Hello my friends,

Several of you have asked me why I remain a Christian in the midst of all the damage that is happening in our world today under the banner of Christianity. Well, today I wanted to process that question and the thoughts it brought up for me. I hope you find it helpful and encouraging.

Recommended Resources

​-How to Change the World by Hidden Brain This episode is older, but I have thought of its significance so often lately. It interviews a researcher and author who presents the data to show why peaceful, nonviolent civil resistance is the most historically effective at bringing about lasting change. I found it really insightful and encouraging and think you will too.

​-Defending Democracy from Its Christian Enemies By: David P. Gushee David is a wonderful writer and in this book, he presents compelling and practical ways to navigate supporting democracy from a Christian perspective, especially in the face of those who attack it from within the Christian community. I think you might also find it to be a helpful companion in our world today.

​-Do I Stay Christian?: A Guide for the Doubters, the Disappointed, and the Disillusioned By Brian D. McLaren With this book directly addressing the topic we are discussing today, I just wanted to recommend it here again for you.

-The Bible project has a beautiful and profound video on the Biblical theme of righteousness and justice. It's just under 6 minutes long, but I found the illustrations and descriptions are really moving. You can watch that here.​

Why I stay Christian In A World of Christian Nationalism.

There have been many moments over the last several years when I have wondered whether I should continue calling myself a Christian.

Not because I stopped believing in Jesus or the Gospel. Not because I stopped believing that love is stronger than hate, mercy stronger than cruelty, or hope stronger than despair.

I wondered because of Christians. More specifically, I wondered because of a movement that increasingly came to dominate the Christian spaces that once shaped my faith.

I grew up in the movement that would eventually become mainstream Christian nationalism. These were the people who first taught me about Jesus. The people who taught me Scripture. The people who encouraged me in ministry. The people who helped shape my faith and understanding of God.

For years, I served within that tradition. I loved it. I believed in it. I gave my life to it. But then something happened. The movement that had taught me about Jesus increasingly began embracing ideas and practices that seemed to stand in direct opposition to the Jesus it had introduced me to.

I watched compassion become treated as a weakness. Humility become abandoned. Mercy treated with suspicion. Loyalty become more important than the truth. Power became the object of worship and fear became the fuel.

And the more I spoke about these concerns, the more I realized that questioning the movement placed me more and more outside of it. Eventually, many of the people and institutions that had once welcomed me no longer did.

Eventually I was pushed out of my Christian tradition where I had served for more than fourteen years. Relationships fractured. Trust was broken. People I loved turned away. The betrayal was real. The grief was real.

And there were moments when walking away from Christianity altogether felt easier than trying to separate Jesus from everything being done in his name. Yet every time I tried to walk away, something kept drawing me back.

Or rather, Someone.

The Gospel

In my darkest moments, when disappointment and exhaustion tempted me to abandon Christianity entirely, I kept returning to the Gospel itself. I could not get away from the story.

The story of a God who loved the world so much. A God who did not remain distant from human suffering but stepped into it and became human. A God who became one of us.

The Christian story begins not with power but with incarnation, solidarity, and with love. The Gospel tells us that God entered the human experience fully as the person of Jesus.

He knew hunger. He knew grief. He knew rejection. He knew betrayal. He knew injustice. He knew suffering. And throughout his ministry, Jesus continually stepped into the worlds of other people.

He entered the world of fishermen leaving their nets behind. The world of parents worried about their children. The world of the sick and disabled. The world of women whose suffering had rendered them invisible. The world of Samaritans, tax collectors, zealots, Pharisees, foreigners, sinners, and strangers.

Jesus did not simply enter creation. He entered people's lives.

Again and again, he crossed boundaries of class, ethnicity, politics, religion, and social status to meet people where they were. The deeper I studied Jesus, the more I realized that empathy sits near the center of the Gospel.

The willingness to step into another person's world out of love. The willingness to see what they see. To grieve what they grieve. To bear what they bear. To love them as neighbors.

That vision of God would not let me go. And it still will not.

I realized that when Christianity becomes obsessed with power, Jesus continues moving toward the vulnerable. When Christianity becomes consumed by fear, Jesus continues moving toward the stranger. When Christianity becomes preoccupied with control, Jesus continues kneeling to wash feet.

That is the Jesus who keeps calling me back.

"Real Christian"

Another reason I remain Christian is because I have become convinced that those who misuse the name of Christ should not be allowed to define it.

I understand why many people no longer want the label and affirm their decision. I understand why some have walked away from it altogether. The wounds are real. The hypocrisy is real. The damage is real.

Yet for me, continuing to call myself a Christian has become a form of resistance. Not because Christianity belongs to me but because it does not belong to Christian nationalism either.

At the same time, I have also become uncomfortable with the claim that Christian nationalists are not "real Christians." I understand the impulse and have felt it many times myself. Most of us want to distance Jesus from the harm being done in his name. But I have come to see this claim that Christian nationalism doesn't represent true Christianity as a denial of what has been done in the name of Christianity throughout history.

Christians participated in the transatlantic slave trade. Christians justified colonialism and genocide. Christians persecuted those they considered heretics. Christians blessed wars, defended segregation, and sanctified injustice.

