At his Kingdom Living blog, Matt Dabbs asks, “Are the Red Letters Any More Important Than the Black Letters?”
If scripture is inspired and from God are the words of Jesus any more or less important than all the rest of the Old and New Testament?
He’s probably alluding to the Red Letter Christians, a group founded by Tony Campolo that emphasizes the direct quotes of Jesus Christ, which some Bibles display in red ink. Similarly, Campolo’s group seeks to distinguish itself from the larger evangelical movement, which it criticizes as being too conservative, too prosperous and too patriotic.
Campolo’s Christians hope to shift the evangelical movement’s political focus away from pro-life and pro-family issues and instead concentrate on socialism and environmentalism. One of Campolo’s common refrains is that Jesus never even addressed one of the religious right’s concerns:
The reason why I buy into the Democratic Party more than the Republican Party is because there are over 2,000 verses of Scripture that deal with responding to the needs of the poor. Note: 2,000 verses. On the contrary, when you take the issue of homosexuality, which has become the defining issue among evangelicals, I love to ask this question: What does Jesus say about homosexuality? And they always look at me blankly. And I say, “That’s right. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. What does he say about responding to poor people? A great deal.”
By limiting themselves to the direct quotes of Jesus as recorded in Scripture, Campolo’s group mocks conservative Christians who resist the re-definition of marriage. I know I’ve argued this before, but it’s worth repeating:
1. Not everything Jesus said is recorded in Scripture. “Jesus did many other things… If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.” (John 21:25)
2. Jesus did not come to earth to list every possible sin, but rather to save us from them. (1 Timothy 1:15)
3. Jesus and the God the Father are one, so anything God said about homosexuality through the prophets and the disciples is approved by Jesus as well. (John 10:30)
4. Jesus affirmed and explained the “traditional” definition of marriage: “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ ” (Mark 10:6-8)
Furthermore, here’s what Jesus might ask those who claim to follow his words, while ignoring the rest of Scripture:
“If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?”
(John 5:46-47)
Indeed, to evade the conservative argument, Campolo is forced to ignore the law of Moses, which lists homosexuality (alongside incest, bestiality and adultery) as a “detestable” act practiced by nations inhabiting The Promised Land before Israel took possession of it, and who had “defiled” it. Under the law of Moses, homosexuality was punishable by death. (Leviticus 18:22, 18:24-25; 20:13)
Campolo is also forced to ignore or reinterpret the account of Sodom & Gomorrah (Genesis 19:1-29), as well was letters written by the apostles and disciples of Christ (Romans 1:26-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Jude 1:7, and possibly others, such as 1 Timothy 1:9-10).
