Social Gospel in Germany and America
It can be very discouraging to be a Christian in the United States these days. So many self-described "Christians" are energized by the urge to exclude and marginalize others. Take the case of Virgil Goode, the evangelical Christian congressman from Virginia. He recently sent a letter to the voters in his district demanding the expulsion and exclusion of Muslims in the US. Or witness the growing schism in the Episcopal Church in America, as more and more congregations split off to join an Anglican movement led by a bigoted Nigerian archbishop who supports the imprisonment of gays and lesbians.
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One of his tenets was treating everyone with dignity. he lived this with actions and words:
The reviled "Zealots" were anti-Roman, and seem comparable to the fearful anti-immigration people of today. He took one as his disciple.
The ostracized Samaritans, who he used in his parable, could be today's gays, or yesterday's Irish or African-Americans.
The tax collector he welcomed as a disciple could be today's, well, tax collectors.
He spoke out against devaluing others, comparing it to murder: "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ´Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.´ But I tell you … anyone who says, `You fool!´ will be in danger of the fire of hell."
"For if you love only those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even the tax collectors do that!"
This is probably one of the most difficult calls to action he issued.
As for those convinced they are "right," compare those with the Sadducees, the church elders of the time, who adopted a name that meant, in fact, "righteous." He told them they were full of it. He said he could obey God without following anything they said. They dared him for an example. You'll know this story as an example of forgiveness, but really it is a story to give the publicly righteous the finger: The group of Saduccees came upon a woman prepared for stoning. His example was that he could obey God's command for punishment, but added the proceedings would go forward when the one without sin cast the first stone. Then he began writing in the dirt until the Sadducees left, one by one. What did he write? Perhaps a general list of sins. Perhaps a list specific to each "Righteous Man." Perhaps the names of the people they had sinned with. Ted Haggard, Newt Gingrich, Dennis Hastert, Tom Davis, are you listening?
In short, he seemed to think little of publicly pious self-anointed church spokesmen telling us who is deserving or heaven or of respect. That seems to be the reason they wanted him gone. I haven't figured out why we replaced the leaders of that time with ... more publicly pious self-anointed church spokesmen.