"Confessions of a (Former) Christian Nationalist"

[usonian]

4. Rob Schenck disavows his past. He wrote a book titled "Costly Grace"

Last edited Thu Sep 26, 2024, 10:03 AM - Edit history (2)

Subtitled.
An Evangelical Minister's Rediscovery of Faith, Hope, and Love

Here is the blurb from the publisher:

The author recalls his life as a controversial Washington, D.C. evangelical minister and spiritual advisor to America's political class. He begins with his conversion from Judaism to born-again Christianity, and then finding his calling in public ministry. He chronicles his years as an activist leader of the most extreme wing of the anti-abortion movement, brazenly mixing ministry with Republican political activism. Finally he reflects on his unconscious abandonment of Christian principles in the face of fame and influence, and ultimately his return to the lessons Jesus imparted. Today Schenck works to liberate the evangelical community from a politicized gospel, urging partisan conservatives to move beyond social battles and forsake the politics of hate, fear, and violence.

From the book:

When I began to listen with an open heart to everyone—including those I had considered my “enemies”—I began to understand that I, and my community, had committed a grievous sin: we distorted the true gospel of our Lord for our immediate spiritual from the temporal, generating confusion among many believers about their Christian and political identities, exposing them to the temptation of political idolatry. What had happened to the German Christians was happening to us.

My rediscovery of Bonhoeffer brought me back to an appreciation of the true meaning of the gospel. It also led to a rebirth of love and commitment in my marriage and with my children and a reconfiguration of my public mission. But there were inevitable, sadly necessary losses. My relationship to a community I once held dear was strained almost to the breaking point by political calculations that seemed profoundly compromised.


Mine has been an odyssey of hope found, then lost, but rediscovered. In recounting my modern-day pilgrimage, during a time of great spiritual pain and national discord, I hope to give others reason to believe—maybe for the first time, or, after faith has been lost, to believe again.

Bonhoeffer taught me that a minister must be engaged fully with the world, and I have been especially blessed to have enjoyed a life crowded with a fascinating array of people, some of whom have touched my word positively, and others in ways much less so. I write with no judgment of them here—my judgment is directed internally. These stories are not intended to impugn, insult, or disparage others, because I believe, with soul-deep conviction, that we are all sinners saved by God’s Amazing Grace. I cannot expect more or better of others than I can of myself. I am deeply aware of my own flaws: my pride, my ambition, and my capacity to rationalize actions I know, deep in my heart, are wrong. A basic fact of our humanity is that we are all capable of the very worst of human behaviors. As one of my early mentors, a Lutheran pastor, once said, “Everybody has a little good and a little bad. Don’t ever forget that.” I haven’t. And in these pages, I will share my reckoning with both.

So, while he has turned his life around, as always, the evil that people do lives with them, not just after them, and if we hope for others to disavow the "gospel of hate, fear, violence and idolatry", we had better plan for their re-entry into society. I personally favor positive restorative action to undo what damage can be undone.

I think that Rob is trying, since he wrote the book and got into plenty of hot water for doing so. Is it enough? I don't know.

Plenty of people still cling to that "gospel of hate, fear, violence and idolatry.

Reading through, what sprung him loose was the horrific murder of 5 Amish girls near his home. The killer had tried to kill 10 of them, one of those deeds that cannot be undone. The Amish community was very forgiving of the parents of the killer.

After that, he noted:

thought of my own encounters with this version of tragedy: the lasting effect of the suicide of my mother’s first husband; the murders of two Capitol Hill police officers in 1998 who were shot when I was in the building; and the murders of Drs. Gunn and Slepian.[1] It seemed to me that gun violence wasn’t just a social problem; it could be a spiritual and theological one. I wondered if our community might be too cavalier about lethal firepower.

My faith had in too many ways become something other than Christlike. Instead of being a conduit of unmerited favor and kindness, as I had learned Christianity should be long ago at Elim Bible Institute, mine was now a cudgel for beating ideological opponents into submission. I began to consider just how much politics had corrupted my faith

Personal note. I don't agree with his theology, but wanted to give an insight into his "conversion" from the gospel of maga, more positive than the confession above.

EDIT TO ADD
https://archive.is/uiaBz
I Was an Anti-Abortion Crusader. Now I Support Roe v. Wade.


[1] Drs. Gunn and Slepian ( and others) were murdered by anti-abortion activists.
More here: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/11/29/us/30abortion-clinic-violence.html ( https://archive.is/Cc2dV )

https://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/25/nyregion/abortion-doctor-in-buffalo-slain-sniper-attack-fits-violent-pattern.html
( https://archive.is/awu99 )