The Evangelical Church: The New Tower of Babel

Have you heard the story of the Tower of Babel?  I’m sure you have.  As the story goes, the whole world was speaking one language.

PAUSE.

I don’t really think this story happened, by the way.  Like, I don’t really think there was an actual Tower of Babel.  And I don’t really think that the author of this piece of Genesis is trying to report the eye witness report of some historical event.

Rather, I think the story is a myth of sorts or a parable.  It’s a story that was told and retold and retold and retold to emphasize a point.  

And.

So.

I’m retelling it (today) to make another point.

Anyways, so the whole world was speaking one language.  Hebrew?  Arabic?  Aramaic? Who knows.  Whatever it was, though, the storyteller says that everyone spoke that same language.

Everyone:

All the leaders.

All the community.

All the men.

All the women.

All the children.

All the priests.

... Everyone, everywhere.  

And then someone got the idea to build a giant tower to heaven so that they could “make a name for themselves” as opposed to being “scattered over the face of the earth”.

Hm. 

As the story goes, the Lord came down and saw what was going on and said something like, “if they can do THIS while speaking one language then who knows what they’re capable of” and then proceeded to make everybody speak a different language so that no one understood what anyone else was saying.

The people scattered.

The building stopped.

And that’s the end of the story.

Sometimes I think the Evangelical Church is the latest Tower of Babel.  I know it’s not a popular idea and I’ll likely take some heat for it.  But ... it’s been my experience.  

And that’s an important thing to say up front.  Why?  Because I’m not sitting up in the cheap seats of the arena pointing my finger at some institution or way of thinking that I don’t like.

Nah.

There’s enough critical and mean-spirited people doing that on the Internet.  There’s enough people calling out churches and denominations and ideas and podcasts (ahem) that they have no experience with, that they’ve made no effort to try and understand.  

RATHER.

I’m sitting in the middle of the field I grew up in ...  

4th - 12th grade in a private school associated with a prominent Evangelical Church.

4 years at Bible College.

3 1/2 years in seminary.

2 internships.

1 pastorate.

1 church plant.

3 more years in seminary.

Countless preaching gigs.

Countless board meetings.

Denomination meetings.

I’m “licensed for ministry” (whatever that means.)

Went through an ordination process.

I’ve observed a lot, I’ve been through a lot, I’ve seen a lot, I’ve experienced a lot.  I’ve had a lot of conversations, have been involved in lots of spiritual communities, and have read more books than most people will likely even have touch their hands in their lifetime.

I tell you that not to brag, but to emphasize the fact that the things I’m about to say about my experience with the Evangelical church comes from exactly that: my experience.

And so if someone doesn’t like that, again: I don’t really care. It’s my experience and so if you don’t like my personal commentary on my personal experience … adios.

Anyways, it’s been my experience that like the people of Babel, the Evangelical Church often tries to get everyone to speak the same language.

The same language about God.

The same language about Jesus.

The same language about the afterlife.

The same language about the Bible.

The same NARRATIVE: “The Bible is the Inerrant Word of God.  Do not question it.  Just believe it.  God is mad at sin.  He sent Jesus to take your punishment for your sin so that if you believe that and invite him into your heart you’ll go to heaven when you die instead of hell.”

And what happens if someone tries to speak a different language?  Take a look at what happened to Rob Bell when he wrote Love Wins and questioned that whole above narrative.

The troops rally together.

They bring their torches.

They bring their pitchforks.

Stones are thrown.

The heretic is kicked outside of the camp.

Their character is crucified and smeared through the mud forever.

Their books are burned.

Their teachings are tossed out.

And the rest of the people are warned to steer clear of him until he repents and comes back to God, away from the slippery slope.  

The goal is to evangelize the world and get as many people as possible to speak the same language and believe the same things because (it’s believed) that ...

The doctrines you’re expected to sign on to.

The theologies you’re expected to believe.

The ways you’re expected to live.

The way you’re told to understand the Bible.

... These things are stones or bricks that build a tower to heaven.

“Believe these things”, they say.

Build your life on these things.

Adhere to these things.

Do these things.

Don’t question these things.

And one day at the end of your life you’ll find yourself at the top of the tower and in heaven while all the people who spoke a different language and didn’t convert to our way and our language and our ideas will burn in hell forever where Rob Bell and everyone like him will once and for all see the truth, but (sadly) it’ll be too late for them.  

This has been my experience. 

Some would say that I’m simplifying things way too much and making unfair statements about the Evangelical Church.  They might say that I’m making claims without backing them up.  Or that I’m simply focusing on the negative pieces of the Evangelical world without saying anything about the good.

Again, I don’t really care because this has been my experience.  Dare to speak another language and you’re cast out and pushed out while the rest of the Evangelical faithful continues to lay bricks, invite others to lay bricks, and casts out anyone who dares to pick up a brick and build something else.

I think this ticks God off, to be honest.

Why?

Because, you see, in the story of the Tower of Babel God’s judgement was against a people who were speaking one language and trying to make a name for themselves.  He saw that as problematic and so rather than let the tower go up without a hitch he created diversity and scattered the people so that they went on to speak different languages, likely engage in different ways of thinking, and build different towers and structures.

If this is your first trip to the What If Project, welcome.  I used to be into the Evangelical Tower of Babel.  I used to have a huge pile of bricks that I was laying on that Tower in an effort to make it higher and higher and higher as I walked through my life onward towards my heavenly security.  I used to be part of the people that cast out the heretics and looked down upon the people who think differently.  

Now, though.

Now I’m a heretic and I’m one who thinks differently.  And so I’ve picked up my pile of bricks, have set out into the wilderness, and am living my life to use those bricks not to build a tower or a wall ... but a table.

A big.

Big.

Big.

Long.

Table where everyone is welcome to come and have a feast and speak their own language.  

So pull up a chair, read some blog posts, listen to some podcasts, join the What If Project community, and know that you are loved regardless of what the Tower builders have to say.  

Much love,