The Gospel of Inclusion by Bishop Carlton Pearson

Author:Bishop Carlton Pearson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 2009-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

If we suffer, we will also reign with him.

—2 Timothy 2:12 (KJV)

…all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

—2 Timothy 3:12 (KJV)

This is insanity! Are we to believe that we should invite people to hate Christians in order to fulfill our mission of awakening them to God’s love? One does not sow dragon’s teeth and expect to reap daisies.

Like Gandhi, people of other religions often love and understand Christ’s message; they just don’t get along with His followers. Muslims, for example, revere Jesus as a prophet, but not as divine. Of course, the important point of the Gospel is not that Muslims consider Christ, but that Christ considers Muslims as loved by God and precious enough to redeem along with all other human beings. A careful study of the words and works of Christ reveals that the secular, non-Jewish world, along with the Jewish laity, loved Christ and was eager to receive His message and ministry. It was the religious leaders of His day who hated and opposed Christ.

The same is the case today. Those in control of certain denominations tend to despise those who are beyond their control—namely, those who live for and by God but do so outside the traditional bounds of a familiar religious dogma.

WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

The United States is the most religiously diverse nation in the world. Christianity is the greatest single force in the midst of this religious diversity. According to recent statistics, 70 percent of Americans belong to some form of Christian religion. Even more distinctive, in terms of its tolerance for the free expression of many kinds of faith, America is the most tolerant nation that has ever existed.

In light of this, it is interesting to note that in spite of the Christian influence in this country, we have not had a more positive effect on the nation’s morals. In fact, the evidence suggests quite the contrary. Consider these facts:

The United States has the largest prison population in the developed world.

Tulsa County in Oklahoma, where I live, known to some as the “buckle of the Bible Belt,” has the second highest divorce rate in the country, surpassed only by Las Vegas.

In addition, we have one of the nation’s largest recorded out-of-wedlock teenage pregnancy rates, and a higher-than-average per capita homosexual population, many of whom profess to be born-again Christians. I’m told that we also have one of the highest mental illness rates per capita in the nation.

A 2005 study showed that the nation’s highest rates of divorce, spousal abuse, and murder are in so-called red states—states that tend to vote conservative in part because of their large fundamentalist Christian populations. The state with the lowest divorce rate? Massachusetts, bastion of university education, gay marriage, and supposed liberalism.

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