Heresy's Cost, Honesty's Peace
The rise, fall, and return of Carlton Pearson illustrates one of the many ways "God has yet more light and truth to break forth out of his holy word" (from pastor John Robinson's commission to the pilgrims leaving England). His story was the subject of NPR's "This American Life" in December, available online at http://audio.wbez.org/tal/304.m3u .
Born into a family of Pentecostal ministers, raised in an evangelical church where he "cast out devils" as a high school student, and all but adopted by Oral Roberts at his university, Pearson says the intellectual climate during his formative years was "smothering." Of the spiritual reality he percieved, he says "the devil was as present and as large as God. He had most of the people... everything was a devil. So, if you believe it, you experience it." Pearson started Higher Dimensions church in Tulsa OK in 1981, creating the most racially integrated church in town. His rising profile included guest preaching with Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, working in televison, introducing T.D. Jakes, and visiting the White House during the Bush, Clinton, and Bush II administrations. Naturally, Bishop Pearson preached a conventional evangelical theology on hell; that God would send non-born-again-Christians to an afterlife of eternal punishment and torture.
Seeds of doubt about the doctrine of hell sown in private Bible study flowered one night. Watching video taken in Somalia on the evening news, Carlton Pearson experienced a revelation; "I saw how we create hell for each other on this planet. And for the first time in my life, I did not see God as the inventor of hell."
I remember hearing my dad reflect on the relationship of rural Chinese farmers to the Christian God. He would say he couldn't imagine how God's love could condemn the billions of good and faithful people who followed paths marked by Confucius, or Buddha, or Muhammad, or great philosophers like Kant. He thought, and read, and prayed; today he thinks that God provides for universal salvation, and it's an understanding that is still growing and changing for him.
Dad has some of the same questions as Pearson. "If you don't need Jesus to avoid hell, then do you need Jesus at all? If you might not need Jesus, then what difference does it make being Christian? What does being Christain mean, anyway?" The questions led Pearson to confront the evangelical doctrine of the scripture's inerrancy, and the historical process of canonization (in which ancient writings were considered and chosen to create the Bible). He turned towards an understanding he calls the "Gospel of inclusion," that all people are saved into heaven and God's presence after death.
As he began to preach the "Gospel of inclusion," his congregation shrunk from over 5,000 members to just a few hundred and four pastors left to start a rival church. Magazine articles in "Charisma" and others were relentlessly critical; Pearson endured personal attacks from his colleagues and an especially rough annual Azusa conference in 2002. "I miss my people. It's like I died, and they mourned my death, and they're pretty much over it." Pearson heard the "whole charismatic church" saying "Who do you think you are? Don't you know you're wrong? They're right - I'm saying what we've taught is wrong. The God we've presented is a monster." He was officially branded a heretic by the Joint College of African-American Pentecostal Bishops Congress in March of 2004.
Googling "Pearson +heretic" returns hundreds of pages, headed by a sober story from the Religion News Service ( www.beliefnet.com/story/143/story_14370_1.html is one place to read it) and including a surprising number of thoughtful, reasonable, and positive responses to Pearson and the "Gospel of inclusion." One thing I noticed was that most critics of Pearson's message immediately appeal to fear; that teaching universal salvation will lead to rampant immorality. It seems in the Pentecostal church community, there is much to be afraid of.
"That's how most of us got saved; we turned because the alternative was... scary!" says youth pastor Steve Palmer at Pearson's New Dimensions church. I heard this same message in my high school Fellowship of Christian Atheletes (FCA) group. God would torture people who were not practicing, born-again Christians when they died. In the NPR piece, one woman from Pearson's congregation talks about her neighbors' appeals to fear as they proselytize, and the surprise she feels at her own sense of compassion for them. Members of Higher Dimensions in Tulsa are often ostracized from the community, and in some cases from their own families.
"The threat of Judgement Day and a good fried chicken dinner; you will sure pack the church!" says Steve. Pentecostal churches in Tulsa may be filled, but Carlson Pearson says there is no way he would step back from the gospel of inclusion. For now, New Dimensions church moved in with WASP-y, 400-seat Trinity Episcopal Church in Tulsa... but will soon have to start looking for a bigger building.
