Judeo-Christian Chaos

This week, this essay by Will Spencer took the internet by storm. In it, he articulates his concern about a rising anti-semitism within the young men of the American church. Anyone who has been paying attention to the goings-on of the Christian far-right will have noticed that, within these circles, the topic of Israel is currently a minefield in a hailstorm. Given this reality, the fallout and the foodfights that resulted from Spencer's post were quite predictable.

There are three characters that we must introduce before we can proceed: the Jews, the Based Bois, and the Boomers. (Please forgive my colloquial nomenclature; it is difficult to interact with internet phenomena in respectable English.)

The Jews, obviously, are an ethno-national group ending in "stein."

The Based Bois are a group of Christian influencers and their followers who are so right-wing that they are in danger of falling off of the wing entirely. These folks have a very heavy focus on a few primary issues- patriarchy and gendered piety, ethno-nationalism, and the Jews. They give heavy emphasis to Christian history and natural law.

The Boomers are, for the purposes of this post, a community of Christians who have been trying to pull the Based Bois away from the edge of the wing (and also occasionally maybe pushed one or two of them off). Up until five minutes ago, some of these folks were the berserkers on the bleeding edge of the Christian right, but the Overton window has shifted so dramatically that these same gentlemen now look like sagacious and gentle moderates.

I am intentionally not naming names, because these battle lines are not clearly drawn. This is an "if the shoe fits" sort of situation. Nevertheless, the groupings will be obvious to anyone who is watching the American church online.

As the conversation about Israel has progressed, the Based Bois have- and not without some justification- complained that discussion of these topics is simply verboten. They have refused to comply with a perceived "woke mob" mentality that demands conformity to the groupthink consensus about Israel, World War II, Hitler, Churchill, and the rest. This consensus is perhaps best represented in the recent Antioch Declaration, which I addressed here.

The Boomers, meanwhile, have objected to observable patterns of Jew-hatred, ethnic partiality, and a number of other problematic fruits which have followed this movement (and which I will get to more in a minute). They have more or less condemned the Based Bois as false teachers, to be treated as wolves and unregenerates.

For the purposes of this post, Will Spencer's article belongs squarely in the Boomer camp. One of the most controversial features of his article was his recommendation that pastors screen potential church members for neo-Nazi infection before welcoming them into the membership of the body of Christ. Spencer's recommended screening question is this: "Do you believe the Jews are committing cultural genocide against straight white men and families?" This shibboleth serves as a diagnostic tool to determine whether someone is carrying this viral ideology into the flock. A strong caution, to be sure- but is it justified?

My endeavor here is to construct a basic Biblical framework that enables Christians to have this conversation in a way that is faithful to Scripture.

1. Where The Based Bois Get It Right

If the Jews really are perpetrating a genocide against straight white men, every Christian should want to know. Every Christian should speak the truth about the matter. There is no reason that this question cannot be asked – and answered – in a just, calm, and mature way. (Lev. 19:15)

In other words, the conversation, in itself, should not be taboo, and the sooner the broader American church repents of its unwillingness to touch this issue (as well as other topics like black crime or feminism), the better. Censorship has a way of strengthening the allure of the taboo. If mature and Biblically sound Christians will speak to these granular- and truly important- issues with clarity, then the more unbalanced voices will lose their boast that they are the only ones brave enough to touch the live wires.

This means acknowledging that the loyalties of the American Christian church to the state of Israel are deeply problematic- and contrary to the teaching of Scripture. When the Jews rejected the Messiah, God took the Kingdom away from them (Matt. 21:43). For the Christian, the Jews are still beloved “for the sake of the fathers” (Rom. 11:28), but there remains no political allegiance or duty to the nation-state of Israel.

Politically, when Israel is doing wrong or being unjust, every Christian should be completely willing to call it out. If Israeli interests are controlling American politics, we should speak out and put a stop to it. Israel should have the same rights and be under the same rules as any other nation, in other words.

