John Galt Quits Church

John Galt is the male hero of Ayn Rand's epoch novel, Atlas Shrugged. Atlas was Rand's answer to Marxism and those who attempt to live off the industry of others. While I do not agree completely with Rand's Objectivist philosophy, I believe Atlas Shrugged is the most important work of fiction produced in the Twentieth Century. I recently paid my son to read it and I think it should be required reading for every teenager.

John Galt is a brilliant inventor, philosopher, and physicist. In the story, Marxist philosophy has begun to infiltrate every faction of American life. "From each according to his abilities, to each according to his need" has become the idealism driving government and industry. The lazy and incompetent people realize that they can have government confiscate the wealth and property of those who produce and redistribute it to them. The world becomes an insane collection of People's States where those who create, invent, produce, and work hard are vilified. The strong arm of government takes more and more from the producers and redistributes it to the "looters" and "moochers".

Finally, Galt and his friends decide to remove themselves from society and stop producing. They "go on strike" and quietly recruit every producer to join them. After a short time, there is nothing left to loot and society quickly degenerates to a mob mentality. Galt and his friends begin a new world in Galt's Gulch where truth, integrity, and a man's word are the only laws needed.

Several years ago, I left church, tired of the leadership taxing my talents, my time, and my life to further an agenda that did not reflect my beliefs or my life's purpose. Since then, I have become even more convinced that the church, especially the evangelical church, is some sort of alternative bizarro world where truth takes a backseat to dogma. The church leadership creates imaginary problems like eternity in hell or the idea that Satan is everywhere seeking to ruin your life. Then they offer a solution to these problems if you will only give up your talents, time, money, and dreams to them. This allows them to live out their life dream while depriving you of yours.

In the last eighteen months, my former denomination has had around five hundred credentialed ministers leave the church, almost all of them under the age of 35. Some are leaving for other denominations. Some are leaving for secular employment. But most of them have expressed deep frustration with denominational direction and leadership. Lay people are quitting church in unprecedented numbers. And evidence seems to show that most retain faith in Jesus while rejecting the leadership of the churches they attend. They are tired of the politics and the demands for sacrificial giving of time and money.

To them, I offer Jesus. I do not offer an organization. I do not offer manipulation or guilt. I do not demand tithes. I want nothing. I offer Jesus, crucified and raised from the dead to bring abundant life. I offer Jesus, who fulfilled the law so that we are free from it, all of it. I offer Jesus, who repudiated the religious elite so that we no longer have to obey them.

Each week, I speak to people who feel they must escape the evangelical church but feel guilt and shame about it. My role is to help restore the freedom and life that the church has robbed from them. If this is you, feel free to contact me and share your story. Join us here in Galt's Gulch, where self-appointed religious leaders have no power over you.

I intend to make this subject one of my main topics on this blog. Stay tuned for more.