DISCLAIMER before the following post: I unashamedly love Tim Keller and benefitted greatly from his ministry at a personal level. Please take note of the word “misapplying” in the post-title, as that is where I think the primary source of the problem has been. That said, here goes…

Large-platform evangelicalism got covertly hijacked by secular progressivism; many don’t yet understand what’s happening and, as a result, are attacking the *opposite* NET problem we are facing. 

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Here’s how it happened:

Step 1: Keller correctly popularized the phrase “The gospel is neither Right nor Left.” 

Step 2: His followers incorrectly applied the phrase as “Right and Left are equal and opposite errors.” 

Step 3: Willingness to adopt Left-coded positions became a sign of “gospel-centeredness,” and saying things that sounded politically conservative became a sign you “weren’t gospel-centered.”

*Again, his followers’ misapplications were the primary problem in my opinion, not Keller, who I unashamedly love.

As a result, these subtle dynamics emerged:

• Christians advocating a Left-coded issue = “social justice”
• Christians advocating a Right-coded issue = “culture warring”

• The Right became seen as the moralistic Pharisees Jesus harshly condemned
• The Left became seen as the irreligious seekers with whom Jesus compassionately reasoned
• As a result, “Thoughtfully engage the Left, unequivocally condemn the Right” became the gospel-centered approach to cultural engagement

• Organizations should listen to outrage from the Left because we’re called to be compassionate, “quick to listen” and to “mourn with those who mourn.”
• Organizations should ignore or take pride in receiving outrage from the Right because “Jesus was attacked by the Pharisees too”

• Advocating a Left issue: sign of gospel centeredness
• Advocating a Right issue: partisan lack of gospel-centeredness

• Christian political influence to the Right = dangerous “Christian Nationalism”
• Christian political influence to the Left = “faithful presence” and a “prophetic witness in the public square”

• Publicly disagreeing with the Right became “speaking truth to power”
• Publicly disagreeing with the Left became “harming our public witness before a watching world”

A microcosm example: 

Finally, phrases that do have truth in them like: 

– Not red elephant or blue donkey, but slain lamb 

– Prophetic, not partisan 

– Truth, not tribe 

– Not in it to win it 

– Follow a Savior, not a side 

…became the central political application of the gospel with 3 primary results:

1. It became super ‘cringe’ to say anything that may sound like moral asymmetry between R and L on an issue
2. Pastors felt they always had to give equal airtime to flaws on all sides of all issues
3. Resulted in oversimplified moral equivalencies between Right and Left

EXAMPLE: It became uncool to simply oppose abortion because that sounds “Right.”

Pastors felt they had to give equal emphasis to things like immigration policy/refugee care/welfare strategy to be “truly pro-life”, so that it sounds like “the gospel is neither Right nor Left.”

But here’s why those phrases were used: THE primary emphasis of all of the above was to break up evangelicalism’s “idolatrous marriage to the Right.” This was viewed as The Big Problem.

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Disclaimer Before the Following

I am NOT advocating any “marriage to the political Right.”

REALITY: A rising generation “married to the Right” isn’t in the universe of the NET problem we’re facing and a hyper-focus on that is to map a 1989 reality onto the 2024 world.

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The cultural superdominance of Secular Progressivism

In addition to the majority of the Under-40’s in your church being discipled by secular progressivism:

Major historic Christian entities are capitulating to progressivism

SIDE NOTE: Data shows capitulation to progressive sexual ethics kills churches

Gently, if you’re aware of the above and still think, “Hmm… what we REALLY need to be concerned about right now is our people being discipled into a ‘marriage to the Right,’” then I’ve got a Nigerian prince who just needs $5k I’d like to connect you with. 

Summary

If you’re still doing “coddle Left, haymaker Right” in an effort to combat a “marriage to the Right” in 2024, you’re bringing a fire extinguisher to a flood.

And in a miscalculated effort to “counterbalance”, you may be rushing to the side of the ship that’s already underwater.