WWW.KIRTELEWIS.COM

About WWW.KIRTELEWIS.COM

Your regular dose of my own personal takes on matters of faith, social justice and popular culture along with other miscellaneous life-inspired musings. Basically it is my personal 'social commentary' intermingled with some life journaling.

Publisher

Kirt Lewis

Category

arts · religion & spirituality

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

1 Jan 2018

Latest episode

6 Jun 2024

Latest episodes

67 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   6 Jun 2024

   Where I am at NOW

   After years of deconstructing and reconstructing from evangelicalism and religious trauma, hear where I find myself now on the biggie questions of life.

2. 

   7 Oct 2018

   Who Is My Family?

   Mom and I - circa mid 1970’s It’s about as important of a question as they come. Who is my family? It seems synonymous to another question: Where do I belong? Apparently Jesus instinctively paired them together as recorded in the twelfth chapter of Mathew, verses forty-six through fifty. While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.” He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” damn, jesus, that’s cold! I’ve written elsewhere about my close connection with my mother (https://kirtelewis.com/blog/the-meaning-of-old-shoes). While it is not universally true, there does seem to be a special connection between mothers and their sons just as there often is between fathers and their daughters. I can certainly attest to both. When it comes to the former, that is what makes these supposed words of Jesus all the more shocking. Certainly by all biblical accounts, Mary and Jesus did not have a cold and distant relationship. Mary is portrayed as having both a warm affection and subtle reverence for her son as a young child (Luke 2:19 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+2%3A19&version=NIV)). And Jesus, even while in the deepest of agony while he hung on the cross, was so committed to his mother that he took time to appoint a disciple to care for her in view of his immanent death (John 19:25-27 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+19%3A25-27&version=NLT)). And yet on another occasion when informed that his mom, along with his brothers, were waiting outside and wanted to speak to him, Jesus basically told the crowd that his gang of often clueless disciples were more family than the woman who gave birth to him and raised him! I mean, damn, Jesus, that’s cold! He goes on to clarify that what qualifies someone as a member of his family is if they do “the will of the Father”. But wasn’t the very fact that she was his mother based on an angelic declaration of God’s favor on her life (Luke 1:30 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+1%3A30&version=NLT))? Isn’t it fair to assume that said favor is based, at least in part, on a fair amount of effort on Mary’s part to follow a righteous path? But none of that mattered now in this moment for Jesus and Mary. On that day, Mary and her other children wouldn’t receive from Jesus even the attention commonly provided to distant relatives. the loss of family What caused Jesus to be so harsh? Well we get a hint in another passage in the book of Mark (3:21 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+3%3A21&version=NLT)), where we learn that apparently the fever pitch of Jesus’ self-ascribing Messianic talk had gotten too extreme for the family, even though Mary was given plenty of advance warning about Jesus’ unique, God-ordained mission (Luke 1:32-33 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+1%3A32-33&version=NLT)). According to Mark, Mary and Jesus’ brothers thought he was “out of his mind”. Well I am NO Jesus, believe you me! But in this story I find some sense of a shared experience and therefore some fellowship with this man from nearly 2,000 years ago. The last few years have been very hard because I have grieved the loss of so many loved ones, not from physical death but by a separation of conscience and will. This has included literal blood relatives along with those who I had thought were fellow ‘brothers and sisters’ in God’s family, the Church. Having grown up in a devout Christian home, these two families were very intertwined. I recall singing both in my house and at church on Sundays the Bill and Gloria Gaither contemporary hymn, Family of God (https://www.musixmatch.com/lyrics/Bill-Gaither-3/The-Family-of-God). The chorus goes like this… I'm so glad I'm a part of the Family of God, I've been washed in the fountain, cleansed by His blood! Joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod, For I'm part of the family, The Family of God. But now many in both my literal and my supposedly spiritual family seem estranged. I look at them and think, ‘I don’t even know who you are!’ And to be fair, I know they are thinking the same. The cause of this divorce? We have a shockingly different understanding of ‘the will of the Father’. I am convinced that many of them think that God’s will is synonymous with the idols of which I have previously written about. Their patriarch and prophet is now Donald Trump. In contrast, I had one of my former pastors say that my conclusions about evangelicalism were either “brilliant or crazy”, and it was clear by the tone of the conversation that he was strongly leaning towards crazy. Either way, the end result is the same: we’ve drifted apart as we pursue two diametrically opposed agendas. finding new family And yet among the loss, I have much to celebrate! For I have found new family members I never knew existed. Or perhaps I knew they existed but they were, you know, ‘those people’ that needed the saving. Curiously it turns out that they are more eagerly practicing the kind of unconditional love I was told was supposed to be a central conviction and way of life with my former family. So my new ‘brothers and sisters’ are the likes of liberal atheists, members of the LGBT community, and Muslim refugees, whether they live next door or half a world away. To them I say thank you. I am cherishing our new fellowship and growing every day as I am inspired by your courage and strength. And above all, I am exceedingly honored to be called your ‘brother’. Holding a ‘nephew’, a precious Syrian baby in a refugee camp in Lebanon (2015)

