Do to others what you want them to do to you. This is the meaning of the law of Moses and the teaching of the prophets — Matthew 7:12
What makes a Christian? It is hard to say. But if you want an honest answer, the last person to ask is someone convinced they know the answer — and insists everyone kowtows to their opinion.
I have my own ideas — which spring from the religious indoctrination I received as a boy. But I have no interest in trying to convert anyone to my definition. I was raised in the Church of England and attended Anglican Schools. My religious experience is best described as Catholic-‘lite’. We had all the ceremony of the papists. But, for example, we thought transubstantiation was just plain silly.
I am no longer a Christian. But I still embrace much of Jesus’ outlook — which is not hard, as much of what he preached was common decency and easily embraceable by a non-believer. I am not alone. Many good people, both deist and atheist, share the same philosophy regardless of their opinion of Jesus’s divinity — or even his existence.
John MacArthur, Pastor of the Grace Community Church, is not one of them.
This monumentally unpleasant man celebrated Black History Month by calling the spiritual and practical leader of the non-violent, civil rights movement, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. a faithless non-Christian. To the non-religious observer, this charge lacks evidence and flies in the face of King’s biography.
MLK Jr. was the son of a pastor and a pastor himself. He was also no casual acquaintance of Christianity. His academic career culminated with a Doctorate in Christian exegesis — specifically in systematic theology. His deep Christian roots informed his career and oratory.
MacArthur got to his hateful appraisal after reflecting on a religious organization he once favored — but now does not. Racism drools from his mouth.
Here are the actual words the pompous ass uttered from the stage of Grace Church, Sun Valley, CA, on February 19. He starts by talking about the Gospel Coalition and Together for the Gospel (T4G). Christian meet-and-greet groups whose relative decency he despises.
“T4G is basically nonexistent. They bought into the deceptiveness of the woke movement at the racial baiting that was going on a couple of years ago. And it literally put them out of existence.”
The cult will tolerate no deviation from orthodoxy. And it embraces lying. The Gospels plainly describe Jesus as a man whose words and actions evangelicals would consider ‘woke’ today. But the religious bigots and Christofascists have that guy locked in the closet. Their Jesus is a contemporary creation who carries an AR, loves America, and hates the same people conservative evangelicals do.
MacArthur then talks about the last time he attended a T4G affair. He liked that one, as it celebrated the life of the recently dead R.C. Sproul, who was his kind of Christian. The next year, he made it a point not to attend because the deceased guest of honor was someone he disapproved of.
He described the event thus:
“And the strange irony was that a year later they did the same thing for Martin Luther King. Who was not a Christian at all. Whose life was immoral.”
MacArthur offers no support for his vile contention that MLK was not a Christian. He does not need to. His audience is satisfied with simple hate — they require no explication. He also does not explain why he thinks King’s life was immoral.
He is probably referring to King’s adultery. However, if you say sexual sinners cannot be Christian, you would have few Christians. The mainstream media, the yellow press, and the clickbait internet are awash in sanctimonious Christian hypocrites caught with their pants down. Why does MacArthur pick on King? Blame racist thinking.
To a white conservative, when a Black man fornicates, it is due to his bestial nature. But when a white man shreds the sanctity of his marriage, it is because Satan has found a gap in his armor. For the Black man, sexual sin is his nature. For the white guy, it is a brief fall from purity engendered by the forces of evil.
A fall that can soon be forgiven, and wiped from the slate, by tearful contrition while the sinned-against wife stands strong and stalwart beside her flawed husband as he prays his way back into grace.
MacArthur, magnanimously willing to give faint credit, salves the burn with a throwaway attaboy — soon erased by a backhanded compliment.
I'm not saying he [MLK] didn't do some social good. And I have always been glad he was a pacifist or he could have started a real revolution.
Having offered the stereotype of the Black man as an id-driven, animalistic, libidinous threat to social order, MacArthur hurls another racist meme — the angry, opportunistic Black man. The congregation understood his message. King was morally unsalvageable, but at least he did not steal TVs.
MacArthur then reminded his audience of the theme of his diatribe — King was a fake Christian. (Sub-text: unlike the God-fearing folk in the pews shelling out their hard-earned to buy salvation on lay-away.)
“But you don't honor a nonbeliever, who misrepresented everything about Christ and the gospel in an organization alongside honoring someone like R. C. Sproul.”
Having satisfied his need to denigrate a Nobel Peace Laureate, Time magazine’s 1963 Man of the Year, and internationally revered civil rights activist, MacArthur then celebrates the collapse of Christian organizations that care about people. In this case, the Gospel Coalition.
“This was a symptom of the impact of the woke movement that basically displaced that whole organization. It was over after that.”
Why? Because they were: “Dealing with issues, gender, and all of that kind of thing.”
In MacArthur's doctrinaire and sadistic religious view, comforting the least of Christ's followers (aka "dealing with issues”) is not a Christian virtue. It seems his guiding principle is to ask WWJD? And do the opposite.
MacArthur wraps up his polemic with a classic piece of projection.
“The inability to discern what was really going on broke them into pieces. The Gospel Coalition is like Christianity today — Christianity astray.”
Christianity astray indeed. MacArthur is a Christian in the same way I am an astronaut.
Here is the video: