Anne Rice Hasn’t Betrayed You
— Friday, July 30th, 2010 —
Yesterday the Internet was abuzz with news that Anne Rice has renounced Christianity. The best-selling vampire novelist, who professed faith in Christ several years ago and has since written several books about Jesus and her conversion, publicly quit Christianity on her Facebook page. There’s a real opportunity here that hinges on how we respond to this, or, rather, how we respond to her.
Anne said that she was leaving Christianity because she just couldn’t be “anti-gay, anti-feminist” and so forth. The response was immediate, especially on Christian forums and comments on blogs and on various other forms of media.
Anne Rice is, at best, our sister-in-Christ who is going through a dark night of the soul. She is, at the very least, someone who has encountered something of the light of Christ, is drawn to it, and is now “kicking against the goads.” In either case, she is not our enemy.
Anne’s case is a little unique because she’s a national celebrity. She has a Facebook page that people pay attention to. But she’s really not all that different to the ex-prisoner, now following Christ, who told me not long ago that he’s contemplating giving it all up and going back to cocaine and prostitutes. Of course he is. We are walking through a time of temptation and wilderness, in which there’s a struggle in the air for every Christ-branded psyche.
But the church cannot see rejection of Christ as some kind of personal reproach or, worse yet, an ideological declaration of war. We have to love our prodigal sons and daughters so that if and when the dark night of the soul is over they have a place to come home to.
Anne says she still loves Jesus but she doesn’t love Christianity. Yes, I know that it is impossible to love Jesus without loving his church. I’ve preached that for years, and I still believe it. But can’t you see how someone could wrestle against that? I am thankful that I had been a Christian long enough to have gained some kind of maturity before I saw just how vicious “Christianity” can be.
I think it ought to instruct us here as to how Jesus handled situations like these. Jesus was fierce in his denunciation of those with power, including religious and ecclesial power. He never shied away from confronting personal sin in anyone, including the wounded and vulnerable, but he did in a completely different way. Think of the woman at the well, the woman caught in adultery, the demonized villagers, and on and on. Jesus never snuffs out that smoldering wick, never breaks that bruised reed. And it’s because he loves.
Yes, Anne Rice has renounced Christianity. Maybe it’s a permanent move away from the gospel, showing that she never quite made it all the way into communion with Christ. If so, let’s represent Christ and continue to point her to the Jesus she finds in some way mystifying. It could be that Anne is a Christian who is having a wave of doubt and rejection. So did the Apostle Peter, who also renounced Christianity and, as a matter of fact, cursed Jesus personally in the process. But when Jesus finds Peter in Galilee (right back on the fishing boats where he’d been called from in the first place!), he never even mentions the incident at the fireside.
A lot of us (and I include myself in this) are a lot like James and John in the Christ-rejecting village. We want to call down fire from heaven on the opponents of Christianity (Lk. 9:51-54). That seems so prophetic and Christian and it also happens to confirm us to be right. Jesus’ response to this zeal ought to stop us in our tracks: “Jesus turned and rebuked them. And they went on to another village” (Lk. 9:56).
Anne Rice hasn’t rejected you. Anne Rice hasn’t betrayed you. Would you pray for her, and for the other smoldering wicks and about-to-bolt potential prodigals in your church (and maybe in your home)? It could be Anne has been deeply hurt by what she has seen in Christianity. Or it could be that, like Jesus’ disciples, the closer she’s drawing to Christ, the more she is made uncomfortable by it. Let’s love her.
Jesus’ disciples, and Peter again, after all, were ready, it seems, to “quit Christianity” when on the Galilean lakeshore after he said some disturbing things. Jesus asked Peter, “Will you also go away?” But, at the end of it all, Peter had to confess, “To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (Jn. 6:66-67).
Maybe Anne Rice will conclude the same thing. In the meantime, let’s not demonize the prodigal daughter. Let’s give her room to come home, if and when she wants. Let’s not verify her experience of angry, raging Christians.
Maybe it will take a vampire novelist to teach us that Light stings sometimes, when you’re coming out of darkness.
