Hi, I’m an evangelical Christian... BOO!
C’mon, admit it—that word “evangelical” made you scared or angry or both—or maybe just annoyed. Regardless, an image probably formed in your head of a religious zealot who pickets abortion clinics, itches for military conflict with pagans, and runs around San Francisco’s Castro district spitting tobacco juice on rainbow flags.
I don’t blame you for thinking that. The media and some loud-mouthed evangelicals with radio shows and mailing lists give the impression that evangelicals are culture warriors who like to smack around those who don’t agree with us. Though most evangelicals lean to the right on economic and social issues, that has nothing to do with what it really means to be evangelical.
The term comes from the Greek word, evangelium, meaning “good news.” Think about that for a second. Being an evangelical Christian is supposed to be about sharing good news with the world. It’s about giving people hope. It means telling people that Jesus Christ came to earth preaching peace and justice and offering forgiveness. However, most people think evangelicals are the Bad News Bears of western culture. We’re considered mopes and agitators. Jewish folks are known for throwing big parties with cool food. The Catholics, for all their image problems, at least have St. Patrick’s Day. The best PR evangelicals get is a sympathetic character on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and The View’s Elizabeth Hasselback, when Rosie allows her to speak. People don’t associate us with true evangelium.
A prominent evangelical leader recently said that the most important concerns for evangelicals should be abortion, same sex marriage, and promoting sexual abstinence before marriage. These issues deserve attention and dialogue (instead of mud-slinging), but are they the most important? Nope. And that’s not my opinion. That’s, um, Somebody Else’s opinion… Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”—Matthew 22: 35–40 (New International Version).
