that is somehow post-racial. They hear you sing, \u201cJesus loves the little children, all the children of the world,\u201d but when one of their children dies violently at the hands of police, they see you immediately jump to blame their children for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or for looking like menacing thugs, or for somehow inviting the violence. They hear you talk about how you\u2019re not racist, but then they see you fall in behind a president who surrounds himself with \u201calt-right\u201d (which is a way of saying, \u201cwhite supremacist,\u201d which is a way of saying, \u201cnazi\u201d) activists.<\/p>\n

          \n
        1. All human beings are created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26-27). Therefore, those who practice racism, prejudice and discrimination need to repent (Romans 6:13) and victims of racism, prejudice, and discrimination need to forgive (Ephesians 4:32) as God sees only His children.\u00a0 My brevity isn\u2019t an indication of disinterest, but clear instruction which has been too long ignored.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Look, you may have a really good way of explaining all this. I\u2019m willing to allow for the fact that you may be totally misunderstood. But the thing is, if this isn\u2019t who you are in your heart, you\u2019re going to have to be the ones to show the rest of us who you really are. Just saying, \u201cI\u2019m not an Islamophobic, Xenophobic, Homo\/transphobic, racist\u201d isn\u2019t convincing to anyone but those who already agree with you \u2014 no matter how sincerely you believe it to be true. Your actions are the best argument for who you really are, what you really believe. But right now, all protestations to the contrary notwithstanding, there are a bunch of folks in the world who think you and the God you claim to serve hate them.<\/p>\n

            \n
          1. Personally I\u2019m not advocating anything other than the documented convictions of God. Agreed: Jesus said by their fruits you shall know them (Matthew 7:20).\u00a0 We evangelicals need work on our actions so as not to withhold God\u2019s care and compassion.\u00a0 As we speak truth, we are to speak it in love (Ephesians 4:15).\u00a0 Conversely, you progressives need work on misunderstanding and therefore misapplying God\u2019s Word to avoid devastating, eternal consequences upon the very souls you say you wish to help.\u00a0 After all, \u201cFor what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?\u201d \u2013 Jesus, Mark 8:36.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            And I can\u2019t imagine any version of Jesus who is cool with that.<\/p>\n

            And I can\u2019t imagine Jesus is going to be cool with this either.<\/strong><\/p>\n

             <\/p>\n

            Love,<\/p>\n

            Your pal, Derek<\/p>\n

             <\/p>\n

            Peace, <\/strong><\/p>\n

            \u00a0<\/strong>Your pal, Tony<\/strong><\/p>\n

             <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            Huffington Post Derek Penwell Response\u00a0by Pastor Roger Raker Responses are in bold Derek Penwell, Contributor Author, Editor, Speaker, Activist Dear Evangelicals, I Don\u2019t Think You Realize How You Sound To Everybody Else Dear Progressives, I Don\u2019t Think You Realize How You Sound Your actions are the best argument for who you really are and what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nHuffington Post Derek Penwell Response - Grace Evangelical Free Church<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Huffington Post Derek Penwell Response - Grace Evangelical Free Church\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Huffington Post Derek Penwell Response\u00a0by Pastor Roger Raker Responses are in bold Derek Penwell, Contributor Author, Editor, Speaker, Activist Dear Evangelicals, I Don\u2019t Think You Realize How You Sound To Everybody Else Dear Progressives, I Don\u2019t Think You Realize How You Sound Your actions are the best argument for who you really are and what […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/huffington-post-derek-penwell-response\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Grace Evangelical Free Church\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-03-31T14:31:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-10-08T03:41:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tony Raker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tony Raker\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"10 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/huffington-post-derek-penwell-response\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/huffington-post-derek-penwell-response\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tony Raker\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/#\/schema\/person\/6785bcea471ae92fb3660d811c5c74ef\"},\"headline\":\"Huffington Post Derek Penwell Response\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-03-31T14:31:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-08T03:41:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/huffington-post-derek-penwell-response\/\"},\"wordCount\":1942,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Pastor's Blog\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/huffington-post-derek-penwell-response\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/huffington-post-derek-penwell-response\/\",\"name\":\"Huffington Post Derek Penwell Response - 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