This history does not invalidate Christianity, but it does remind us that Christians have always been capable of betraying Christ while still claiming his name.

Christian nationalism is not the first distortion of Christianity. Nor is it likely to be the last.

The New Testament itself tells a similar story. Judas betrayed Jesus. Peter denied him. The disciples abandoned him. Yet Jesus never stopped calling them his own. Their failures grieved him deeply, but he continued pursuing them. Continued loving them and continued calling them back.

That gives me hope. Not because I excuse the damage being done but because I believe reconciliation remains possible. I believe transformation remains possible. I believe love remains possible. Even now.

Healing

Perhaps the deepest reason I remain Christian is because the world desperately needs the kind of love Jesus embodied.

Not sentimental love or performative love or love as a slogan. But the kind of love that heals, that sacrifices, and that tells the truth. The kind of love that stands between vulnerable people and those who would harm them. The kind of love that resists authoritarianism. The kind of love that refuses to surrender human dignity to ideology.

Throughout my studies of history, I have watched this love bend the arc of human communities toward justice. I have seen it challenge empires, oppose segregation, protect refugees, defend the poor, preserve ecosystems, and rescue people from despair. I have seen it create communities of belonging where none existed before. I have seen it restore what violence tried to destroy. I have seen it leave healing in its wake. I have seen this love transform lives, including my own. This love has carried me through grief, disappointment, betrayal, doubt, and loss.

And maybe it is not even entirely accurate to say that this love keeps me Christian. Maybe it is that this love keeps me human. Just like the incarnation, it helps me become more human. It keeps me grounded, connected, and hopeful. It keeps me believing that goodness can still overcome evil. That justice can still challenge oppression. That mercy can still interrupt cruelty. That reconciliation can still emerge from division. And I continue learning more about this love every time I return to Jesus.

Moving Forward

I know many of you are tired. I know some of you are carrying wounds inflicted by churches, leaders, denominations, family members, and movements that claimed to represent Christ.

Some of you have wondered whether there is anything worth saving. Some of you have wondered whether faith itself is worth the pain. I cannot answer those questions for you. But I can tell you what keeps drawing me back.

It isn't the institution, a faction, a religious label, or trying to win partisan power.

It's Jesus. The Jesus who welcomed the outcast. The Jesus who challenged the powerful. The Jesus who forgave his enemies. The Jesus who carried a cross rather than wielding a sword. The Jesus whose love was stronger than death itself.

Christian nationalism may continue to distort Christianity. It may continue to damage lives. It may continue to dominate headlines. But it does not have the final word.

The final word belongs to the One who entered our world out of love. The One who continues calling us toward mercy, justice, compassion, and reconciliation. The One who refuses to abandon humanity even when humanity abandons him. The One who still bears scars and still offers peace. And because of him, I continue forward believing that love will have the last word.

Prayer

Lord Jesus,

Many of us are weary.

We are weary of hypocrisy.

We are weary of cruelty dressed up as righteousness.

We are weary of seeing your name used to justify fear, exclusion, and the pursuit of power.

Some of us carry wounds from churches.

Some carry wounds from leaders.

Some carry wounds from communities that once felt like home.

Meet us in those places of pain.

Remind us that you understand betrayal.

Remind us that you understand rejection.

Remind us that you understand grief.

When we are tempted to give up, help us see you clearly.

Not the distortions.

Not the idols.

Not the counterfeit versions of faith.

You.

The One who welcomes the stranger.

The One who lifts the burdened.

The One who heals the wounded.

The One who lays down his life for others.

Teach us your way of love.

Give us courage to resist what is harmful.

Give us wisdom to pursue what is true.

Give us compassion for those who are suffering.

And help us become people who leave healing wherever we go.

May your love keep us grounded.

May your mercy keep us humble.

May your hope keep us moving forward.

And may we trust that your Kingdom is still coming, even when the darkness feels overwhelming.

Amen.

Now I'd like to hear from you! Did you find this helpful? What thoughts came to your mind as you read? Feel free to respond to this email and share your thoughts with me. I look forward to reading them. A 30 Day Day Devotional: I wrote a daily devotional in hopes to provide a companion for people seeking to follow Jesus through the season of we are currently navigating together. You can find out more below: $20.00 Following Jesus In A World Obsessed With Empires: 30 Days of reclaiming the hope, compassion, and justice of Jesus. Today, our world can often feel overwhelmed by darkness, division, and despair. I created this 30-day devotional to... Read more Get it now! ​ Ways to support: If you'd like to support this project, you can do so through one-time-gift of any amount you feel is right. You can also subscribe through a $5/mo, $15/mo, or $25/mo. Several others have also asked for a recurring gift option that is different from the ones offered here, like this one. If you'd like me to set up a different option for you, please just send me an email with the word "support" in the subject line. As always, I really want to thank all of you for reading and for all the ways you support me and this project every single week. I'm thankful for the ways we are building this together and hope it creates a lasting, positive change in our world along the way! I sincerely appreciate you all, Ben Remember, you can now view this and all previous newsletters as well as invite friends to join through this link: https://benjamin-cremer.ck.page/profile.

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