Bonus Post Out of Left Field: Jim Palmer, John Pavlovitz, and my Irritation with Such Bile (ah yes, you’re intrigued, aren’t you?)

This is somewhat of a random post, but it involves something that has been buzzing around in my mind for quite some time. The specific impetus for this post has to do with something that someone I do not know posted on the Alumni Facebook page of one of the graduate schools I attended. I hardly, if ever, actually share comments on that page, even though I am an alumnus, even though that graduate school was one of the most pivotal times in my life, and even though I met two of my most life-long friends there. The fact is that it has been over 20 years since I graduate from there, and, quite frankly, outside of the small circle of friends I made there, I guess I never really felt a true part of that community.

Now, the post in question involved sharing a short blog post by a guy named Jim Palmer—no, not the hall of fame pitcher (and later Jockey underwear spokesman!) of the Baltimore Orioles. This Jim Palmer is a former Evangelical pastor who actually ministered at the well-known Willowcreek Community church for a time. (Side note, I actually attended Willowcreek during my college years and, at the time, really liked it). He eventually abandoned the Christian faith and is now a self-proclaimed humanist. Nevertheless, he pretty much makes a living off of bashing Christianity and giving his own take on what Jesus really was like and what his teachings really meant. Bottom line, Palmer still is very much in the “Jesus business,” only now he preaches how Jesus really was just a post-Enlightenment liberal Democrat humanist…you know, someone like Jim Palmer.

The Palmer Post in Question
In any case, the post that was shared was about Jim Palmer’s listing ten things Jesus would not be happy about regarding Christianity if he returned. It was a very short post, but I am going to shorten Palmer’s “top ten list” a bit more:

1. Jesus’s vision for a transformed society was twisted into an “afterlife fantasy about heaven.”
2. Instead of advancing his message, Christianity simply worships Jesus’ name.
3. Instead of teaching that there is no separation from God in the first place, Christians twisted the gospel to say that Jesus’ death solved the problem of humankind’s separation from God.
4. Christianity is made up by the Apostle Paul and isn’t really based on the teachings of Jesus.
5. Instead of teaching that “we all share the same spirit that empowered his character and life,” Christianity teaches that only Jesus is God in the flesh, and therefore is completely out of reach of people.
6. Christianity wrongly teaches that it is only through Jesus that we can know the truth about God.
7. Christianity teaches that humankind stands condemned before God, deserves His wrath and “eternal conscious judgment,” and that Jesus’ death was required to fix it.
8. Christians are simply sitting around waiting for Jesus to return to end suffering, instead of trying to save the world and address suffering themselves.
9. Christians think there is something “magical” about Jesus’ name, and don’t see that people can “access [their] own natural power and capabilities to effect change.”
10. People now associate Jesus with church, theology, politics and power, rather than courage, justice, humanity, beauty and love.

Palmer writes a lot of posts like this—a lot of lists containing alot of stuff that is wrong about Christianity. And, as hopefully you can tell, his lists contain a whole lot of sophomoric caricatures of Christianity that contain no depth, no real thought, and no real reflection. They amount to simplistic bumper-stickers and trite memes that might attract eyeballs and undoubtedly act as confirmation bias for very bitter people who may very well have been hurt in some way by a pastor or church, but who have chosen to marinate in their bitterness and refashion Christianity in their own image—and that image, nine times out of ten, involves leaving “conservative Evangelicalism” and embracing “liberal Progressivism.”

And although there is always a kernel of truth in the criticisms of Christianity (and specifically Evangelicalism) that come from the likes of Palmer (such as some Evangelicals really are too much about politics and power), as Palmer’s “top ten list” clearly shows, they more than not display the critical thinking and reflection of an egotistical sophomore in high school. Just look again at Palmer’s list. My goodness, I’ll just comment on the first five:

1. Sorry, Jesus really did have something to say about our eternal destination
2. No one who has the smallest bit of sense can look at all the charities, hospitals, soup kitchens, missions, etc. that have come from Christian organizations and conclude that Christians aren’t about living out Christ’s message.
3. Jesus’ message was that there was no separation from God in the first place? Has Palmer read the New Testament?
4. Ah, the old, “Paul started Christianity, not Jesus,” trope. If you want to embrace the teachings of Bart Ehrman and Richard Carrier, by all means. Just realize, you really are rejecting the historical Christian faith and you really are refashioning Christ in your own image.
5. Clearly, Palmer doesn’t really get the point of the incarnation. And what kind of idealistic and utopia-infused fantasyland is “we all share the same spirit that empowered Jesus’ character and life”? Look around at reality—that is obviously not true.

