AOL just had a news article about Pastor Greg Boyd From Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, Minnesota and how 1000 people left his church after he preached a series of sermons called “The Cross and the Sword” in which he said the church should steer clear of politics, give up moralizing on sexual issues, stop claiming the United States as a “Christian nation” and stop glorifying American military campaigns.“When the church wins the culture wars, it inevitably loses,” Mr. Boyd preached. “When it conquers the world, it becomes the world. When you put your trust in the sword, you lose the cross.”
You may remember Pastor Boyd as the author of Letters From A Skeptic, or as the Open Theism guy from Bethel Seminary that John Piper and others unsuccessfully tried to get kicked out of the school and the Baptist General Conference for his "heretical" views. If only they had known at the time how heretical Dr. Boyd really was. Not only was he an Open Theist, he was also apparently working to undermine Christian support for God's Own Party!
Incidentally, the AOL article was entitled "Disowning Conservative Politics Is Costly for Pastor". Tell me about it. To this day I'm still not sure whether my departure from Evangel had more to do with my postmodern philosophy or with my failure to embrace the senior pastor's support for President Bush, the War in Iraq, a trickle-down theory of serving the poor, and a ban on gay marriage. (Probably a little of both, though I suspect that if the latter hadn't been true the former would have been more acceptable.)
BTW, if you want to read more about Dr. Boyd's views, check out this article (and it's sequel) taken from his new book, The Myth of a Christian Nation: How the Quest for Political Power Is Destroying the Church.
Awesome article. And I agree. Christians are more and more adopting pet sins and political issues and then draping themselves in the flag.
As Christians, we should abhor all sin and adopt all issues (that both strengthen and weaken our faith)... the flag has nothing to do with it.
I love(d) this: “When the church wins the culture wars, it inevitably loses,” Mr. Boyd preached. “When it conquers the world, it becomes the world. When you put your trust in the sword, you lose the cross.”
Very cool.
Thanks for the post
I have mixed feelings about calling the USA a "Christian Nation". On the one hand, most Americans (as far as I know) would profess to some level that they are Christians. Based on this information, I can see why someone whould call the USA a Christian Nation.
On the other hand, many people have said to me that, "This country was founded on Christ!" and I just can't agree with that. The Founding Fathers were not Evangelical Christians. Many of them were Deists. Have these people ever heard of the Jefferson Bible? I would really love to know what grounds people have for believing in this fictional American history.
That's pathetic!
Where are examples from the other side of this phenomenon? Churches that are growing because of preaching like Pastor Boyd's?
Those who rise by the sword die by the sword. But those who die by the Cross, rise by the Cross!
Fascinating post. Thanks for putting it up.
- Chris