Worried about having 'unsound' opinions?

Throughout my Christian life, I have experienced acceptance and belonging in church by publicly identifying as (what some would call) a ‘card-carrying’ evangelical.

On reflection, I must confess that, among fellow evangelicals, the experience that I have most enjoyed has had little to do with being perceived as sacrificially loving, or exceptionally forbearing. To be brutally honest, neither of those virtues is my strong suit. Instead, as an evangelical, I’ve been choosing the far easier task of focusing on being what I call ‘confessionally sound’.

When considered in isolation, few would object to that focus. After all, for persecuted Christians, such as Martin Luther, Deitrich Bonhoeffer and even 21st century martyrs, confessional soundness has been one of the most conspicuous and admirable hallmarks of Reformed belief.

Nevertheless, there is danger in the pursuit of apparent confessional soundness at the expense of all other virtues, such love and forbearance. For example, it can result in a total lack of remorse over directing sarcastic ad hominem remarks and put-downs towards those people whom most evangelicals no longer consider to be confessionally 'sound.'

Despite the Biblical reminder that 'we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies' (Ephesians 6:12), the guilt of this belligerent attitude towards suspected ‘traitors to the cause’ can be superficially alleviated by asserting that their humiliation is no more than a form of collateral damage that should be expected when we engage in spiritual warfare.

In my own life, I’ve seen how that focus can result in a strenuous desire to avoid being perceived by my evangelical peers as ‘unsound’, while becoming shamefully argumentative when defending my orthodox position.

Of course, this behaviour is contrary to Paul’s apostolic instruction in 2 Timothy 2:24: 'And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.' Yet, unfortunately, the desire to avoid the ‘unsound’ label has extended beyond strictly doctrinal issues to adopting ‘groupthink’ on many public issues.

That approach amounts to: making sure that, in general, most evangelicals will believe that I am 'making the right noises’ on issues of public interest.

Certainly, as a writer for Evangelicals Now, the prospect of my monthly articles being accepted by a significant majority of this publication’s readership is far more appealing than the likely ‘fallout’ from a piece that causes offence by its disagreement with a substantial number of influential evangelicals on a high-profile public issue.

Nevertheless, I am slowly learning to abandon the desire to make 'the right noises' on such issues. I’ve realised that I can reach my own conclusions without evangelical ‘groupthink’ holding sway.

For example, there is nothing ‘unsound’ about thoughtfully challenging systemic racism, even if many evangelicals believe that the mere mention of that term is tantamount to surrendering to Critical Race Theory and cultural Marxism.

Also, there is nothing ‘unsound’ about expressing disappointment about Donald Trump’s behaviour during the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, even though some evangelicals might perceive such criticism as evidence that I’ve fallen prey to godless left-wing tendencies.

And I can even express absolute horror at the unvarnished scorn that some ‘card-carrying’ evangelicals have poured on Olympian sportswomen, like Caster Semenya and Imame Khelif, who were born with ostensibly female characteristics, but later diagnosed with hyperandrogenism (a condition that results in inordinately high testosterone levels). I’ve learned to accept that my response may cause some of my evangelical friends to mistake my support for these women as being of a piece with support for transgender activism and rejection of God’s created order for mankind.

In fact, it will likely surprise those evangelical friends to discover that this change has been largely motivated by reflection on Scripture. That, instead of lockstep adherence to ‘groupthink’, I want to 'test all things' and 'hold to what is good' (1 Thessalonians 5:21)

As a great gospel song put it: 'I’m no longer a slave to fear, I am a child of God.' And I’m not sure why anyone would start an argument with me over that.