Why is that sky evangelist doing what she's doing?

Hello, reader:

I went down another rabbit hole this week, this time on TikTok evangelist Whitney Lynn who got kicked off of an Alaska Airlines flight for proselytizing to passengers and crew on July 30th.

During multiple videos she took of herself (first while proclaiming “the message of Jesus Christ” during a flight delay on the tarmac and then while being escorted off the plane by a flight attendant), the influencer for Jesus reminded folks of the fiery inferno that inevitably awaited them were they not to heed her words.

The expulsion resulted in a travel ban — not only from the flight but from all Alaska, Horizon, and Hawaiian flights — which she then labeled as religious persecution. She’d been treated as a “criminal, a threat, a terrorist,” all because of her religion, because “there is no freedom of speech for Christians.”1

Hers is a rabbit hole I later wished I’d not spent the better part of an hour wandering down, even as I found myself caught up in semantics that spout and shout and rally for a religion that is, in theory, so close to my own, that is also, I suppose if you’re really going to get down to it, the one I do call my own.

But is it really the same?

Is it really, actually the same if I agree that her freedom of speech, which is also then to say, her freedom of religion, shouldn’t make others feel uncomfortable and unsafe and alienated — that if she has the freedom to say what she wants to say in a public arena, then Alaska Airlines also has the freedom to express its fundamental freedoms, as found in the First Amendment, and not subject its passengers to a speech or to a religion that makes them feel uncomfortable and is the very definition of disruptive behavior?

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Why then is Lynn doing what she’s doing, not only as a “sky evangelist,” but also as a self-proclaimed post office evangelist, a police officer evangelist, and a beach evangelist too?

I mean, when she helpfully posts links to her Etsy shop, her ministry website, her PayPal, her Cash App, her Venmo, and her Zelle too, well, then, she might be doing what she’s doing to make money and gain followers.

But if we’re to peel back the layers of the trinitarian onion, there’s another truth that exists: if you believe in a theology of eternal torment, which she most certainly does, then you also believe that God’s action of sending Jesus to Earth to be the kindest and most loving action a God could have done. As it goes, sharing this love with other people and saving their inherently wretched souls is then the kindest and most loving action a believer can do in return.2

When hell is the motivator — because the concept of hell is most certainly her motivator when she spouts Romans 6:23 like she’s Paul reincarnated, her salvation made complete by the security of the golden ticket she dreams of waving before the pearly gates — then she’s going to do everything she can to share the supposed golden ticket with everyone around her.

Because this is the version of Christianity she believes in, this is the version of Christianity that’s going to make her stand in the middle of an airplane aisle (a post office line, a Walmart parking lot, and a public beach too) and raise her voice.

After all, it’s the one she believes is going to keep people, including herself, out of hell. But it’s also the one that keeps her bank account afloat.

So, maybe not?

c.

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One more little thought:

One book I’m reading: I am loving the novel I See You’ve Called in Dead by John Kenney. It’s witty and funny and dark at times too, because there’s death (lots and lots of death) even if it’s not the death you think it’s going to be — but also, maybe this thing called death is exactly what we’re supposed to be talking about more anyway? Also, 100 percent not referring to the aforementioned thoughts on the concept of H-E-double-hockey-sticks.

One tiny garden musing: Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes! I’ve canned a good handful of sauce (using a recipe I affectionately call “five-pound tomato sauce” from The New York Times). Crushed tomatoes are going on the stove later tonight, to then freeze in one-cup batches, and I'm hopeful for some fresh salsa later this week. Have a favorite tomato recipe to share?