A really clear and necessary distinction between groups of people became more vivid to me this morning while listening to one of the podcasts that I listen to every day during my workout. It is the distinction between “conservative” and “conservative evangelical.” Clarity came in light of what Donald Trump is saying that is showing clearly where he now stands on the issue of killing babies.. I am paraphrasing here what he said but the substance of what he said is unchanged. He was attacking Ron DeSantis and his position on killing babies. He was arguing that he would get together groups on all sides of this issue and arrive at a place where we could all be happy. Now I know this is “political” speech from a man without a real moral compass. And I know that there are conservatives who say they do not support killing babies, but they are not against limits on killing babies. We have seen that in state after state where measures to support life from womb to tomb have failed to pass. Much of the failure can be blamed on conservatives who are not conservative evangelicals. So, what is the real difference?
The real difference in my modest opinion became more clear to me this morning. It may have been clear to you for a long time. That’s wonderful. It just means that I am slower to see it and to get it than you are. A conservative by definition is one who seeks to conserve traditions that have been profitable for a people to produce human flourishing. The conservatives gather around certain traditions that produced for them a way of life that was deemed to be a good life. They want that life back. That life often included attending a church or synagogue on Saturday or Sunday but it could have also included maintaining racial segregation at all costs, even being in a KKK rally on a Saturday night and teaching a Sunday School Class on Sunday morning. It meant in short defining “Christian” by their tradition rather than by the truth of God. One the other hand, a Christian is one who is committed to the absolute Truth of God that is His Word, the Bible. To belong to God is to seek to live under the Lordship of Jesus as our lives are directed by the Spirit of God through the Word of God. We desire and are deeply devoted to obeying God. What makes the most people happy is not on our agenda. We don’t want to make people mad, but if their animosity comes at the expense of our adoration of and obedience to Jesus, then that is a small price to pay for seeking to love and to serve Him.
Many conservatives attend church or synagogue services routinely but their lives do not reflect a real and radical devotion to Jesus. They are political and economic conservatives but not conservative evangelicals. We do not have to look hard to find many of this sort in our churches. The lifestyle of true conservative evangelicals, however, is driven by the “evangel.” We are in love with the Bible and we want to live under its authority because we are in love with and deeply loved by Jesus who gave His life for us. We have responded to His call for us to come to Him and that is reflected in us and through us in our desire to live in devotion to His Word. Nobody would ever find us at a KKK meeting or any derivative of that woefully sinful group, nor would they find us at a Qanon meeting. And they would surely not find us agreeing with Trump that we must simply find a way to make everybody happy on the issue of when to kill babies. We are absolutely sure about that one because our conservatism bows the knee before the One who is the source of the “evangel” from which we get our name.
So, let’s be careful. Not every conservative is a real friend of conserving. Many conservatives who by the teachings of their tradition may call themselves “Christians,” but by the standards of the Bible reveal clearly that they are not Christians as defined by the Word of God. And Trump who is a conservative but by no means a Christian is helping us see and know the distinction between conservative and conservative evangelical. I hope you are one of these and not the other.