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The Pseudo Evangelical’s Trap
The anchoress was so angry that she almost seemed out of control.
But if Christ is who he says he is, we have no time for the games played by pseudo evangelicals, definitely not just no time but less than that. Less than none.
What do you mean, game? Here is what I mean. The pseudo evangelical – Jerry Falwell or President Bush or, for that matter, that person, whoever he is, who heads the Southern Baptists – pretends that evangelizing non Christians is a high priority. And he speaks the old words of evangelizing, from Luke and Paul, while knowing perfectly well that these particular words will fail, will never reach a non Christian. So his effort fails and he knew that it would fail. And he is happy that it failed. He expected it to and enjoyed this expectation, since it made his own club membership all the more exclusive!
Because nothing that he did was ever really directed to the non Christians who are in desperate need of his help. Everything he did was really directed to Christians, shall I say pseudo Christians of his own neighborhood, the pseudo evangelicals much like himself, who now can of course smugly congratulate themselves on this “effort” that was no effort at all. And they can say that, well, they tried, although clearly they didn’t. Of course it was no valid effort if it was predeterminded to fail and if it even congratulates itself on its own failure. We have a very deep hypocrisy here, to be sure.
What would it be to be an actual evangelical? It would be to speak the language of the one you wish to save. It would be to show, no, not only show, but to feel concern for the person you would otherwise be manipulating into Christianity. Christ uses persuasion and Christ plays fair.
The deepest scandal of our church is not gay bishops or whatever but the fact that evangelicals are comfortable not really being what they say, only speaking the words to their own comfort. And they slap Christ in the face whenever they do this. And that no longer matters to them!
By this time the anchoress was so mad that she could hardly speak and Elf had to calm her down, soothe her back into a normal non-fanatical humanity -- the kind that says “Let us endure awhile and see injustice done.”
And the blond young man they called the Southerner gently rebuked her: Ma'am those people you critique all tend to come from my neck of the woods. And when Northerners critique them out of context, even though what they say may be right, or have some right in it, it still becomes wrong because it never makes mention of the *context*, ma'am. Their context or *your* context either. And you kept telling me that true faithful conduct was a *place*, was not just words, but now I don't know whether to believe you.
And I do surely know that you're not claiming that *this* place is the model that *they* are going to follow? Not Duessa with her bloody dogs and all those prostitutes tortured like rabbits? Please, ma'am.
I counted on you to be balanced.
And Elf said: I always felt that the part in the Lord's prayer about trespasses was really saying: Oh please, do not demonize.
Even the demons are pitiful in a way.
Oh you people, the anchoress said. Just leave me alone. I may apologize tomorrow. And I may not!
Meanwhile, the convict, the ridiculous knight, lay on the floor snoring like a sawmill. A big quest tomorrow.
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