3. 

   9 Sept 2018

   Boycotting Bad Religion - Part 3

   So we've looked at why evangelicals might consider a financial boycott of their church (Part 1 (https://kirtelewis.com/blog/boycotting-bad-religion-part-1)) along with certain 'Christian' media companies and schools (Part 2 (https://kirtelewis.com/blog/boycotting-bad-religion-part-2)). In the conclusion of this series, we turn our attention to two more evangelical industries that you might want to take a second look at when it comes to doling out your dollars. CHRISTIAN BUSINESSES (other than media) You've got to love the not-so-secretive code sign: the Jesus fish! Ah yes, just subtlety slap that baby on your company truck, business card, or website, and your prospective evangelical customer is sure to get the message. "Have us mow your lawn, do that kitchen remodel, or cater that wedding (so long as your not gay!), and you can be sure that your money isn't going to support some pagan business that is probably operating unethically because the owner doesn't have Jesus in his or her heart." But don't make the mistake of assuming that the sell of religiously superior ethics is the only thing in mind when it comes to most evangelical leaders in the market place. No, there is a far greater cause that has been cemented into the psyche of many Christian business men and women. Make sure you check out a previous article I wrote that looks at the evangelical idol of power (https://kirtelewis.com/blog/the-idols-of-american-evangelicalism-part-2). The piece includes an especially revealing video made to inspire Christians to "take back" the seven mountains of culture. In it, there is a particular emphasis on Christians reclaiming leadership in the domain of business so as to effectively resource the effort to return America to its Christian heritage. Whether stated explicitly or not, this is one of the chief visions fueling this call to join the cadre of Christian capitalists, perhaps only eclipsed by stories of saving lost souls through a God-style economy. You can find 'fellowship' in this effort through one of any number of Christian business associations, like The Christian Business Network (https://christianbusinessnetwork.com/), Christian Business Fellowship (https://christianbusinessfellowship.org/), or Convene (https://www.convenenow.com/). The fact that the old religious right's culture war narrative is lurking not to far below the surface of these networks of success-hungry crusaders is made pretty obvious when the home page of the Northern Californian Christian Business Directory (http://norcalchristian.com/) features a video promoting the Genesis Apologetics App. This mobile tool will equip your good Christian teens to pretend like they know what they are talking about in the fight against public school teachers and their evil doctrine of evolution. Our mobile app includes dozens of videos that debunk evolution theory taught in public schools. But let's get back to ethics, where I am sure that the Bible has something to say about things like fair wages (Jeremiah 22:13 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+22%3A13&version=NIV) and James 5:4 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James+5%3A4&version=NIV)) or that Jesus taught his disciples to not embrace violence (Matthew 5:38-45 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+5%3A38-45&version=NIV)). Among a list of household name companies that are owned by the devout (https://www.businessinsider.com/17-big-companies-that-are-intensely-religious-2012-1), most of them evangelical Christians, there are some interesting practices that makes you wonder if the Scriptures are their 'final rule for faith and practice'. Like Chick-Fil-A (https://www.chick-fil-a.com/) Chairman and CEO, Dan Cathy, who has a net worth of 3.8 billion dollars (https://www.forbes.com/profile/dan-cathy/#67caa5827b9d). And yet according to Glassdoor (https://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Chick-fil-A-Salaries-E5873.htm), his average entry level employee makes eight to nine dollars an hour and a store general manager pulls in just $49,500 annually! That's paycheck to paycheck and public benefits territory. Or take the maker of rifle scopes, Trijicon (https://www.trijicon.com/na_en/index.php), whose revenue, by the way, comes in part from supplying the U.S. military. It made some news awhile back when it came out that Bible