We are Free to No Longer be Keyboard Warriors

A sure sign of false teachers: argumentativeness

On Sunday a parishioner, who has been reading Eric Metaxas’ biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, pressed a question after worship and then followed up with an email to me later that night:

“You mentioned this morning how Bonhoeffer is often used by people on different sides of the political-theological spectrum to justify their own views (or so I understood). For a while I have been thinking the same thing about Christianity in general.

I'm sure this question must come up a lot:

How do we follow Christ if people can invoke Jesus to justify taking pretty much any path?

Even priests in the same denomination can't seem to agree. Take the immigration debate. I read an article on Word on Fire where they seem to agree with the view that we should look at our family and closest neighbors first. But if I go to another Catholic publication, like America magazine, they go in an entirely different direction.

This is just an example. I'm more interested in learning how God wants us to live as Christians, without ideological filters. I realize this might be impossible (and I realize my own biases can get in the way), but I would appreciate any thoughts on how I can at least aim for it.”

In part, I suspect the answer is a matter of where we fix our attention as Christians; that is, are we, out of our Christian convictions— sincere or performative— attempting to achieve something in the world or are we seeking to obey the Lord in our own lives and communities?

• The former leads to self-justification, self-delusion, and impatience.

• The latter is the long, slow work of following Jesus and discerning the Spirit from the spirits of this age.

For instance—

The Christian problem in America is not that ̶D̶o̶n̶a̶l̶d̶ ̶T̶r̶u̶m̶p̶ Elon Musk rules from the White House.

The Christian problem in America is that there are so many false teachers in the churches of America.