64 Responses to “Anne Rice Hasn’t Betrayed You”
Trackbacks
- Wise Words Re: Anne Rice’s Renunciation of Christianity | Underground Awakening
- So Anne Rice Has Quit Christianity . . . « Gripped By The Gospel
- Will Anne Rice be saved? « Divorcing Christ 2
- Giving Jesus a Bad Name « Boundless Treasures
- Voice of Truth » Bucket Drops 7/30/10
- Anne Rice quits "Christianity"...again
- Anne Rice Leaves Christianity « Ramblings from Red Rose
- Anne Rice and Christians-Anonymous « Teh = the
- Quelques commentaires sur cette semaine… « Blogue de Benoit Guillot
- Mes commentaires de la semaine… « Blogue de Benoit Guillot
- Take Your Pick 8/1/10 | A Watchman for the Morning
- Voice of Truth » When the liberal/social “gospel” intersects the One True Gospel
- Wednesday Link List « Thinking Out Loud
- On Anne Rice « Leaving Salem
- My Heart is Breaking – A Response for Anne Rice « Notes from a Small Place
- Weekly Links (8/6/2010) « The Beacon
- Weekly Hit List #27 « :: VFAM.ORG ::
- honey&salt » Archive » first reactions
Thank you, Dr. Moore. Anne Rice is indeed not our enemy, Satan is. We need to stop shooting our wounded and take aim at the real Enemy.
@Richard Carwile, dear Richard, AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Someone makes a profession of faith and later they renounce that faith. That sort of thing happens all the time, just most of the time they’re not well known authors. Jesus told us it would happen in the parable of the sower. The book of Hebrews chapter 6 tells us about it. Not everyone who says “Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, right?
@Joe Blackmon, She didn’t renounce her/the faith. She’s giving up on the man-made institution that often forgets the basis for it’s people’s faith. What I find sad is how quickly so many of her brothers and sisters conjured up another typical knee-jerk reaction to what they saw as a potential problem (heretic? but if we’re honest, who isn’t . . . ) instead of carefully reading and trying to understand her position in love.
*Sigh* same old, same old.
Dr. Moore,
Thanks again for helping us interpret current events in a way that is biblical and reflects the heart of the Savior. I read this news last night and my thoughts were much more like James and John than Jesus. I had little of the compassion you write about here. I thank God for opening my eyes this morning to my own assumptions and unawareness of the mercy I’ve received.
Appreciate your life and ministry.
Dr. Moore:
It seems like the crux of what you’re saying is that maybe Anne Rice is a christian, and maybe she’s not.
If she is a christian that strays, then isn’t she to be disciplined by the church with a view to her restoration? And if she doesn’t repent isn’t she then to be excommunicated (and viewed as an object of evangelization) ? And if she really isn’t a christian, then shouldn’t she be viewed as an object of evangelization? It would seem to me that this precludes the option of considering her a personal enemy (although she seems to be characterizing herself as an enemy of the cross). The preceeding questions don’t seem to me to be the equivalent of “calling down fire from heaven” and they seem to be pertinent to the information that we have regarding where Anne Rice currently stands.
Please forgive me if I’m missing the thrust of your argument.
Thank you,
Rick Mang
@Rick Mang,
I agree with you that all the above steps are Biblical responses and that they are not calling down fire from heaven. I think Dr Moore was referring to the unbiblical responses by others that would be more akin to it.
Dr. Moore,
Thank you for your continued voice as you look at things from a godly perspective. She certainly isn’t our enemy and she needs us more now than ever before.
Like Bob Kauflin, my initial reactions do not hold the wisdom and love that yours seem too. I am thankful for your ministry.
Matt Svoboda
Dr. Moore,
I have to say while I can’t affirm Anne’s decision I have long felt burdened for the “Christianity” we offer the world. We as evangelicals are often times down right goofy in how we live out our Christian lives. I fear we are not making Christ look good to this desperate world.
Sounds like Anne Rice has made a statement for a Christianity that centers ON Christ,
not on politics, or culture wars, or the self-righteous judgmental treatment of people that are different from ‘our kind’.
She’s rejecting only those things that she feels are not ‘of Christ’.
She is Christ-centered still, and looking for something in ‘Christian’ people other than bigotry and smug self-righteousness, and rejection of ‘that other sinner’ because these ‘Christians’ ‘thank God that they are not like him’.
Anne Rice is calling the hypocrites out. She is calling out the people who have used the word ‘Christian’ falsely, to breed division and hatred and mean-spiritedness.
