As mentioned in my previous post, OneThing 2011 took place on December 28-31, 2011 at the Kansas City Convention Center, and IHOP has since posted videos and MP3 files of the event here.
Corey Russell, a member of the IHOP senior leadership team, gave a talk on Wednesday, December 28th entitled "We Are a New Creation in Christ." At the 2:40:40 mark of the video, Russell urged "unequally yoked" listeners to break off friendships and romantic relationships with "unbelievers."
"He says do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. That looks like boyfriend, girlfriend, you're not going to get them saved. Just forget it right now. Quit trying to evangelize them. They're evangelizing you. They're evangelizing you. Their values, their vision, their system, and it's because we haven't touched the power of the living God. Break it. Text them right now, saying 'Sorry buddy, it's over.' [Applause] Do it right now. We're going to text and tweet. Tweet 'em that! 'Sorry Bobby, it's over. I won't even remember your name here in ten years.' Break it. Break it with these friends. I'm telling you right now, break these ties, because God is calling you to himself."The contempt for non-Christians here is palpable. Russell seems to envision faith as a zero-sum game in which Christians either convert or are converted by the non-Christians around them. The idea that Christians and non-Christians can share common ground and friendship while respecting each other's beliefs is not considered. Such an us-versus-them attitude, including wholesale rejection of "unequally yoked" friends and lovers, is a recipe for insularity among fundamentalist Christians. Sadly, that's the whole point.
Wow. Guess I'd better brace myself for a barrage of tweets coming my way.
ReplyDelete.
ReplyDelete"... God is calling you to himself."
Text and tweet back right back to such "christians", "You do not speak for God. Maybe you should ask for forgiveness for being so presumptuous."
It is absolutely clear. God is not the trouble. God's fan clubs are the problem.
Ema Nymton
~@:o?
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Donna -- I'm glad I'm not on Twitter! Seriously, though, it's not exactly Christlike to throw people under the bus just because they think differently.
ReplyDeleteEma -- Hi! I too have a problem with the more overzealous members of his fan club.
I know a man whose business partner left their company because he felt the two of them were unequally yoked. The man I know isn't an unbeliever-- he's Presbyterian.
ReplyDeleteI was at one of those types of services as a teen. Someone convinced me that they really were speaking God's voice right to me and that was exactly the message.
ReplyDeleteI did break up with my unofficial boyfriend, an agnostic, who had actually come with me to the service. I really felt I was choosing between him and God, my eternal life and a few months of joy.
Intolerant whackjob!!! And IHOP.. like, International House of Pancakes??
ReplyDeleteAnyone who would dump their boyfriend / girlfriend because some yammering crank like this told them to do so, was never worth having in the first place.
ReplyDeleteFundamentalist Christianity is turning into a cult haven for socially-dysfunctional weirdos.
Break it off via a tweet? Good Lord - where are his manners?
ReplyDeleteAnyone who dumps you because you are not a Christian is merely saving you the trouble of dumping the petty little fool yourself.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, it's hilarious Russell thinks ditching people because of their beliefs is a mark of good character. That kind of shallowness makes a paper plate look deep.
"The idea that Christians and non-Christians can share common ground and friendship while respecting each other's beliefs is not considered."
ReplyDeleteThat is the difference between faith as a belief system and as a truth claim.
A religion that has as it's basis "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the father except through me" is just not going to be very tolerant of other religions that disagree.
Hard to find common ground with an outlook like that.
I think this kind of message is going to become even more prominent throughout the decade as the church-going populations continue to dwindle. They are switching from evangelizing mode to preservation mode, trying to keep the believers they still have, and (hopefully) just recruit their children.
ReplyDelete"...faith as a zero-sum game in which Christians either convert or are converted by the non-Christians around them."
ReplyDeleteThis touched a nerve that been a bit raw at our house this past few years. Mr. Mature's family lives in a hot-bed of evangelicalism, and they are all entirely immersed in it. The four grown children have built their careers around "youth programs" and missions. And they have made only minimal connection with my husband. We've gone out to visit at various times when his mother was slowly dying, but our reception by his brother's family has been perfunctory and chilly.
This past two years, Mr. M's decided to face that down. He's reconnected with one elderly aunt who is too tired and ill to "work on him" much and just grateful for the attention. And he attended a wedding for one of his nieces in a western state (at a fundamentalist ranch, center of the lives of the nieces and nephews). He asked his brother point blank whether he was being subtly or pointedly ignored and they agreed to disagree and that Mr. M. would not be the subject of conversion attempts. I attempted some contact with the wife of one nephew on FB, but she just wanted to sell me supplements. Being both not blood related and a heathen, I barely exist.
It's important for family members who feel "beyond the pale" to realize it's not really them; this IS the agenda of the religious cults. They cannot own anyone who nurtures contacts outside the fold.
Michelle -- That incident is a good reminder that fundamentalists look askance not only at non-Christians, but "wrong" types of Christians too.
ReplyDeletePrairie Nymph -- That's so sad. Your boyfriend at the time was actually willing to learn about your religion, and then that happened. How did he react?
Knatolee -- HA! IHOP stands for International House of Prayer. It's funny you mention the other IHOP, though, since the two organizations have gotten into legal wrangles over the IHOP title.
Infidel753 -- It's definitely socially dysfunctional to cast out people who think differently than oneself. That kind of insularity is never a good thing.
Nurse Myra -- Tell me about it! What an obnoxious way to treat a friend or partner.
Paul -- Amen to that. As someone who was thrown under the bus by a former (Christian) partner because of the whole "unequally yoked" thing, I agree that it's petty. Also, Russell definitely revealed a lot about himself when he said that.
Doug -- Sadly, you're right about a lot of fundamentalists who embrace it as a truth claim.
Wise Fool -- Fascinating. I don't think this strategy will work out for fundamentalist communities in the long run unless they sequester themselves like the Amish, since the outside world always has a way of asserting its presence. If they do sequester themselves, things could get scary really fast.
Nance -- I'm sorry to hear that your in-laws treated you and Mr. Mature so rudely. The behavior you described is neither Christlike nor family-like. For what it's worth, I have evangelical family members with whom I have broken ties for the same reason. The comparisons between fundamentalism and religious cults you observed are disturbing.
Reprehensible. I hate the way some so-called religions drive wedges between relationship and divide families, then claim to be all about love and family.
ReplyDeleteYet in a weird way I agree with the concept of avoiding relationships that are "unequally yoked." About a year ago I deleted a bunch of Facebook "friends," mostly family members who I knew were gossiping about me and my lack of belief behind my back. It felt like the right thing to do. I would also never have a romantic/intimate relationship or close friendship even with any fundie. Where would be find any common ground?
Cognitive Dissenter -- I too am amazed that their religion of "love" spends so much time casting people out.
ReplyDelete.
ReplyDeleteReality is a concept whose time has not come.
"We Are a New Creation in Christ." Woof woof.
Have we not heard this before, "plus royaliste que le roi"*. Excepting the potential damages these types could cause, I say let them go off on each other. Would any one miss them?
The saddest aspect is the young, long haired hippy, Jewish rabbi who hung out with society's low lives would never be a member of these "christians."
* more royalist than the king
Ema Nymton
~@:o?
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Ema -- As I recall, Jesus of Nazareth was quite welcoming of those who were different or socially ostracized, in contrast to these folks.
ReplyDeleteI always knew that mercy and love had nothing to do with Christianity. But this guy is living proof.
ReplyDeleteLorena -- His message could use a little more mercy and love.
ReplyDelete