Memorial of Saint Teresa of Jesus, virgin and doctor of the Church
Over the last week or so, my husband Bill (who has been writing on Protestant fundamentalism for more than forty years), has been engaged in an email exchange with Mark, who is a self-identified fundamentalist.
The exchange started when Mark contacted Bill in response to an article that Bill and I wrote on the Creation Museum that was published in The Conversation, which is an outlet for scholarly work written for a popular audience. The piece got picked up by other media venues, which is how Mark came across it. Here’s a link to the article, in case you want to read it.
Mark wanted to inform Bill that the Creation Museum has it right, and that it is obvious (if you read the Bible literally, which is the only way a true Christian reads it) that God created the universe less than 10,000 years ago in six 24-hour days.
Notably, Mark did not also email me and never even mentioned me in any of his emails (despite Bill’s repeated reminders that he and I both authored the article). I told Bill that this was the one time in my life when sexism was actually a plus!
Bill is remarkably patient when he engages fundamentalists who wish to school him on how to read the Bible, how to be a Christian, why a plain reading of the Bible is not an interpretation, and so forth. At current count, Bill has responded 17 times to Mark’s emails (although at this point he is just cutting and pasting previous responses).
At a crucial juncture in the exchange, Bill asked Mark if he applies the same plain reading to Matthew 25: 34-46, which is the one place in the New Testament in which Jesus goes into detail about the Last Judgment. Those who enter the Kingdom are those who feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe those who don’t have enough, and care for the sick and the imprisoned; those who don’t do these things are damned.
Mark said that Bible-believing Christians, by virtue of being Bible-believing Christians, naturally do all these good works. When Bill challenged that idea, Mark said that, of course, everyone’s flawed. When Bill pressed further, Mark said this text really applies to the End Times, and not to today. As Bill pointed out, that’s a very peculiar and far from literal reading of the text.
Over time, Mark has gotten more and more frustrated with Bill, particularly because Bill would not agree with his approach to the Bible, and because Bill would not agree that Christians should hold to young Earth creationism. And in all of this Mark has repeatedly asked Bill to prove (despite the fact that Bill had informed him early on that he is a devout Christian) that he really is a Christian in his beliefs.
Why do I tell this story?
Because if we take Paul’s word seriously (dare I say read it plainly?) it is the antidote to the kind of discourse too many Christians engage in these days (even with each other). There are tests of belief. And if you don’t pass them, then you are not a Christian (no matter what you might think, or however often you might pray in thanksgiving to God, or no matter what you might generously share in almsgiving in response to Matthew 25, or whatever else) and you are headed straight for hell.
We are called to pray thank you, God ,for choosing us in you. Thank you for acting in love on our behalf through Jesus Christ. Thank you for counting us among your beloved. All of us—no matter how we read the Bible, or how old we think the Earth is, or what we think of mainstream science—are redeemed by his blood. And, thus, whatever our differences, the truth is that we are brothers and sisters.
- Sue Trollinger