And she is someone that people will pay attention to, so maybe she is doing some good. Particularly, when so many are using the term “Christian’ to further political agendas that are far from Christ and His Ways. Not all who say ‘Lord, Lord’, follow His Ways, do they? I think Anne asks us to see through them, for what they are, and I think she is separating herself from THEM, not from Him. Big difference, there.
@Christiane, Dr. Moore quoted Anne Rice as speaking out against “anti-homosexual, anti-feminist” Christians. The Bible clearly condemns homosexuality in such places as Romans 1 and 1 Timothy 1. And as for modern feminism, it directly assaults God’s order for the home right from Creation. So by standing against those two Biblical ideas (at least), she stands against Christ, as well.
While God can and very well probably will bring good from this, I cannot help but realize that her denunciation of Christianity will make many people say, “See? Conversion isn’t permanent. Salvation isn’t really eternal.” And what a great slander to the Lord that is!
Yes, Anne Rice should be loved … and Christians should always “speak the truth in love” as is written in Eph 4:15 … but Anne Rice’s actions in denouncing Christianity must certainly not be condoned.
@Christiane, Very well said. If more people were Christ centered in their ‘Christianity’, Anne, and the millions of others who have and are leaving the ‘American Religion’, wouldn’t need to leave.
I wish people would read and investigate for themselves what Anne said, and is standing for, instead of following what others assume and say of her. Which is a huge issue here with American Christianity.
Remember when Bob Dylan was also a Christian for a time. It must be very difficult to become a Christian as a public personality, and also in a culture where even the Christians live in a culture of celebrity worship. We must be careful not to put believers up on pedestals and subject them to false worship.
It sounds more like she has had it with Christians not Christ. See her comments on her website http://www.annerice.com/. I can definitely understand if that is the case. The church, especially in America, is sick and many times it’s difficult to find a group of believers to worship and fellowship with. Of course there may be more to it than that but I agree, we should pray for her.
Dear Dr. Moore,
I just finished reading Prodigal God by Timothy Keller. Its not the prodigals we need to worry about in the church. Its the elder brothers that have the unloving attitudes that can be just as wrong and just as sinful. Thank you for your article. It made a lot of sense!
Dr. Moore,
I have not read any of the apparently unloving posts regarding Mrs. Rice. I would share, always, a disdain for those who choose to react contrary to our call to love the wandering and the lost.
However, I’m confused by the inferences to a future coming home of anyone whose faith has never been articulated in a gospel sense. Anne’s own “return” to faith some 10 years ago was only a return to the apostasy of the Catholic church - and that, at the same time, accompanied by a public renunciation of clear tenants of the true gospel.
I pray for the gospel of grace to find Anne in this wilderness of her own making - but I do not pray she “comes home” to a faith that cannot grant her life and hope.
We should not, I think, as evangelicals blur the lines of distinction between a genuine faith that saves and all other “faiths” that damn. Especially when the person in view is of so high a profile.
Love - yes! But also a clarity of love that does not rejoice in unrighteousness.
Grace.
Dr. Moore,
Great, great piece: balanced, pastoral, irenic, careful, and wise. Sincerely, thanks.
Wyman Richardson
If you read her actual post, it sounds like she simply cannot stand the judgmental attitudes that are prevalent in many churches. I hope that she (and others like her) finds a person who can help her see a more loving version of Christianity that is more in line with the attitude of Christ. He never waged a hate campaign against sinners; he came to redeem them.
It serves as a reminder to me that our churches need to keep their attitudes in check. We believers have been saved by grace and need to view unbelievers as a vision of what we ourselves could become if not rescued by Jesus and as fellow humans that we should treat with agape love. In that respect, I see the point she is trying to make.
What about Anne Rice’s claims that Christianity is “anti-gay,” “anti-feminist,” “anti-science” and “anti-Democrat.”? She isn’t the only one that feels this way; you didn’t even begin to address this. This isn’t a matter of an individual being led astray. She and many others have real issues of conscience when it comes to these issues.
Perhaps this is another illustration of why Paul admonishes young Christians not to be teachers but learners. He said of pastoral candidates, “not a novice” partly so others are not hurt through their early pilgrimage toward divine viewpoints. I am glad I didn’t have the Internet to share all the folly of my early thinking as God took down the imaginations and high things I thought were truth.