Theologically, the Jews are a mission field- they are not allies. "Judeo-Christian," while perhaps an accurate description of a historical reality, is not an acceptable status quo. The people who worship the Messiah and the people who reject Him are not on the same team.

This conversation is critical, because where these misplaced loyalties to Israel exist, they can be the cause of clouded judgment, where real issues are swept under the rug for the sake of preserving our relationship with “our friend Israel.” For example, we should be far more concerned about the plight of persecuted Christians than about the latest happenings in the middle east.

2. Why I'm Not With Them

Thus far, it might seem that I belong on the Based Bois' side of the railroad tracks. You might think that I am arguing against Spencer's article. This is not, in fact the case. Over the past year or so I made a concerted effort to give the benefit of the doubt to both sides of this growing conflagration, before eventually concluding that I needed to put some distance between myself and the New Christian Right (mostly because I don't think it's a good idea to fall off of the wing). I am not alone. There are a large number of folks who have stepped away from the Based Bois in recent months, but given the rather puerile condition of internet discourse it can be difficult to reach a clear understanding of the reasons why.

Here are mine, at least as they specifically relate to the Israel issue.

First, there is a severe lack of solid, rational, clear, and proportionate argumentation. I agree that there are questions that need to be answered and problems that need to be addressed when it comes to Israel. I think that Candace Owens raised excellent questions about Israeli involvement in the sinking of the USS Liberty, and I don't accept "that's just a conspiracy theory" as a refutation. I don’t like the amount of control that AIPAC wields over American politics. There actually are Jewish pornographers that have explicitly stated their desire to use immorality to undermine the West. I would not be a bit surprised to discover that there are Jewish influencers in dark rooms that would love to see the end of Christendom.

But here’s the thing. In case you haven’t noticed, there’s corruption all over, and the devil is working in a variety of different communities to fight against the church of Christ. (He will also happily work in the communities of young white men, by the way.)

So when these issues are brought up, I am happy to address the issue- the particular injustice or wickedness. But I cannot make the leap from responding to specific instances of wickedness to broad-brushing the entire Jewish community, at least not without better evidence. This is true especially when, as Will points out in his article, for every legitimately terrible example of Jewish involvement in the West, you’ll find a corresponding stellar example.

The thing that needs to be proven is not that there are lots of bad Jews. The thing that needs to be proven is that all Jews are bad. There’s a big difference.

Second, and this point cannot be overstated: Jesus said that we are to judge people by their fruits (Matt. 7:15-20). The Bible gives a very basic list of Christian fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). I have observed and interacted with the Based community for a long time, and the consistent fruits are: unwholesome and perverse speech, slander, malice, arrogance, disrespect of the elderly, rudeness, ethnic partiality, disrespect towards women, and the list goes on.

“Boomers” are dismissed. Dissenters are called names with all the intellectual sophistication of a third-grade food fight. People who raise objections are often insulted and then blocked, while ironically being accused of effeminate behavior. (The rotten tomatoes splotched all over my clothes are from when I tried to talk to them about this.) Leaders within the movement have directly encouraged their followers to mockery and anger, despite all of the Scriptural warnings to the contrary. To be fair, these statements will often come with some caveats. But the balance is way off, and this is evidenced, again, by the fruit.

I would also note the distinct lack of Scripture that characterizes the argumentation of this community. Many are the appeals to natural law, to history, to authors, to studies- but Scripture is notably absent. A movement that claims to be Christian but is not characterized by Scripture is a movement to be wary of. This is yet another bad fruit.

Third, there is a consistent pattern of blameshifting and myopic villain construction. "It’s the women of the longhouse. It’s the Jews. It’s the blacks. It’s the immigrants." To be clear, I don’t object to speaking out about problems within any of these communities. I’ve done it many times. But when the fruit is bitter blameshifting rather than joyful justice and calm construction, you know something is wrong.

