Kylie Paz\/Unsplash<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\u00a0<\/p>\n
February 12, 2021<\/p>\n
Missions = Disgusting<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHow many souls of savages have you won today?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you love Jesus\u2026more than anything else\u2026you\u2019ll be more than willing to get your penis chopped off in the jungle so that others might know Christ\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMissions is not about the people that you\u2019re evangelizing\u2026it is about God\u2019s greater glory.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou should never let your concern for your own body come between you and someone coming to know Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t care how forceful you have to be\u2026the most important thing is that you do not leave without a profession of faith.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Growing up, I heard some of the most absurd phrases imaginable concerning missions.\u00a0When you don\u2019t know any better, they can be very motivating.\u00a0 I know. I lived it.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
We were always told that God was all that mattered\u2026which most of the time caused us to see the people in front of us as souls to conquer and not people to love.\u00a0 Such thinking can have incredibly disturbing consequences.\u00a0 The missions industrial complex (the innumerable organizations that raise untold amounts of money in the name of missions) exists based on a crusade\/exploitation mentality.\u00a0 The entire operation is based on the idea that our entire relationship with the other\/unsaved is entirely transactional.\u00a0 ie If you get saved then I will give you what you need\/want.\u00a0 Rest assured, there is nothing more important than a profession of faith and once that is achieved\u2026there is no further need to care for the individual.\u00a0 To be an effective missionary you must close your heart to the personhood of the other so that you might \u201csave\u201d them.\u00a0 Missions is about dividing and conquering\u2026not loving and uniting.\u00a0In various parts of the world, I\u2019ve seen it play out.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the midst of seminary, I took a trip to China with Campus Crusade for Christ.\u00a0 For decades, the organization has been smuggling people into universities there to proselytize young people.\u00a0 In every major metropolitan area, there are underground churches that entice young people with western culture and then try to push them to make a confession of faith.\u00a0 I saw impressionable young person after young person reject everything they had in order to get saved.\u00a0 The problem is that they didn\u2019t have anything to begin with.\u00a0In turn, these missionaries (who are often only there for a short period of time) become their only means of survival.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know that you would be wrong to call it a form of slavery. \u00a0Campus Crusade consistently bragged about how many people went to jail for their faith\u2026but I never heard them talk about how many people they got out.\u00a0 While I am no fan of the brutal regime in China, I am also no fan of taking a people who are already struggling and transferring them to hell for no reason.\u00a0 Missions is about increasing\/prolonging suffering not alleviating it.\u00a0 A few years ago, Campus Crusade for Christ shortened their name to just CRU\u2026to alleviate any perceived connections to the crusade.\u00a0 The problem is that they are still leading a crusade\u2026with very real victims.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Early this morning, I read an article about how missionaries are encouraging indigenous tribes to not take the vaccine in Brazil.\u00a0 Their reason\u2026one should trust in God and not vaccines. \u00a0Some of the most vulnerable people on earth are being brutalized because of \u201cmissions.\u201d\u00a0 This is not an isolated incident.\u00a0 Extreme and subtle acts of violence take place daily because the here and now is assumed to not matter.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I regret my participation in it all.\u00a0 God is so much bigger than all of that bullshit.\u00a0 The scriptures make it clear.\u00a0 Even the one that missionaries most love to cite\u2026<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Matthew 28:19-20<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGo\u00a0therefore and\u00a0make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,\u00a0teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am\u00a0with you always,\u00a0even\u00a0to the end of the age.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
The greatest\u00a0commandment is love\u2026ie teaching love.\u00a0 The missions industrial complex don\u2019t teach it like that though.\u00a0 For them\u2026it\u2019s spiritual manipulation.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Love is God.\u00a0Love is truth.\u00a0 Love is the only way.\u00a0 So go love somebody for no other reason but love\u2026and leave all of the disgusting missions behind.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The real reason for all that is will meet you there.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Amen.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 February 12, 2021 Missions = Disgusting \u00a0 \u201cHow many souls of savages have you won today?\u201d \u00a0 \u201cIf you love Jesus\u2026more than anything else\u2026you\u2019ll be more than willing to get your penis chopped off in the jungle so that others might know Christ\u2026\u201d \u00a0 \u201cMissions is not about the people that you\u2019re evangelizing\u2026it is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2509,"featured_media":8158,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,10],"tags":[5797,5800,5803,1390,1458,1810,5794,2301],"class_list":["post-8156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-freshwritings","category-thoughts","tag-brazil","tag-campus-crusade-for-christ","tag-cru","tag-god","tag-great-commission","tag-jesus","tag-missionary","tag-missions"],"yoast_head":"\n
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Dr. Jeff Hood is a Catholic priest (Old Catholic), theologian, and nationally recognized activist based in North Little Rock, Arkansas. A spiritual advisor to death row inmates across the country, Dr. Hood has accompanied more people to their executions than any other advisor in the U.S., including the first-ever nitrogen hypoxia execution in 2024. His work sits at the intersection of justice, radical compassion, and public theology. Dr. Hood holds advanced degrees from Auburn, Emory, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, University of Alabama, Creighton, and Brite Divinity School, among others. He also earned a PhD in metaphysical theology and founded The New Theology School, where he serves as Dean and Professor of Prophetic Theology. Author of over 100 books\u2014including the award-winning The Courage to Be Queer\u2014Dr. Hood\u2019s writings and activism have been featured in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, NPR, CNN, and more. 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