I know alot of people who have been hurt or disappointed by the church and Christian people, including myself. But I am not disappointed or anry with God. He is faithful! He is real !And He grows me up in Christ more and more as these kinds of things happening in the world. I am looking for His coming as I see the days becoming more and more as His Word says, ‘they will go from bad to worse’, But the faithful servant will be rewarded!!!!!!!!!!!
A very charitable article . We should keep her in our prayers. God bless you
Russ
Dr, Moore…..this is an inspiring article. I would not take as mild a view however. Yes, Jesus did rebuke the disciples for wanting to call on fire and brimstone to rain down upon the sinners, however, he also made statements about those who would not accept the word.
Firstly, I understand that it is God who will judge, it is not any person’s place to judge. However, Jesus made it clear that they still will be judged!
He told the disciples to wipe the dust from their feet in towns that would reject the word. (It would be more tolerable for Soddom than in these towns etc.)
He also said that when a soul is swept clean and that soul returns to thier state of sin that the devil would return with worse spirits and their situation would be worse than before.
Yes , we will continue to pray for Anne. It was certain, because she never really embraced the whole teaching of the Church, that she would experience profound conversion or leave altogether. Surely she has done much to harm the faith of many that are weak in spirit and prayer and faith in the gospel.
The difficult part of the preaching of Christ, ie. the narrow door and difficult path to heaven, the wide and easy road to hell… cannot be kept under wraps. If the Word of warning about hell is what brings someone to the faith, better that than losing one’s soul.
Look at the example of atheist Peter Hitchens who converted simplly from looking upon the painting ‘The last judgement’ and the fear of that fate.
Dr. Moore,
I am very curious if she were a member of a Church and you had taken a few months to go through Matt.18–to no avail, should the Church vote to remove her from the fellowship?
Look forward to your reply,
Alpheus
Dr. Moore said: “So did the Apostle Peter, who also renounced Christianity and, as a matter of fact, cursed Jesus personally in the process. But when Jesus finds Peter in Galilee (right back on the fishing boats where he’d been called from in the first place!), he never even mentions the incident at the fireside.”
Although Scripture does not record that Jesus specifically mentioned Peter’s threefold denial, Jesus’ threefold questioning of Peter’s love to reinstate Peter as an apostle would no doubt have spoken very clearly to Peter regarding his denial. So, in effect Jesus does more than just mention the denial, he shames Peter and requires his threefold affirmation.
@Eric,
The conclusion that Jesus is shaming Peter does not follow from his threefold questioning.
Dear Dr Moore
I would like to thank you for such a really kind spirited
response to her situation, i hope she will come back to the church
soon but sometimes the hurt runs deep and i know people who walked away over 30 years ago and could never go back.
we simply can not say how long she will be gone for but we can
pray for her.
While I completely agree with ypur sentiments on Anne Rice and the churches response, I do think that you’ve used the term “Dark night of the Soul” completely out of context. The dark night is something that occur in deeply mature Christians when they have a strong relationship with God and are united in deep contemplative prayer and suddenly experience an absence of sensing God in their lives. However they still have all the virtues of peace, joy and a deep faith. Their prayertime however is dry.
That is not what Anne Rice is experiencing. She is simply young in faith and still lacking in coorperation with the gifts of the spirit. She certainly is like many if us were when we first began the journey and in need of prayer.
I simply felt the need to make the correction because too often I find Christians chock up frustrations in their walk to the dark night when in fact it’s a lack of devotion that is causing the issue.
http://www.hutchcraft.com/a-word-with-you/your-most-important-relationship/the-ultimate-battlefield-tragedy-6078
The Ultimate Battlefield Tragedy - #6078
Share A Word With You - Your Most Important Relationship
Every time a soldier dies in battle, it’s a tragedy. It doesn’t matter how just or unjust we might think the war is or which side he’s on. It’s still a tragedy. But if there are degrees of tragic, then there’s one kind of battlefield death that seems the most heartbreaking of all. They call it “friendly fire” - when you accidentally shoot or bomb your own fellow soldiers. In the Civil War, General Stonewall Jackson was killed accidentally by his own men - “friendly fire.” In Vietnam, in Iraq, probably in every modern war, it has always been an awful tragedy when one of your own is brought down by a weapon you fired.
