Red Letter Christians (part 1)

Go to part 2

What is a Red Letter Christian?

"Red Letter Christians" is a modern movement within Evangelicalism (the definition of which has become very vague) which believes we have become too focused on issues such as abortion and homosexuality at the neglect of issues such as eliminating poverty, caring for the environment, building strong families, and creating world peace. The movement's most prominent proponents are Tony Campolo and Jim Wallis (Sojourners Magazine). Campolo says in his book, Red Letter Christians, that they are "committed to living out the things that Jesus taught." They take their name from the fact that some Bibles place the words spoken by Jesus Christ in red letters. The idea is that they would have us focus more on what Jesus spoke verbally while He walked this earth rather than focus on those black letters which Campolo says the Christian right uses to "force their agenda on others." The problem with that line of thinking is that if you know who Christ is, you will understand that the entire Bible should be in red letters, because Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are two persons of the same Godhead. I think that the error here lies in a misunderstanding of all that Jesus taught coupled with a lack of understanding of the whole "counsel of God" (Acts 20:27).

Campolo's View

Tony Campolo describes what he believes is the problem and how we should interpret those red letters on Beliefnet:

"We are evangelicals who are troubled by what is happening to poor people in America; who are disturbed over environmental policies that are contributing to global warming; who are dismayed over the increasing arrogance of power shown in our country’s militarism; who are outraged because government funding is being reduced for schools where students, often from impoverished and dysfunctional homes, are testing poorly; who are upset with the fact that of the 22 industrialized nations America is next to last in the proportion of its national budget (less than two-tenths of 1 percent) that is designated to help the poor of third-world countries; and who are broken-hearted over discrimination against women, people of color, and those who suffer because of their sexual orientation."

"In those red letters, He calls us away from the consumerist values that dominate contemporary American consciousness. He calls us to be merciful, which has strong implications for how we think about capital punishment. When Jesus tells us to love our enemies, he probably means we shouldn't kill them. Most important, if we take Jesus seriously, we will realize that meeting the needs of the poor is a primary responsibility for His followers."

While I recognize that Campolo did identify some legitimate issues, I think they are vague and given without a Biblical view of the root of the problem. This is another case of a popular mindset among professing Christians which recognizes the love of God and ignores His justice. But the fact is that it is impossible to separate the two; they are two sides of the same coin. We must recognize that all the problems in the world are a result of sin, and sin demands God's justice. Furthermore it seems that the RLCs have an agenda which lines right up with the political left, although they wouldn't accept my saying that. They sincerely believe that Jesus is against war and for environmentalism among other concerns:

"You got us RLCs right again when you suggested we were anti-war, pro-environment, and deeply committed to ending poverty primarily because we believe Jesus is anti-war, pro-environment, and deeply committed to ending poverty. The only mistake you made was to imply that thinking this way—or trying to influence our government according to these values—makes us the Religious Left..." (from a response by Tony Campolo to an editorial in Christianity Today)

I hope to explore some of these views in later posts and look more closely at what Jesus did teach. I also want to look into what else they are teaching and evaluate whether a Christian who wants to remain true to the Word of God should be feeding on their teachings. And let me just say that I don't intend to attack Campolo or Wallis or any others personally; I just think that we should not immerse ourselves in ideas that are not in accordance with the Bible.

Go to part 2