As many of you know, beloved progressive Christian Rachel Held Evans passed away this morning at the age of 37, leaving behind her husband Dan and two small children. It didn’t take long for the Calvinistic website Pulpit & Pen to publish a nauseating screed titled “How Do we Respond to the Death of an Apostate? The Untimely passing of Rachel Held Evans“.
There was a time when I would have responded to that nasty little essay with a detailed refutation. But to what end? It is not worth your time to read. And we’re not going to convince a single person who already thinks this kind of response to a tragedy is a valid expression of Christian commitment.
These are master trolls who perversely think that the more people are disgusted with them, the more “faithful” they are: “You will be hated by everyone because of me” (Matthew 10:22). Don’t confirm their bizarre reading of the Bible. Don’t give them the attention they crave. Don’t feed their inverted search for validation through cruelty and alienation. Instead, remember that “Haters gonna hate” and then leave these sad people to their duly self-imposed exile from the humane public square.
And with that, we are free to lament the death and celebrate the life and legacy of Rachel Held Evans.
