CT is not our friend
Christianity Today magazine continues to be problematic. I’ve written many times about the flagship evangelical publication started by Billy Graham in the 50s. Certainly by the 90s it was left-leaning, with editors like Mickey Maudlin and David Neff. In particular, Neff’s work for Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding focused on subtle (and sometimes not so much) undermining of Israel.
Sadly, as millennials become more and more the fabric of the current editorial staff, CT rolls along with its incremental attacks on Scripture—always masquerading of course as earnest lovers of the Bible. I well remember one editorial quote from the 90s: “We here at CT revere Scripture.”
That was and is an absolute lie, and one they made knowingly. Whether it has been affirming Darwinian philosophy, or regurgitating PLO talking points (“Jesus was a Palestinian”), the Chicago-based publication is trash.
An example of their undermining of the Bible is seen in a new three-part series. Two of the articles titles—“How to Read Yourself Into Genesis” and “This Ancient Land Is Not Your Land”—are so transparently bad one wonders why there isn’t more public outcry.
Imagine: They are directly telling people to insert themselves into the accounts from the foundational book of the Bible.
News flash: Genesis isn’t about you. That’s Steven Furtick-level self-absorption.
In “This Ancient Land…”, author Carmen Joy Imes (professor of Old Testament at Biola’s Talbot School of Theology, another dismaying red flag), in my view, subtly undermines Israel’s claim to its ancestral land. This is in perfect keeping with CT’s hatred of a sovereign modern Israel.
How about this gem:
“I just returned from a trip to Israel, where we traveled the land in a temperature-controlled tour bus with cushioned seats and (most importantly) Wi-Fi. Bottled water was readily available whenever we were thirsty. As someone who teaches and writes about the Torah—the first five books of the Bible—I was reminded again how few of these narratives take place in the land now known as Israel. With one exception in Numbers 13, all of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy take place outside the Promised Land.”
This is a variation on the “Argument from Silence” that says if something isn’t specifically mentioned, it didn’t happen or doesn’t exist. For example, and this is only a slight exaggeration, since Jude 3 does not mention Israel’s land inheritance via God’s unconditional covenant, then it isn’t valid.
Imes is very aware that much of modern Israel’s identity is bound up in the land covenant from Genesis, it is worthwhile for leftists to attack that claim. Further, Imes is well aware that “the Land” is one of the central themes of Genesis, particularly in Genesis 12-50, the great beginnings of the Jewish people.
Imes knows that “Salem” (universally understood to refer to early Jerusalem) is mentioned in Genesis 14:8, with its King Melchizedek. This is just one example of the falsehood of Imes’ above statement. So “the Land” is referred to in the Torah.
CT loves this subtle effort to separate modern Israel from its legitimate history. It’s why they didn’t take Yasser Arafat to task for claiming to be a descendant of the Canaanites and therefore a more legitimate heir to the land.
There’s much more I could say about Christianity Today magazine. But for now, I leave you with this: Today’s example of anti-Israel bias is just one of many, many in the evangelical world today. Our “Christian” Media is every bit as corrupt as the secular version. You have no idea.
Pay careful attention to who you listen to, if you care about Israel.