The consistent pattern of having a higher secret knowledge – of being the only ones who are truly on the right side of history – of being the real heroes who are bringing down the real villains (who are always a specifically identifiable group of humans, not the principalities and powers of darkness) - is unmistakable.

This attitude of higher secret knowledge also results in a palpable separation from the broader church of Christ. This pattern is cult-like. I am all for calling out feminism and dispensationalism and other compromises in the church, but we can do this without writing off the vast majority of the people of God as “fake and gay.” The refusal to do so is a big problem.

The response given to this charge is often “well, my followers in my local community are completely happy, joyful, constructive, healthy members of society!”

That’s great. I’m glad to hear it. Your followers in your local community and your followers online should talk.

Lastly, there is a refusal to provide clarity. The Israel/anti-semitism/neo-Nazism issue is an issue where it is glaringly obvious that clarity is extremely important, but instead of clarity often the response from the Based community is “I’m only saying the things that I am saying, not the things that I’m not saying.”

Yet it is definitely possible to say things by implication, and, in fact, this exact community will regularly accuse others of Zionism or feminism simply because they will not call it out as forcefully as the Based Bois do. That sword cuts both ways.

Christians speak the truth in love (Eph. 4). The tongue of the wise makes knowledge acceptable (Pr. 15:2). Part of the duty of Christians, and especially pastors, is to recognize error and deal with it (Matt. 7:15).

This cannot be done ambiguously, and when a community consistently insists on being ambiguous about one of the prevailing errors of our day, even justifying this ambiguity with a seeker-sensitive plea to “winning the young men,” this is bad fruit.

I've asked for clarity on these topics, but the answer given is generally something along the lines of a link to a two-hour-long podcast. Meanwhile, the jokes about the Jews keep on coming. Me and thousands of others are confused about what these gentlemen actually think on these topics, but the only response we get is that we are clearly a woke cancel mob.

A perfect recent example: Corey Mahler advocates, in a debate, that the Holy Spirit has a hard time with sanctifying black people, and gets biblically destroyed by a man that the Based Bois have been heckling for months. This destruction occurs in one of the most talked-about debates in our circle in my memory- and there are crickets audible from the Basedment.

Yet they have no problem giving a succinct and clear statement when Allie Beth Stuckey tweets about the TradWife trend.

In sum, even if I agreed with every single claim that this community makes about the Jews- and I agree with a lot of of them! – I would not associate with this community because of its fruit.

Jesus told us to use this test.

3. What Jew you want me to Jew?

When all the food has been flung and the only remaining sound is the dying fizz from a few toppled soda cans, the question that I am left with is this: what is the Christian supposed to do with this conversation? What is it that the Based Bois are arguing for? Much like with Mahler's statement that blacks have a lower IQ, I would happily grant all of their premises for the purpose of argument, and then ask – so what?

So the Jews are leading up a vast conspiracy to pervert and destroy white men. So blacks are low-IQ and high-violence. So women are feminist harpies who use their HR departments to make the lives of men miserable.

So what? What am I supposed to do about it?

The one actual answer I’ve seen so far is that eventually we should get to a point where we no longer allow mosques and synagogues in our land. And you know what? So long as this is happening by Gospel reformation and not by Marxist revolution… I agree.

So… now what?

As far as I can read from the Word of God, I can grant all these premises- and my duties don’t change. There are bad people and bad conspiracies out there. When they are proven, I will speak the truth about them. I will pursue justice with regards to them.

But in the meantime, I will continue to love people. I will continue to seek to bear the fruits of the Holy Spirit – and not to bear bitterness, wrath, anger, slander, and malice, which are the fruits of the other thing. I will love and care for my wife and children. I will be involved in my local church and my local community, pursuing justice and mercy without regard to melanin count.

What is the point of all of the pot-stirring and the anger fomenting? What is the goal? What is the action item?

It seems that the guys behind this movement will come right up to the precipice (or perhaps the wingtip), but they will not jump.

I’m asking them to man up and jump.

Photo by Taylor Brandon on Unsplash