Jesus Would Never Do That!

So when is religious freedom a bad thing? According to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), it is when it is used for “discrimination” and “bigotry” against LGBTQ people. This assertion was made specifically as an attack against Christians who believe in the biblical view of marriage as being one man and one woman for life. Now to any truly faithful follower of Jesus Christ, AOCs statement might seem like a really strange assertion. What in the world is she even talking about? To understand this, you have to understand her view of the Christian faith.

In a hearing of the House Oversight Committee in February, the committee took up the topic of The Administration's Religious Liberty Assault on LGBTQ Rights. The hearing’s purpose was to "examine the Administration's actions to erode LGBTQ rights in multiple areas, including healthcare, employment, adoption, and foster care. In the hearing, AOC invoked her personal faith and characterized herself as a “woman of faith. She went on to make the claim that in today’s congress, Jesus Christ himself would be maligned." She said, "Sometimes, especially this body, I feel as though if Christ himself walked through these doors and said what he said thousands of years ago, that we should love our neighbor and our enemy, that we should welcome the stranger, fight for the least of us ... he would be maligned as a radical and rejected from these doors."

She went on to accuse traditional Christians of using religious freedom as a ploy to defend bigotry and discrimination. She said she was "tired of communities of faith being weaponized and being mischaracterized because the only time religious freedom is invoked is in the name of bigotry and discrimination. I'm tired of it."

Seemingly, AOC grew up Roman Catholic, but her views on a wide range of subjects run totally contrary to the teachings of the Catholic church. In fact, as you examine her beliefs, they are not in line with any form of traditional Christianity. Rather, she parrots the beliefs of so called “Progressive Christianity.”

While the word “Christianity” is in the name of this faith, it is not Christian at all. In its essence, it is an expression of naturalistic beliefs wrapped in Christian vocabulary. To get their theology, Progressive Christians don’t begin with the Bible, but with naturalistic beliefs – more specifically, with Marxist beliefs. With that as a foundation, they search for proof texts from the Bible to back up their beliefs. One commonly used verse is found in Matthew 25:40. That verse uses the quote of a king in one of Jesus’ parables that says, “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’” Never mind the context or the purpose of the parable. The fact that these words, on the surface, appear to support the Progressive Christian point of view, they take them, build an entire theology around it, and call it Christian.

The parable is actually about God’s judgment and how he separates the “sheep from the goats.” After the separation, he rewards the faithful and judges the unfaithful.

But that is not the theology of Progressive Christianity. Instead of recognizing the actual teaching of the text that teaches the judgment of God, they take it out of context and try to eliminate any judgment at all. In fact, they eliminate the entire eternal spiritual focus of the parable. Their bottom line is based on the concept of “equality of outcome.” It is a completely temporal philosophy which asserts that every person, regardless of what they think about God, should have the same outcomes on earth. And to take it one step further, they believe it is the government’s responsibility to make sure that it happens. It is a Socialist belief system using Christian vocabulary that has absolutely nothing to do with what is actually written in the biblical text.

When AOC says that “Jesus would never do that,” she is not talking about the Jesus of the Bible. Rather, she is talking about the made up Jesus of her political philosophy.

I would never presume to judge the salvation of AOC, or anyone else for that matter. I can, however, evaluate her stated beliefs and actions and compare them with what is taught in the Bible. The beliefs she promotes have nothing to do with the Christian faith! And if she is depending on that for her eternal salvation, she is in for a rude awakening.

Freddy Davis is the president of MarketFaith Ministries. He is the author of numerous books and has a background as an international missionary, pastor, radio host, worldview trainer, and entrepreneur. Freddy is a graduate of Florida State University with a BS in Communication, and holds MDiv and DMin degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is a popular speaker, particularly on the topic of worldview and its practical implications for the Christian life. He lives in Tallahassee, FL, with his wife Deborah. 

You may also contact Freddy at Leadership Speakers Bureau to schedule him for speaking or leadership engagements.

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