There are many followers of Jesus in America today who don’t describe themselves as “Christians.”
It just isn’t because they’re ashamed of their faith. Instead, it’s since the word “Christian” has grow to be so diluted that just about anyone can call themselves a Christian, no matter how they live or what they consider. To say, “I’m a Christian” doesn’t necessarily convey a particular set of beliefs or moral standards, and this has been the case in America for a few years now.
The positive side to that is that, as followers of Jesus, we have now the chance to define who we’re and what we consider. Even to say, “I’m a follower of Jesus” is to trigger a possible discussion.
What, exactly, does that mean? And what is the difference between saying, “I’m a follower of Jesus” and, “I attend such and such church”?
Or, to take things one step further, what if we told individuals who asked, “I’m a disciple of Jesus”?
What does that mean? Or will we even dare make the claim?
(For the record, followers of Jesus within the New Testament were mostly called “disciples.”)
When it involves the term “evangelical,” it just isn’t a lot that it’s a potentially ambiguous term (like “Christian”) because it is a misleading term, a term that has grow to be cultural and political greater than spiritual.
Explaining the history of the word “evangelical,” which first got here into use within the 1500s as a synonym for “gospel,” Thomas Kidd notes that,
“By 1950, the usage of the word had modified dramatically, especially due to founding of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) in 1942. ‘Evangelical’ was coming to indicate conversionist Protestants who weren’t fundamentalists.”
A significant component on this was that, “in 1949, Billy Graham rose to prominence, and by 1950 he had grow to be the undisputed standard-bearer for what people saw as evangelical faith.”
Evangelicals, then, believed what Billy Graham believed.
That was pretty easy.
But, Kidd explains,
“in 1976. That 12 months, Jimmy Carter, a self-described evangelical, won the presidency, and Newsweek declared 1976 the ’12 months of the evangelical.’
“Of more enduring importance, Gallup for the primary time began asking survey respondents in 1976 in the event that they were ‘evangelical’ or ‘born again’ and pairing that response with political behavior. Of course, the rise of the Moral Majority in 1979 was a decisive moment within the politicization of the word ‘evangelical,’ too, but once ‘evangelical’ became a normal category in polling, the general public perception began to shift inexorably toward a political understanding of what it meant to be an evangelical. By the 2010s, most casual American observers had come to assume that evangelical meant ‘white religious Republican.'”
That’s why, for a decade or more, some evangelical leaders have suggested that we drop the term entirely, since to most Americans, it speaks of a cultural and political aspect of our faith greater than the essence of our faith.
Recent studies suggest that the trend in that direction has deepened, with many conservative white voters (especially Trump supporters) self-identifying as evangelicals, even when a few of them don’t hold to traditional evangelical beliefs.
And so the term, which was first entirely spiritual in meaning, became a spiritual term with cultural and political associations, and now, perhaps, primarily a cultural and political term.
As noted in a January 8 article within the New York Times by Ruth Graham and Charles Homans,
“religion scholars, drawing on a growing body of knowledge, suggest one other explanation: Evangelicals aren’t exactly who they was.
“Being evangelical once suggested regular church attendance, a deal with salvation and conversion and strongly held views on specific issues corresponding to abortion. Today, it’s as often used to explain a cultural and political identity: one by which Christians are considered a persecuted minority, traditional institutions are viewed skeptically and Trump looms large.”
To make certain, a few of the scholars cited might see things through the lens of their very own biases, viewing many evangelical Trump supporters as White supremacists and/or insurrectionists.
But either way, there is no such thing as a doubt that the term “evangelical” doesn’t mean what it used to mean, especially to most of the people.
In house, amongst committed Christians who discover as evangelicals, or distinguishing between Catholic Christians and evangelical Christians, the term still speaks of those that hold to a certain set of beliefs (in harmony with what Billy Graham preached).
But for the skin world, it might be time for us to reconsider how we who’re traditional evangelicals describe ourselves.
It may also result in more conservations about Jesus and the Scriptures.
Shall we take that step?
Dr. Michael Brown (www.askdrbrown.org) is the host of the nationally syndicated Line of Fire radio program. His latest book is Why So Many Christians Have Left the Faith. Connect with him on Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube.