I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “The Ultimate Battlefield Tragedy.”
God is a Father who has had all too many of His children brought down by “friendly fire,” and you know He’s got to grieve over it. In churches, in ministries, in families, in youth groups, in relationships there are way too many bullets fired at one of our own instead of at the real enemy from hell who seeks to destroy us. Would you open your heart to this possibility? Could it be that you have been taking shots at a fellow soldier in God’s army; a brother or sister in Christ? Someone Jesus gave His life to save.
It happened to two women who had served on the spiritual front lines with the Apostle Paul. They had the unusual names of Euodia and Syntyche. Don’t blame me. Blame their parents. I remember one Bible teacher who used to refer to them as Euodious and Stinky. But I don’t think that’s really in the original Greek. We won’t go there. But let’s go to our word for today from the Word of God in Philippians 4:2-3 . Paul says, “I plead with Euodia and Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you, loyal yokefellow, help these women who have contended at my side in the cause of the Gospel…whose names are in the Book of Life.”
The great apostle is almost on his knees begging here for these two women, who used to fight together for the lives of lost people, to stop fighting with each other. Somewhere along the way, something came up that made these two warriors take their eye off the ball. And they started shooting at each other, acting as if she’s the enemy instead of the prince of darkness. Satan loves nothing more than to see Christians doing his work for him…wounding a child of God, discouraging a child of God, damaging the reputation of another child of God, distracting and derailing someone who could be making a difference in the battle.
In combat, a soldier is crushed when he realizes that he’s wounded one of his own. But often among believers, we feel like we’ve done a good thing by bringing down that brother or sister, a righteous thing - they deserve it, after all. But none of us has the right to shoot at someone who has been purchased with the same blood of Christ that we have. Believers shooting at each other - few things are more damaging to the cause of Christ, more discouraging to our young people, more disillusioning to unbelievers, and more heartbreaking to Jesus.
Hudson Taylor’s successor in the leadership of China Inland Mission knew how mission critical it is to fight the right battle and the right enemy. He said, “I will not send a person to the mission field unless he has learned to wrestle with the evil one. If he has not learned to wrestle with the evil one, he will wrestle with his fellow missionaries.”
Your brother, your sister - they’re not the real enemy. And wrestling with them isn’t the real battle. Don’t waste any more bullets on one of your own. In the army of God, “friendly fire” is not only the ultimate tragedy, it’s an enemy victory.
Wow, a lot of buzz on this one. Sounds like a Tiger event all over again.
But I like the title of this post… because many of the reactions seem like “personal” responses.
-Marshall Jones Jr.
Thoughtful response. I agree with many who have posted, however, that Anne’s declaration has stemmed from her frustration with the used-to-be-fringe wackos who proclaim themselves as Christian ambassadors, yet seem to lack any real basic understanding of Jesus’s core teachings. The used-to-be-fringe is becoming the mainstream- at least in terms of press, and she no longer has the stomach for being associated with it. If you read her post, she is by no means renouncing her faith in Christ.
I can understand the hoopla, but I fear that most responses (including this one) seem to be missing the point- there are many who feel similarly to Anne Rice, and her statement serves as a warning call for all believers to examine more closely. There’s a rapidly growing number of Christ-followers who will continue to distance themselves from the mainstream Christian faith that they believe has been aggressively hijacked in the course of the last 10 years. Prodical? Not quite. Humility rather than righteousness will better serve the church at this point in history.
Amen. Amen! AMEN!!
Russell:
A most amazing letter to Ann Rice was featured at:
http://karenzach.com/2010/a-letter-to-anne-rice/
Thanks,
Dave Lindsay
This post seems to imply that the only wrong being done here is by Anne Rice. I would love for these stories to be reflection times for the Church. Is it possible that the Church doesn’t quite have it right? Are there areas the Church could improve on? Instead of immediately jumping to being concerned about her salvation and debating whether she still loves Jesus, could we listen to her? Could we hear her concerns with the Church? Are we willing to listen to why she wants nothing to do with Christianity anymore? Maybe she’s not the one that’s messed up and going off the “correct” path, maybe the Church is. Are we willing to consider that?
