So here’s the basic assumption that I can see from the people outside of Christianity looking in: Christians are bigots. If that is your assumption, you’re right. People claiming to follow Jesus boycott, picket, protest, hate, fight, attack unbelievers and believers that they disagree with. I have news for you, and you may need to read the next sentence twice. Jesus never condemned nonbelievers. He had lots of contact with nonbelievers, but never did he outright condemn them. The only people that Jesus really condemned were the fools that should have known better; believers and rabbinical scholars.
Jesus made the religious look like they had drool running from their mouths. He accused them of perverting the word of God. And in all of these things, he was right and the only one who could do it and be right. Of course we are our brother’s keeper, and we have to help our fellow believers where they are weak, but the difference is that we have to do that in quiet desperate love for our neighbor. Jesus had a righteous anger towards the religious, but being perfect, he was the only one who could do it without slipping into sin. For example, have you ever been angry for the right reasons? Say someone was hurting a child, or a case of spousal abuse. As humans, I would say that while our anger is right in that situation, we have to really check ourselves. We are unequaled in our ability to slip from anger to hate. Jesus had a great deal more than we have, so the chance that anger led to hate is nonexistent.
Let’s move on to today. We see shootings, death, war, hate, all day everyday. To me, the most heartbreaking is the response of the influential “Christians.” They say that natural disasters and death are God’s judgement. My own grandmother believes that to be true. The death of children is God’s plan? God’s plan was never death. One of the people I look up to the most told me once,”Christians are the only group to shoot their wounded.” That can be applied broadly to say that many Christians are only out to attack. Natural disasters destroys lives, and some Christians take that as an opportunity to kick people when they’re down. Matthew 22:37-40 says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Do you see anything there that says anything about boycotting, killing, hating, condemning?
How do you deal with someone who doesn’t believe the same thing you do? Love them. What should we do when nature brings ruin to a neighbor? Help them. In response to the recent shooting in Las Vegas, my heart goes to all who were impacted by the horror that occurred. Same goes for the victims of the recent hurricanes. On a complete side note: a real leader would be hugging and holding victims, not handing out supplies like he was shooting three-pointers into the crowd. Don’t hide your heart because the world is uncaring. Instead love others in spite of it. Don’t follow the crowd and cast your lot to destroy believers and unbelievers. Instead place yourself in the middle and be the embodiment of peace. Stand your ground and be bold, if you want to be a Christian.
Guerilla Theologian 