Another Guy Who Bugs Me: John Pavlovitz
In addition to Palmer, I also often see posts from another “ex-Evangelical,” self-proclaimed “liberal Christian”—John Pavlovitz. His posts have a specific bent that Pavlovitz rides pretty hard: Evangelicals and conservatives Christians are antichrist, Trump-worshipping, hypocritical threats to America, and the way you can show your love for Christ is by voting Democrat.

Now, one of my own criticisms about today’s American Evangelicalism is that, yes, many Evangelicals have wrongly politicized their Christian faith and have equated Christianity with their own political beliefs. Or, as I’ve said before, they’ve mistaken the GOP party platform with the Kingdom of God. Yes, that is a legitimate criticism of some Evangelical Christians. But not all. Even though I am now Orthodox, I know far too many good, faith Evangelical Christians who, even though they are politically conservative, do not mistake their political views for Christianity. What I find so disheartening and amusing at the same time, though, is how so many “ex-Evangelicals” (like Palmer and Pavlovitz) scream in completely broad-brushed terms how “Evangelicals are guilty of turning Christianity into right-wing politics,” but then proceed, in virtually every post and book they write, actually show themselves in the business of turning Christianity into a left-wing political agenda.

And on top of that, just speaking as an English major, the way Pavlovitz writes is like nails on a chalkboard for me. I mean…

Listen Evangelicals. What are you doing?

Think about Jesus.

Think about babies.

Think about immigrants.

Tired. Hungry. In need.

Would Jesus have a border policy?

How can you say you love Jesus when you worship your orange-haired overlord and suck at the teet of expedient political power?

How could you?

How

Could

You?

Vote Democrat. Save America.

Or Jesus will weep.

ARGH! I’m sorry, how anyone can read him for any length of time without taking a ball point pen and piercing your own eyes is beyond me. Such writing is an affront to all that is right and good about the art of writing!

To be clear, though, it’s not the fact that some Christians are more liberal in their political views than me. That’s fine. I get that. What bugs me is how so militantly political, completely self-absorbed, and completely uncharitable guys like Palmer and Pavlovitz are—and they do it while constantly claiming to speak for Jesus, because Jesus obviously endorses their politics. In that respect, they are no different from the likes of Jerry Falwell from the “Moral Majority” days, and a number of other obviously politically motivated “conservative” Evangelical leaders. The problem isn’t one’s political views. The problem is refashioning Jesus and the Christian faith in a modern political image. And that’s political idolatry, no matter if the image is of a donkey or an elephant.

Young Goodman Brown
Now, if you’ve read me for any length of time, you know that when I do occasionally touch upon Christianity and politics, what I just wrote is pretty much what I always write. But recently, since I am now teaching high school English again, I read Nathaniel Hawthorne’s famous short story Young Goodman Brown with my freshmen. (I invite you to click the link to read the story for yourself).

The gist of the story is this. A young Puritan living in Salem, Massachusetts named Goodman Brown leaves his newly wedded wife Faith for the night to go on an errand in the forest. That errand consists of meeting up with the Devil who tries to shake his faith. In the course of the night, the Devil convinces Goodman Brown that the pious and godly people of his town—people he has looked up to his entire life—are, in reality, worshippers of the Devil. Brown makes his way deep into the forest to observe a satanic meeting of the people of the town, some alive and some back from the dead, where they are welcoming “new converts.”

At that meeting, the new converts are told that those people they had regarded as holy and good were, in reality, gossips, adulterers, drinkers, etc. Simply put, they weren’t as holy as previously thought. Their “secret deeds” showed that they were sinners. And, the Devil being the Devil, uses that to convince the “new converts” that that meant they were all, not just sinners, but actual worshippers of Satan. Then the entire scene vanishes, and Goodman Brown isn’t sure if what he witnessed was just dream or did the satanic assembly really happen?