Dr. Moore, thank you for your commitment to grace and truth with humility. I deeply appreciate how your language is so infused with the love that Jesus Christ consistently demonstrated.
Beyond the debate there still remains the fact that there is an institution, a collection of separate body pieces that clearly are ordained to carry on the work of Christ. Being separate from or called away by what ever aggregate of reasons does not change this fact. The Church is or is not what it is supposed to be. I may not like my work-place sometimes, but if I care to make it what it should be then I will have to stay and see it through the needed change- based on God’s inspiration and Holy Spirit leading. I have faith that nothing is impossible with Him.
@Doug,
“Beyond the debate there still remains the fact that there is an institution, a collection of separate body pieces that clearly are ordained to carry on the work of Christ.”
That assumes that the church is an institution. The church may have chosen to gather in an institutional form but that is not what the church is and rejecting the institution doesn’t mean rejecting the church. I am not defending Ms. Rice but in many ways the institutional form of the church has been a far greater impediment to the Gospel witness than atheism or Islam.
All that matters is that she hasn’t left Christ…salvation is based on receiving Him…not the Christian community.
The problem is that many don’t understand that in the local churches and different denominations there are people that are of God and those that are not so you have tares among the wheat and that’s where most of the infighting comes from.
The true church is the new Jerusalem above…the olive tree in which we abide by faith. Not everyone proclaiming to be of Christ abides in the olive tree. As long as she continues to believe…she abides and is a member of the true church….perhaps just not a member of the Christian community.
Who really knows the state of her soul . Remember also she returned to her Catholic roots . So to be a Devil’s advocate , what view did she hold as to what constitutes salvation anyway. Is it the ritualism and doctrines of Rome or the reformation cry of grace alone,faith alone and in Christ alone. Plus perhaps she wants a cheery picked Jesus . The ones who like Jesus here but not there . Plus that Paul has to go because he teaches things against my love” Jesus “. Just saying that we need to examine all she has said . Yes the Church is not perfect , tell me where you will find one and I will go . Oops , guess what ,when I walk through the doors , its not longer . Got that from from Spurgeon.
Our attitude towards her should be one of prayer and witness . If she has truly believed , God will bring her home . It will be interesting to see what she writes further about her Jesus . Once we have some clear details of what she actually believes , one can have a clearer dialogue with her . The one question I would like to ask is what ,is her view of the scripture?
Anne Rice left Christianity because she is looking for the Kingdom…religion cannot replace life inside the King’s domain.
I agree with the general sentiment of the article–Christians should reach out to Anne Rice in love, not condemnation. We can neither know what she actually believes nor what has taken place in her heart. However, I am now wondering if Dr. Moore believes the Catholic gospel is a saving gospel? If yes, was there a need for the Reformation? Does doctrine matter or not?
I believe we will find Catholic believers in heaven, but I don’t believe they will make their way there via the Catholic gospel. They will be saved by grace alone, through faith alone.
Amen and Amen. Very good. We all fight the same feelings, thoughts and agonizing decisions as Anne.
May God grant us the power, strength and wisdom to walk the narrow path.
Kristina
You missed the point completely. She never was a Christian, you cannot quit something you are not. Her former committment and then break, and then on again committment and now second break from infused justification has never made her a Christian. I agree she needs to be pointed to the true Christ of the Scripture and not a psuedo Christ of her former Catholocism.
@Gregg Metcalf,
I agree with you. It is unlikely Anne Rice was ever truly a Christian. Her Catholicism makes that unlikely.
We do need to pray that she is touched by the true Gospel and comes to faith.
-st
From what I’ve read, I don’t really see that Anne Rice has left Christianity at all … she appears to just have opted out of the organized religion part of it as she’s struggling with some very real questions about the practical application of her faith in Jesus. Just my two bits, for what it’s worth (probably not much). lol
What interests me in Anne Rice’s declaration that she is leaving Christianity because she can’t be “anti-gay” and “anti-feminist” is that she is doing so at a time when there are a lot churches who agree with her on those issues. So for her to leave “Christianity” instead of some particular benighted church implies that she has studied Scripture and the issues herself and concluded that conservative teachings on this issue lie at the heart of Christianity and Christianity can’t be separated from them.
At least we should congratulate Anne Rice for her perspicacity.