"God is not angry with humanity! He sees us all through the blood! That is the gospel of Jesus Christ!" Pearson may have lost the hellfire, but he's kept the passion, verve, and imagery of Pentecostalism.
-h
Thanks to the CrossWalk blog - http://blog.crosswalkamerica.org - for pointing me to this story.
Born into a family of Pentecostal ministers, raised in an evangelical church where he "cast out devils" as a high school student, and all but adopted by Oral Roberts at his university, Pearson says the intellectual climate during his formative years was "smothering." Of the spiritual reality he percieved, he says "the devil was as present and as large as God. He had most of the people... everything was a devil. So, if you believe it, you experience it." Pearson started Higher Dimensions church in Tulsa OK in 1981, creating the most racially integrated church in town. His rising profile included guest preaching with Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, working in televison, introducing T.D. Jakes, and visiting the White House during the Bush, Clinton, and Bush II administrations. Naturally, Bishop Pearson preached a conventional evangelical theology on hell; that God would send non-born-again-Christians to an afterlife of eternal punishment and torture.
Seeds of doubt about the doctrine of hell sown in private Bible study flowered one night. Watching video taken in Somalia on the evening news, Carlton Pearson experienced a revelation; "I saw how we create hell for each other on this planet. And for the first time in my life, I did not see God as the inventor of hell."
I remember hearing my dad reflect on the relationship of rural Chinese farmers to the Christian God. He would say he couldn't imagine how God's love could condemn the billions of good and faithful people who followed paths marked by Confucius, or Buddha, or Muhammad, or great philosophers like Kant. He thought, and read, and prayed; today he thinks that God provides for universal salvation, and it's an understanding that is still growing and changing for him.
Dad has some of the same questions as Pearson. "If you don't need Jesus to avoid hell, then do you need Jesus at all? If you might not need Jesus, then what difference does it make being Christian? What does being Christain mean, anyway?" The questions led Pearson to confront the evangelical doctrine of the scripture's inerrancy, and the historical process of canonization (in which ancient writings were considered and chosen to create the Bible). He turned towards an understanding he calls the "Gospel of inclusion," that all people are saved into heaven and God's presence after death.
As he began to preach the "Gospel of inclusion," his congregation shrunk from over 5,000 members to just a few hundred and four pastors left to start a rival church. Magazine articles in "Charisma" and others were relentlessly critical; Pearson endured personal attacks from his colleagues and an especially rough annual Azusa conference in 2002. "I miss my people. It's like I died, and they mourned my death, and they're pretty much over it." Pearson heard the "whole charismatic church" saying "Who do you think you are? Don't you know you're wrong? They're right - I'm saying what we've taught is wrong. The God we've presented is a monster." He was officially branded a heretic by the Joint College of African-American Pentecostal Bishops Congress in March of 2004.
Googling "Pearson +heretic" returns hundreds of pages, headed by a sober story from the Religion News Service ( www.beliefnet.com/story/143/story_14370_1.html is one place to read it) and including a surprising number of thoughtful, reasonable, and positive responses to Pearson and the "Gospel of inclusion." One thing I noticed was that most critics of Pearson's message immediately appeal to fear; that teaching universal salvation will lead to rampant immorality. It seems in the Pentecostal church community, there is much to be afraid of.
"That's how most of us got saved; we turned because the alternative was... scary!" says youth pastor Steve Palmer at Pearson's New Dimensions church. I heard this same message in my high school Fellowship of Christian Atheletes (FCA) group. God would torture people who were not practicing, born-again Christians when they died. In the NPR piece, one woman from Pearson's congregation talks about her neighbors' appeals to fear as they proselytize, and the surprise she feels at her own sense of compassion for them. Members of Higher Dimensions in Tulsa are often ostracized from the community, and in some cases from their own families.
"The threat of Judgement Day and a good fried chicken dinner; you will sure pack the church!" says Steve. Pentecostal churches in Tulsa may be filled, but Carlson Pearson says there is no way he would step back from the gospel of inclusion. For now, New Dimensions church moved in with WASP-y, 400-seat Trinity Episcopal Church in Tulsa... but will soon have to start looking for a bigger building.