In any case, he goes back to town, and for the rest of his life, he lives in constant bitterness and suspicion of everyone in the town. The story ends with these words: “Often, awaking suddenly at midnight, he shrank from the bosom of Faith, and at morning or eventide, when the family knelt down at prayer, he scowled, and muttered to himself, and gazed sternly at his wife, and turned away. And when he had lived long, and was borne to his grave, a hoary corpse, followed by Faith, an aged woman, and children and grandchildren, a goodly procession, besides neighbors, not a few, they carved no hopeful verse upon his tombstone; for his dying hour was gloom.”

I read this story with my students shortly after I had read the Palmer post, and I realized that what bugged me about the Palmer post, as well as his other ones, as well as things I had read by Pavlovitz, was summarized in the fate of Young Goodman Brown. Over the past few years, it is something I’ve seen in so many “ex-Evangelicals” and progressive Christians—regardless if they’ve completely left the faith or have just switched political allegiances.

It is bitterness and suspicion of everything they once thought was good. Upon realizing that some Christians, some Evangelicals, they had revered as godly and holy, were either really sinful were actually horrible people and con-artists, many people have chosen to be bitter and suspicion of all Christians, all Evangelicals, everything that has to do with Christianity.

The sad thing about Young Goodman Brown wasn’t that he came to realize the Christians in his town were sinful people, but that the Devil had convinced him that, because they were sinful, that meant they were evil—that meant that they were worshippers of Satan. And Young Goodman Brown took the bait and was no longer able to see anything good in anyone anymore.

When I was an Evangelical kid in the 80s, there were a host of scandals, most notably the Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart scandals. And in the course of my life, I’ve been deeply hurt by a handful of “Christian leaders” who, quite frankly, I think are pretty much scum. But I never let those scandals and disappointments lead me to conclude that all Christians are frauds or that all Evangelicals are this and that. No. I concluded those specific people were jerks and horrible people. And when I learned that some honest Christians stumbled in some sort of sin, I didn’t write them off as horrible hypocrites because I already knew they—as everyone—struggle with sin and sometimes screw up. I know I have.

All that said, ultimately, I guess I just feel disgusted by people like Palmer and Pavlovitz, just as I am with a number of right-wing Christian bomb-throwers, and I feel sad for people who get caught up in that kind of deception. And yes, it is deception. It is a twisting of the truth because it amplifies very real shortcomings and flaws, and it then sprinkles in outright lies that cause hurt and disillusioned Christians to marinate in bitterness and suspicion and ultimately (like Young Goodman Brown) gloom.

Conclusion
It is a tricky thing for Christians to show love and charity to those who are really hurting on one hand, and yet to stand firm for Christian truth on the other hand. What I mean by that goes back to the reaction to the post on my grad school Facebook page. Some reactions were less than charitable to the guy who posted it. At the same time, the guy often posts outrageous things by Palmer—personally, a bit trollish, if you ask me. Other reactions, though, were “affirming his journey” and wanted to “respect his path.” Well, I’m sorry, as Christians, we shouldn’t be “affirming” the embrace of teaching that blatantly contradicts the historical Christian faith. That’s not loving. That’s enabling. I guarantee that early Church Fathers like Polycarp, Ignatius, and Irenaeus never went around saying, “Well, Marcion, I might not totally agree with everything you’re saying, but I respect your journey!” And they didn’t say to the so-called Christian gnostics who preached free love, “Well, we don’t want to sound prudish! You do you! God bless!”

So, how should Christians react to all this sort of stuff? I don’t think I have a perfect answer. All I can do is write this blog post. I feel sorry for those who have been really hurt by other Christians. I don’t like it when any Christian politicizes their faith to the point where it is effectively no longer the Christian faith. And I know dealing with stuff like this is hard. I try my best not to be insensitive and mean, but at the same time I’m not going to be “affirming” of things that clearly contradict the historical Christian faith.

There it is. I’ve got other things I need to do today.