Evangelism's Obsession With Show

As hinted at in yesterday's post, today I'm writing about something that bothered me concerning my evangelical aunt. She told me that someone from her church had asked grandpa in his final week (when he received the doctor's diagnosis that he had less than two weeks to live) if he was "saved." My aunt said that grandpa told the lady that he didn't know and thought about it for a couple days, then decided to "surrender his life" to Christ. When Aunt Helen told me this, I was appalled. I told her, "Grandpa has been a deacon in our church for 50 years!"

Aunt Helen responded by claiming that serving the church isn't the same as serving Jesus. She missed the whole point. I was kind of peeved about it and with her. She was once a member of our church. She converted from Catholicism when she married my uncle in the 1970s at the Atchison congregation. I don't know when they left the Community of Christ (RLDS)...but I'm thinking it was either the late 90s or in the early years of this decade. As one who has been a member of the church, she should have understood something about our church.

Here's why what she told me really annoyed me...

All my life, I never heard my grandfather talk about God, Jesus, or religion. He was a private man about his faith. He was a deacon in the church, which meant that he took care of the building's maintenance, he passed around the offertory, he counted the money that was collected and put it in the church account, he kept attendance each week, he raised his sons in the church and took them to reunions and church events. Grandma was more conversational about religious matters, but grandpa was a do-er. I saw that as an example. Though I'm much more comfortable discussing my spiritual beliefs with people, I think its pure arrogance to assume that just because someone doesn't share his or her spiritual beliefs doesn't mean that they are "clueless" about Christ.

I also believe it is wrong to scare someone who is facing death that he needs to make a public confession of his sins and "accept" Jesus as "atoning sacrifice" in order to be admitted into heaven. I've had a lifelong dislike of Evangelical Christians and this is just one more reason why. They prove time and again that they have no concept of God, whatsoever. Think logically, people!

If you believe that God is ALL KNOWING, wouldn't God KNOW the content of a person's heart? Does a public confession really matter to God? In the Bible, Jesus is quoted as saying: "and when you pray, you mustn't pray like those hypocrites who love to be seen on street corners. Go into your closet and pray to God in secret." What does this mean? I think it's obvious. There are people who make a big production out of "showing" their piousness in order to impress other people. The truly spiritual don't need such public displays of piety. They just live their faith quietly, because they know that God is an All-Knowing God. Thus, we don't need to confess our sins or proclaim Jesus as our "saviour" because some person threatens us with eternal damnation in hell if we don't. God knows through our lifetime just the kind of person we are.

So, whoever tried to scare my grandfather in his last week of life that he ran the risk of going to hell if he didn't "accept" Jesus as "Lord and Saviour"...they are the ones who should go to hell. They have no clue what our church is about. We've never been about this public display of piety. We don't use words like "saved" or "born again." It's how you live your life, how you interact with your fellow beings which matter. The rest will take care of itself.

I hope my grandfather is laughing his head off at the ludicrous evangelical Christian posturing that goes on down here. Heaven is our home and birthright. The only way you go to hell is if you bring it to other people or live in spiritual darkness and shun the light of goodness (Dick Cheney is a likely candidate destined straight for hell when he dies). Grandpa wasn't a perfect man, for he had his flaws. But he was a good man, he raised his boys right, he lived a decent and respectful life. He was part of the generation that saved the world from Nazi tyranny. What more could anyone ask for? Evangelical Christians need to get a clue and leave my grandpa alone. Raising the specter of hell on someone's deathbed is truly bad form. Maybe God should send them to hell, just for kicks.

Photocopy of a photo of grandpa carrying me (I was not quite two years old yet).