"God is not angry with humanity! He sees us all through the blood! That is the gospel of Jesus Christ!" Pearson may have lost the hellfire, but he's kept the passion, verve, and imagery of Pentecostalism.
-h
Thanks to the CrossWalk blog - http://blog.crosswalkamerica.org - for pointing me to this story.
Heresy's Cost, Honesty's Peace posted by St. Peter's UCC at Tuesday, August 22, 2006
8 Comments:
Make sure you see Jody from yesterday's KC Star - visit www.kcspucc.org and click "news."
-howie
Ineresting that you blogged about Carlton. I posted about him today from a different perspective.
I somewhat see the issue of hell as irrelevant to the bigger issue of why Carlton felt the need to alienate his congregation in the guise of telling them the 'truth' because he "heard from God". Seems that love for his flock would have trumped his need to "tell the truth". Maybe his inability to reconcile his suppressed feelings about his grandparents had something to do with it.
Thanks for the link to your blog, Bob, I read your Carlton piece and will check out the MSNBC spots and other posts.
In the comment above, you claim to mind-read Carlton twice, which is absurd. You attribute to him the motivation to "alienate his congregation in the guise of telling them the 'truth'" - there's no way in hell:-) you could know that. What pastor would seek to alienate people, and then cast about for a means? Nothing in Carlton's story indicates this. He seems to have had an insight, and shared it in good faith. You try to rob the people of Pearson's church of free will, dignity, and responsibility by saying that he drove them away.
Your psycho-babble about grandparents is irrelevant.
The larger question about love and truth is interesting. I think you'd agree that they are not zero-sum; we can have both, and more of both is a good thing. You assume that in this case, Carlton's truth-telling was not loving; I disagree. I think he has done a radically loving thing, against incredible odds.
I appreciate our varied exchanges and participation in some of the same forums, Bob, and your own post on Carlton seems to have started a fine conversation, but this comment relies on our trusting you to magically know Carlton's inner thoughts. Nobody buys it. -howie
Wow, you got a lot out of my brief comment ... perhaps you are doing a bit of magical mind reading yourself :)
Let me know what you think once you have seen the videos.
No, Bob, it's very different. Your comment twice attributes shady motivations to Carlton Pearson's actions when you couldn't possibly have that information ("felt the need to alienate" / "suppressed feelings about his grandparents"). I called you out on it. I didn't second-guess your motivations. I didn't try to guess Carlton's; I'm only going on what he's said he's doing and why - I take him at his word. Don't conflate the approaches we've taken in these brief comments - they're distinct, and again no one is fooled.
I loved the MSNBC piece, thanks again for the links. My favorite part of the whole thing is that some fundamentalists/Pentecostals call Pearson "dangerous." Dangerous! They're so right; truly radical Christ-like love IS dangerous. With that kind of love, a person might do anything. Might share love with the unlovable; with enemies; might lay down their life for friends; for everyone.
These men (and they are all men, so far as I've seen) reveal themselves as primarily fearful and supremely interested in protecting the status quo (a system in which they happen to have done very well for themselves!).
When Carlton tells the story of his "thin place" - safe at home, watching TV news about suffering Muslims in Africa, asking how Love could hate them - discovering that Love can't - it's a challenge to us all.
I recant! I hold no malice towards Carlton and my statements were not made to judge him or his motives. Sorry my comments came across that way.
I was trying to address the notion that church splits are often caused by people changing doctrinal statements ... like hell/no hell ... midstream. I value unity and do not think that issues like hell have to be dealbreakers.
So, what do you think about it? What are your deal breakers? Have you ever left a church because of doctrinal changes? What do you think about protecting unity in a local body?
FYI, there's a great 5-minute video of Carlton Pearson on the CrossWalk America homepage (http://www.crosswalkamerica.org). Scroll to the bottom and you see it along with a video of James Forbes (Riverside Church, NYC). Pearson was one of two keynote speakers at CrossWalk America's end-of-walk celebration in Washington, DC, last weekend. He was fabulous!
Yeah, I saw that clip when it was noted on the CrossWalk blog.
Eric(Elnes?) - if so, Chris and Scott also showed us the rough one when CrossWalk was through KC in late June - it was the first I'd heard of Pearson, but I've been following him ever since. -h
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