verses were subtly inscribed on their products (https://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/us-military-weapons-inscribed-secret-jesus-bible-codes/story?id=9575794). Yes, now you can "love your enemies" by blowing a whole in their head through the sight of your high-quality, Scripture-emblazoned Trijicon scope. These, and a myriad of other hypocrisy ridden companies that are supposed to be built on the bedrock principles of God's Word, are in my opinion not worthy of your business. CHRISTIAN HUMANITARIAN ORGANIZATIONS Lets turn to safer territory, literally. What about Evangelical humanitarian organizations who are often seeking to undue the effects of greed and war? As most of you are aware, I previously worked for World Relief (https://www.worldrelief.org/), an organization that serves as the humanitarian arm of the National Association of Evangelicals. They, along with many other evangelical relief and development organizations, are chalked full of amazingly compassionate and creative people who are daily evidencing a true love of neighbors. But that doesn't mean these institutions are not infected with the idols of evangelicalism and therefore in need of substantial reform. And as we said in part one, economic withdrawal is the most effective way to achieve this kind of change. So I suggest that evangelical Christians who are grieved by the same things that I am may want to reconsider their generous contributions to some of these organizations. I'll give two examples of grievous practices that warrant a retraction of financial support. Proselytizing: Among many if not all of these organizations is some level of exploitation of uniquely vulnerable people for the purpose of winning converts. This is something I previously covered in a piece entitled Evangelical Ambulance Chasing (https://kirtelewis.com/blog/evangelistic-ambulance-chasing). Intolerant Hiring Practices: It was indeed a sad day when one of the largest global evangelical humanitarian organizations, World Vision, folded under the threat of economic withdrawal by the religious right (https://www.huffingtonpost.com/adam-nicholas-phillips/the-wreckage-of-world-visions-lgbt_b_9551570.html) and reversed what would have been a morally courageous decision to openly hire members of the LGBTQ community (https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2014/march-web-only/world-vision-why-hiring-gay-christians-same-sex-marriage.html). Or in my time at World Relief, I found it to be a violation of the Character of Christ and an embrace of the paranoia of conservative evangelicals to, as a matter of policy, deny Muslims the opportunity to work with the organization even though it was tasked with serving predominantly Muslim refugees. I also feel that while currently legally allowable, this is a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. You can find more of my thoughts on this in the two-part series on The Public Subsidization of Religion (https://kirtelewis.com/blog/church-state-part-1-the-public-subsidization-of-religion). As you consider supporting humanitarian organizations with an evangelical affiliation, you have every right to investigate whether these and other policies and practices born of ignorance or bigotry are present before you write that next check. final thought As we conclude, remember that just because you have chosen to not personally support a local, national, or international evangelical non-profit, whether humanitarian or educational, you may be indirectly resourcing them through your church. So make sure your congregation has thoroughly vetted it's ministry partners. You may find that you are indirectly resourcing an organization that is violating values that are important to you. For example, if you are here in Sacramento you may be attending one of the over one-hundred churches that financially support William Jessup University (http://www.jessup.edu/giving/church-partnership/), which as we discussed previously is a school whose leadership is blatantly embracing the idols of power and superiority. If that is the case, it's yet another reason to reduce or withhold your tithe. In the end, the congregation, like Congress, holds the 'power of the purse'. Individually and collectively, exercise your rights and responsibilities as true principled disciples. Give only to that in which you truly believe.

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