Have you noticed it? Do you feel small? Do you feel inadequate to have opinions anymore? Do you feel a heavy hand upon your head? Do you feel demeaned, disenfranchised, demoted?

That is what it is beginning to feel like to be an Evangelical.

There is a new elitism that is sweeping Christianity. Oh, it does not go by any such name. In fact, it claims to be anti-elite. Its characteristics are those which discount opinions with too many raised hands. It promotes evangelical vertigo, western fatigue, and uncertain hope. It goes by many names: emergent, post-colonialism, post-conservative, post-modern, post-fundamental, post-Christian, and the like. It promotes all things “re-.” Re-imagine, re-construct, re-think, re-form, re-(ahem) claim. It is theology 2.0.

I am not shooting myself in the foot here am I? You might think so. I am all for the re-. I am cheering the emerging church on from the sidelines. I am ready to deconstruct ignorance that produces the veneer of faith in pop evangelicalism. I fight against unnecessary controversy. I pride myself in balance. I like the word irenic.

But I do have my limits.

As of late, the theological atmosphere is beginning to stink. Disenchanted people have gone on a discovery process that has led them to some new enlightenment. They are all over the place. Duped dispensationalists, traditionalists, Calvinists, modernists, evangelicals, institutionalists, Republicans, Protestants, westerners, and fundamentalists have seen the light and become embittered and all-wise at the same time.

Have you noticed the elitism? Have you heard their dialect:

“You think like a westerner.”

“Your hope is sadly based on a naive 20th century American Evangelical theology.”

“You should spend some time in (insert any foreign country) and the haze will begin to clear.”

“If you read (insert any obscure mystic or existentialist), then you would awaken.”

“If you studied (insert any ancient Greek mythology), then you would understand that your interpretation is wrong.”

“If you studied at (insert any liberal university), then the scales will fall from your poor eyes.”

“If you read (insert a Jewish rabbi), then you would not have such a limited view.”

When did the Gnostics reignite their flame of superiority?

To all those elitists, to all those who find wisdom in one hand clapping, to all those who have been enlightened:

Slow down!

We need to be critical thinkers. We need to question assumptions. We need to recognize folk theology. We must admit our own personal bias. We need to recognize that we don’t have all the answers. Education is not a simple confirmation of prejudice. We can learn from others. All of these are true. But who are you to assume that we are so limited in our understanding? Who are you to call your discovery discovery? Do you suppose that we have not studied and traveled as broad as you? Do you assume that those of us who remain Evangelical have not taken a ride on your bus?  Maybe we liked the bus, appreciated the ride, learned a lot, but we reflectively got off because we found it wanting. Is that possible?

I am an evangelical. I am not an ignorant evangelical. I am a learning evangelical. But over the last ten years, as I have studied Scripture, history, the enlightenment, and the early church, as I have traveled to other countries, engaged in gracious reflective dialogue with Evolutionists, Arminians, Egalitarians, Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Emergers, mystics, new-agers, the New Atheists, and those who know no labels, I have become more of a Reformed Evangelical than ever. True, I would not die for every aspect of my theology like I once would. True, I don’t think “the other side” is as ignorant as I once did. But I am more convinced based upon my studies than I ever was. Heck, I still believe in the Rapture—pretribulational! (Automatic disqualification, right?—just pat me on the head and gently say in the voice of Julie Andrews, “its okay”).

Is this allowed? Can I still be Evangelical?

Yes, Evangelicalism has problems—big problems. But the bus you are on, while fascinating and new, has big problems too. You just have not been riding it long enough to recognize this. Disenchantment is around the corner once again. The newness will wear off. You may be in for another enlightenment. You may soon discover that upgrading your theology is not as expedient as upgrading your Windows platform. Theology 2.0 may not be the way to go. Once this re-re-enlightenment occurs, returning to where you were before may not be your response, but you will see that some Evangelicals really did know what they were talking about. Some weren’t in the intellectual bondage you thought they were. They were Evangelical for a reason.

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