What if “take every thought captive” doesn’t mean repressing sexual attraction or refraining from saying the word “fuck.” What if it means examining your deeply ingrained racial prejudices, questioning harmful traditions, and confronting your nationalistic idol worship?

What if “do not conform to the pattern of this world” doesn’t mean forfeiting marijuana or Harry Potter.

What if it means rejecting the systemic oppression towards image-bearers that we observe in our earthly institutional structures — including in our churches and government?

What if “denying yourself” doesn’t mean sacrificing your mental health to attend church, rejecting your sexuality, or forcing yourself to engage with abusive Christians.

What if it means daily forsaking your privilege and power for the sake of the socially voiceless outcasts?

What if scripture’s calls to “beware of false prophets” had nothing to do with universalists or feminists, but instead had to do with people who depicted God as a violent abuser to control the masses and refused to use their megachurch’s lavish income to house the homeless?

What if “come, let us reason together” was meant to be used more than just when debating the world’s origins or whether Jonah was in a fish’s belly. What if we should be discussing the idea that: Maybe, some major things our forefathers taught us were wrong? Destructive, even?

What if “our battle is not against flesh & blood, but against principalities and powers” doesn’t mean evil is some abstract boogie man. What if it means that our fight isn’t against 45, but against the demonic white supremacist, militaristic, capitalist systems that reared him?

What if “faith without works is dead” doesn’t mean your faith is void if you don’t engage in daily apathetic individualistic ritualism with your KJV Bible. What if it means you can’t follow Jesus and discriminate against LGBT+ people or hoard money while your community suffers?

What if “let there be no division among you” didn’t mean covering up sex abuse scandals and withholding justice, but eradicating the deeply authoritarian and DIVISIVE patriarchal systems that foster conditions which are ripe for abuse and built to protect abusers?