The Church that Scares Me

One Sunday afternoon, I visited a family who had recently moved to our city. I had received their name from members in our congregation who shared with me that the family had recently bought a house next door to them. “It would be wonderful,” they said, “if you could stop by and welcome our new neighbors and invite them to church.”

I thought to myself how wonderful it would be if the couple in our church, who lived next door to them, would welcome and invite their new neighbors to church. “Oh well,” I reasoned, “I won’t go in. I’ll just stand at the door, introduce myself, invite them to church, and then leave. Shouldn’t take more than five minutes.”

I was surprised when the husband invited me inside. So much for the five minute visit! I guessed that the church couple had told their new neighbors I might stop by and they had prepared for my visit. For fifteen or twenty minutes, we talked about their first impressions of our city and how they were acclimating to the neighborhood. Finally, I shared with them information about our church and invited them to check us out.

The wife thanked me for visiting and also for extending an invitation to the church. She told me that she and her husband had been raised conservative Christians, but for ten or more years they had drifted away from organized religion. 

I asked, “Did you have a bad experience? Did something happen in the church?” “What caused you to leave?” I didn’t mean to interrogate them, and apologized if I was prying, but I was curious as to why people with a church background would drop out of church. It seemed to me that their withdrawal from church had become a pattern for people all across the country. Maybe their story could provide some clues as to why people were exiting the church.

For several seconds neither one of them spoke. I could sense that they wanted to talk about why they left church but weren’t sure where to start. I encouraged them to tell me what went wrong. “Please,” I said, “if it is not too personal or painful, help me understand what happened. Maybe I can learn from your story.”

The husband looked at me, then began to open up. His first sentence startled me, “To be frank, the church scares us.”

That was the first time that anyone had ever shared with me that the church frightened them. As a pastor, I had heard almost every conceivable excuse or reason why people didn’t attend church, but his answer was a new one. Since that visit, however, more and more people have confessed to me that they have grown uncomfortable with church.

What is it about church that frightens people? What makes a growing number of people feel uneasy and drives them away from organized religion?

It’s not that they’re turned off by the teachings of Jesus or his way of life. It’s not even that they find church irrelevant or belief in God inconsistent with the modern world. For the most part, there are other reasons why people are finding church distasteful.

One reason in particular is the extreme and insensitive rhetoric heard in many congregations that is antithetical to the overall teachings of the New Testament. If you were to visit one of these religious groups, you would hear Bible studies where people openly discuss the merits of chattel slavery, or you would hear arguments why women should not work outside the home or be allowed to vote. You would hear pastors and teachers advocate the restructuring of American society based on Old Testament ideals and Mosaic Law, and, believe it or not, you would hear fierce support for the abolishment of democracy in favor of a theocracy administered by an authoritarian monarch. The evils of multi-cultural pluralism would be advocated and openly discussed. From the pulpit or a Bible study class, a few verses from the Bible would explain how homosexuality is a sin punishable by death, and how proponents of evolution should also be eliminated. And that’s just for starters! They view Calvin’s dystopian Geneva as a paradise.

Mind you, alternative views or different ways of interpreting Scripture would not be tolerated, and the teachings of Jesus would be minimized in favor of Old Testament legal codes. For that matter, the concept of grace, in these congregations, is interpreted exclusively, that is, some people are chosen by God to eternal life and others are condemned by God to eternal damnation. Of course, if you adhere to their understanding of Scripture, you are part of God’s elect and guaranteed a place in heaven. It seems by listening to these congregations, it is not Jesus who saves, but a legal code of dos and don’ts. The Pharisees would be so proud!

You may think I’m making all this up or referring to a tiny minority within Christendom, but I’m not. Religious groups that advocate these views are increasing in numbers all across America. When I read their beliefs, and see the zealotry by which they are spreading their extreme biblical interpretations, I can fully understand why some followers of Jesus are frightened.

The harsh, judgmental, and often violent language by these church groups, sometimes accompanied by militant behavior, has always been present within Christendom, but in recent years has resurfaced and is gaining momentum not only in our nation but around the world.

This militant and exclusive form of religion, often referred to as “Christian Reconstructionism,” has attracted close to 40% of conservative Christians, who either have publicly aligned with the movement or have sympathy for it. The brainchild of Rousas John Rushdoony (1916-2001) and Cornelius Van Til (1895-1987), Christian Reconstructionists believe that every square inch of the universe belongs to God, and Christians are responsible for bringing about God’s rule by any means available, even violence!

Christian Reconstructionism has many branches that go by different names, such as Theo Bros and New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), but they all have the same goal—to establish a Christian theocracy on earth, beginning with America. The Latin words, “Deus Vult,” or “God wills it” define their mission to supplant democracy by rejecting pluralism, and rewrite the Constitution with a rigid interpretation of the Bible, primarily the Old Testament’s legal framework. Scripture for these right-wing religious extremists is not only authoritative but just as important, authoritarian! In their belief system, the United States, to survive, requires a prophetic dictator who demands a return to the principles of Scripture. These so-called principles, however, follow a dogmatic fundamentalist doctrine that leaves no space for compromise. The free expression of thought to see faith or Scripture in a different light is condemned. Human reason cannot be trusted, according to these believers, only the Holy Bible. And, of course, there is only one true interpretation of the Bible—theirs.

During the time of the Crusades, Christian crusaders rallied around the battle cry, Deus Vult, as they slaughtered any and all who refused to convert. White supremacists echoed the phrase as they marched on Charlottesville in 2017. At least one rioter on January 6th waved a white flag emblazoned with a cross and the words, Deus Vult. Deus Vult is a call to do whatever it takes to restore America to their narrow vision of Christianity because, in their view, God wills it.

Spreading the Christian faith has always been part of the Christian mission. From the 1st century onward, Christians have been motivated by their belief that the message of the risen Christ is intended for everyone, rich or poor, black or white, powerful or weak. But that message, in the first couple of centuries, was spread through persuasion, logic, love, and benevolent acts of charity and kindness—not force, nor intimidation, nor governmental mandates, and certainly not through violence! Only in later centuries did the church begin to use conquest and force as a means to advance its political and religious agenda, a clear departure from the teachings of Jesus.

In my lifetime, spokesmen like Billy Graham believed that the transformation of culture could only be accomplished by the transformation of individual lives through one’s personal commitment to follow the way of Jesus. Christians, at least the ones following the Jesus model, strived to woo people into the Christian community, not coerce or intimidate them.

Christian Reconstructionism apparently has lost confidence in the Jesus Way and has decided to take matters into its own hands. In order to accomplish their goals, they must carefully pick and choose select passages from Scripture, while rejecting large swaths of the teachings of Jesus. History has shown us time and time again that whenever the church takes its eyes off Jesus, it always falls into a spiritual abyss.

Jesus taught in the Parable of the Wheat and Tares that good and evil will coexist until the end of time (Matt. 13:24-30). It is not for us to judge or choose who God considers wheat and who falls into the category of tares. Only God can judge the human heart. In fact, Scripture reveals that the ones who believed they were on the outside of God’s kingdom, without hope, are the very ones who God welcomes, while those who thought they were in, are sadly left out (Matt. 25:31-46).  

Any religious group or individual who believes that they and they alone know the will of God frightens me—and should frighten you!