There is a nauseating
self-righteousness in our midst as Christians, partly implanted by
various cultural influences. The idea of “false compassion” teachings
and a lack of compassion is the issue I shall address today.
Unfortunately, as we have seen over time,
Biblical teachings have been tweaked according to one's
ideology, philosophy and cultural trends. There is a chilling
theology around, which condemns everyone but himself or herself. We
of course know of the Westboro Baptist church, and their stand on
gays and lesbians and on other people such as Muslims. Unfortunately, they are not the only ones. I am
encountering more and more narrow minded and self-righteous
theologies. A couple of people, one on face book and another in
person claimed that the Boston bombing and the Tornado damage in
Moore were the wrath of God, for a people who were unbelievers.
“They got to get right with God” WOE!!! Some even claim that
helping them is false compassion. My heart aches when I hear
this and I want to weep.
When reading signs like: “God hates
fags” or “God hates Muslims” as well as other similar
statements major questions come into focus: “How do you know?”
and more importantly, “Have you talked to God lately?” If you
had, you would not stand there with those signs of hate. God is love. We use pieces of scripture, known as scripture twisting,
to declare the mind of God so we can justify our false righteousness.
Anything taken out of context can be used to support wrongful ideas.
Unfortunately, such righteousness ends up like the webpage of
Westboro full of hate videos and hate slogans.
Where is there the Compassion Christ
taught us? Never ever, did Christ walk into places and condemn
sinners. The problem he had was with the self-righteous people and
beaurocrats. He did not even condemn the demoniac! (Mark 5:1-16). He
freed him and loved him. He ate with sinners and taught them about
the kingdom. They were free to accept or reject his teachings. He
loved them anyway (Mt 9:9-11).
The young rich man who came to him
to find out what he needed to do to enter heaven, walked away when
told to sell everything. Yet, Jesus never said, “See what a Jerk?”
No, with a sadness he told his disciples: “Truly I tell you, it
will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mt
19:16-24). When the Canaanite woman came to ask for help for her
daughter, tormented by a demon, Jesus did not respond immediately.
She unto him said, “Even dogs get scraps from their master's
tables,” and Jesus changed his mind and attended to her (Mt 15:
21-28). Before they led him away for his trial Jesus healed the ear of
the centurion that one of his followers cut off (some say it was
Peter, but scripture does not say that). He healed his enemy! (22:
50-51). When people crucified Jesus, he said, “Forgive them Father,
for they do not know what they are doing” (Lk 23:34). Jesus was the
embodiment of compassion, how can we be otherwise if we are truly
Christ’s disciples?1
If we are, how can we use God and hate
in the same sentence? When humans use
God and hate in the same sentence that has brought about quite a few
religious wars. History is full of them. I encourage you to do your
own research on that. Can a religious war really be a so-called Holy
war? How can there be such a thing when no one or maybe only a few on
this earth even know exactly what defines Holy, or what God envisions
for us? Those few who might know I truly believe would never engage
in a war or hate slogans because hate and love cannot exist together.
Meditation:
Envision all people as flowers and
all churches as gardens in God's Kingdom. Then see Christ walking
among them and watering them with love. Envision each person and church touched by this love at the same time in a downpour of the Holy Spirit. Envision
especially churches who are promoting hate slogans receiving the Holy
Spirit's blessing and see them transform. In Christ all hate and
heaviness vanishes. In the end there is only God's love. Dwell in it.
Thanks giving:
Give thanks for all those who are so
lovingly and compassionately attending to the victims of the tornado.
Ask God to bless them. (There is much compassion out there but it is
currently pitted against rigid and opposing forces)
No comments:
Post a Comment