Jesus had some harsh words for the spiritual leaders of his time. He called them snakes and vipers. It's interesting to note that though he interacts with disobedient Jews and unbelieving Gentiles, he never calls them names. Rather, he seems to save such choice words for the Jewish leaders of Israel -- the Pharisees, Sadducees and Scribes.
So why is it today that Christians feel justified calling Muslims and atheists, among others, all sorts of names? What got lost in the translation there?
We have it so backwards. I feel like Christian culture is so backwards from what Jesus wanted, and lived.
ReplyDeleteJesus cared for those who were marginalized, unloved and who were looked at as distasteful by others. I don't understand how people who call themselves christians can read the Bible and not get that we are supposed to be caring for those who have little. The widows and the orphans.. the blind and the sick.
It wasn't just Jesus. God stood up for the underdog the whole way through the Old Testament. Sarah was barren (and therefore "worthless") but God used her to be the mother of a nation. Jacob was the younger brother and Esau should have been the one to carry on the line, but God gave the honor to Jacob. David was the youngest of his brothers but was chosen to be king. And there are several passages about caring for the poor, the widows and orphans, the alien, etc.
ReplyDeleteThis has all been rolling around in my head in the context of justice, which I'm hoping to prat on about soon. ;-) (prat -- the dictionary just told me that's a noun, but i'm going to leave it as a verb because... well, hey. it's the american thing to do to verbize things, right?)
i think your questions is reflective of the masses rather then indicative of a specific sub-group (aka. Christians). It has become common place in American culture to criticize both in jest and for power people in our society.
ReplyDeleteSo I guess the argument could be made that Christians are becoming of the world (which the Bible warns against) instead of adhering to the code of ethics (I'm sure there is a better word) put forth by God.
hmmm. nope. i'm not talking about the masses so much as the christians i relate to month to month.
ReplyDeletethey're getting better about it, and the worst of the pack left the church in a huff because our worship wasn't something-or-other enough for them, but if you were to have a pierced, tattooed, living-with-her-boyfriend gal walk into church because she'd decided that she wanted to find out what this God stuff was all about, and you had another person enter the church who happened to be a big wig in the denomination, or who had written several books on christianity or what have you, but he didn't give a rat's hind end for the poor and needy, i think many of the christians i know would entertain the dude and think quite highly of him while judging the gal (whether they say it out loud or not).
that said, i really need to say that this is something our congregation has had to work through and one thing i love about them is that they're willing to approach and accept anyone that walks in our doors, no matter who they are and how they look. i really appreciate that about them.
it's a struggle for them, it really is. i don't think they've always been this way. from what i've heard, (from people within the congregation as well as from my sister who visited about 15 years ago), the church used to be a much more judgemental place. but they've been working on it, both because they've rather been forced to as well as because they recognize it's biblical, even if it's hard to do.