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Mark Galli, Editor of Christanity Today wrote in the current issue a very helpful Essay about Evangelicals and the Movement toward “Gay Marriage” in our Nation. Part of his argument he entitled “Evangelical individualism” and he sees this as contributing greatly to the success of the Movement. I have read criticisms in recent months about what is perceived to be the Protestant or Evangelical fostering of "individualism" and how it is the source or support of all kinds of social problems. It has even been called a “heresy”. This Essay is my response to Mr Galli.
Mr Galli wrote in his Essay, about half way through, that- (emphasis added by me)
“The thrust of the pro-gay-marriage argument rests on the assumption that the happiness of the individual is paramount, and that the state's responsibility is to protect the rights of individuals to pursue whatever they think will make them happy, as long as no one gets hurt. The irony of radical individualism is that it will eventually hurt somebody. In practice, the happiness of one individual always runs into the happiness of another, and then only the strong survive. The weaker individual is no longer treated as fully human, and thus his or her right to happiness is compromised. In our nation, we see this in the way we treat individuals at both ends of life, in how expendable they are if they interrupt the happiness of the fully functioning—take the increasing acceptance of euthanasia, and the on-the-ground fact of abortions in the thousands every day.”
“Evangelicals are sensitive to this reality, but are less aware of how much we proactively participate in the culture of individualism. … we have already redefined marriage as an institution designed for personal happiness. We see ancillary evidence of this at the other end of marriage: Though it is a difficult thing to measure, the rate at which evangelicals divorce is hard to distinguish from the larger culture's, and the list of reasons for divorce seems no different: "We grew apart." "We no longer met each other's needs." "Irreconcilable differences." The language of divorce is usually about the lack of self-fulfillment.”
“While the Baptists are known for their doctrine of "soul competency," a version of the doctrine is woven into the fabric of broader evangelicalism, though it has morphed into sole competency.”
“We are, of all Christian traditions, the most individualistic. This individual emphasis has flourished in different ways and in different settings, and often for the good. But it is individualism nonetheless”
Mr Galli’s Essay can be found HERE
Biblical Christianity is not individualistic. If Christians proactively participate in the culture of individualism they are way out of line and are not being Biblical ay all! To imply that Biblical Christianity in any way supports the concept that the state's responsibility is to protect the rights of individuals to pursue whatever they think will make them happy, is seriously misleading to say the least.
As we explore these claims, there are some “givens” that we accept on this subject. First, God created individuals, Adam, Eve and then all the rest of us (Psalm 138). The individual Self is real. The individual Person is objectively real, just as God, whom we image, is real.
Second, the relationship between God and the Individual (1:1) is objectively real. God calls and saves individual persons. He loves and cares for individual human beings. This is demonstrated undisputedly through out the Bible.
Third, the experience of Justification by grace only through faith only in Christ only is for individuals only (Rom 4:3-5, et al), not for Humanity, a People Group or the organized Church. Paul was happy to say, [God] loved me and gave Himself for me. (Gal 2:20)
In Genesis 17, God made a Covenant with Abraham, as an individual and his children, as individuals
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless. 2I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.”
3 Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, 4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. 5 No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 8 The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.”
Cf to the Noahic Covenant: God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth." Gen 9:17
Cf Jer 33:35 "Thus says the Lord : If I have … established my covenant with day and night and the fixed order of heaven and earth
Each individual male must join the Abrahamic Covenant. His children also. They must all individually receive the sign of membership, which is Circumcision (a very personal experience!)
9 Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. 10 This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. 14 Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
The Prophets foretold of a New Covenant with Individuals
Jer 31:31The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 32 It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
Ezek 36:26 A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put my spirit within you, and make you follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances.
This New Covenant is the upgraded Abrahamic Covenant. This time a new heart and the Holy Spirit is required and given to each individual in that Covenant, which is what makes it “New”. It is fulfilled in Christ.
In the New Testament Scripture, we read- God’s Covenant is with Abraham and his Seed, who is Christ (Rom 4:12-25). Today, individual Believers in Christ are heirs of the Promises of that Covenant. (Gal 3:21-29). The Abrahamic Promises are given to individual Believers in Christ and their Children (Acts 2:39)
Yes, Biblical Christianity does value the individual. That is a very important and good thing. Thank God that it is true! The next question is, does this necessarily mean we are narcissistic, self centered, self serving and selfish? Critics imply strongly that it does. I respond, absolutely not!
“Christians” who are narcissistic, self centered, self serving and selfish are not good Christians, if they are Christians at all! The very definition of a Christian is a self centered sinner who has been confronted with that reality about himself and has turned from his (or her) self-centeredness (repented of it) to become Christ-centered. For a person to claim to be a Christian who is, simultaneously and characteristically, narcissistic, self centered, self serving and selfish is worse than a hypocrite. It is impossible to be both!
Such professors either do not understand what is involved in becoming a Christian or they have not been taught how to lives their lives as Christians. The latter involves righteousness, the commitment to live in relationship with God and Others and doing that according to the revealed will of God. And the latter requires a very demanding social ethic as well as a personal morality, i.e.- a life that is the antithesis of an autonomous person living for one’s self.
A Biblical or Reformed Christian seeks to be an agent of God’s Kingdom (Reign) in the world. That means a commitment to seeking Justice. A Reformed Christian will pursue, as an individual, the Rights and Responsibilities spelled out for him (or her) in the Law of God. Those Rights and Responsibilities involve personal and private morality, but they also involve individual Believers to be involved in relationships with family members, neighbors, co-workers, community and civic affairs and the civil government. All this involvement requires rigorous social and public ethics and working for the well-being of others. There is no way a Biblical Christian can characteristically pursue a self-indulgent, selfish autonomous, “individualistic” life! We can not fault true Evangelicalism for any of that!
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