This question has become, for me, a major turning point in my walk with Christ. And it is a purpose for this web log; to join in unity of Christ those who would otherwise have been hostile to oneanother.
I have been isolated as a disciple. I had chosen this self-imposed prison.
However, I have been moved by a running Spiritual debate that I have had with a very close and dear friend. (His blogspot is linked on the left side of this page,
http://GeoTheology.blogspot.com/).
When you visit his site and read the theme and his profile you may begin to understand much of the debate.
However, my friend has always been a reasonable seeker who will dig into a belief, to find out “what” and “why” irrespective of the “who”.
The “who” seems to be ancillary, at least until the other two questions are answered satisfactorily.
I have found his approach to be a profoundly unique way of discovering the answers to fundamental questions of life. It works well for him because he is unwilling to discount a philosophy based solely upon the identity of the proponents of the idea.
The world tells us to ignore those who do not fit our niche. Or even hate those who are outside of our scope of beliefs.
This enmity approach will go to religion, denomination, politics, race, region, state, nationality, city, school, hair color, and on it goes.
As examples, I am from Oklahoma, so everyone south of the Red River is somewhat disreputable. Those folks south of the Red River tend to view my kind in a similar manner. Baptists might look with a skeptical eye toward a member of the Church of Christ. Protestants might ignore Catholic Theological scholars. Catholics might avoid protestant theologians.
This type of thing goes to every classification that humans have.
But, the approach is foolish and it excludes, by design, a great wealth of experience and knowledge.
This approach also denies the inherent value of all humans.
Furthermore, this approach is antithetical to Christ. Jesus was always addressing the people who were not acceptable to his society.
He was willing to talk to women, which we know was not formally accepted by any Middle Eastern society, and this continues today. He mingled with tax collectors, who were proverbial turncoats. He touched the lepers, which was way outside the bounds of proper behavior. He addressed gentiles and was willing to enter their homes, this should not happen by Mosaic Law.
I could continue with all the many examples that all “good” Christians know.
Yet, for some reason I felt comfortable with excluding from consideration anything that Alec Baldwin might say, because he is opposed, even overtly hostile to my political philosophy and faith.
The debate with my good friend made me stop and compare my isolationist tendencies to Jesus’ inclusion of all people.
The contrast between my Lord and myself was disturbing and shameful.
Why should I accept traditional carnal rules for treatment of ones “enemies”, e.g. being derisive, hateful, threatening them, attacking them, or ignoring them, as opposed to Jesus’ Divine rules for treatment of ones “enemies”, if you’ve forgotten the Lord’s rules then you should look at Mt 5:39-48. I had forgoten them and I did consider them.
Compare His attitude to your own attitude, if your attitude doesn’t fit with Jesus’ attitude, who should change, Jesus or you? It’s a simple exercise. But, when I practiced the exercise, I came up wanting.
This question is what I have been struggling with.
My friend was, in-fact, noticing a severe and systemic flaw seeping into the Church in the USA particularly.
The Church has begun to allow the carnal or Worldly rules to replace Jesus’ Way.
Liberals are not our enemy. Satan is our enemy. And despite all of the cute little jokes about them being one & the same, it is simply not the Way of Christ.
Islam is not our enemy. Satan is our enemy. And despite all of the political rhetoric about them being one & the same, it is simply not the Way of Jesus.
Hollywood is not our enemy. Satan is our enemy. And despite all of the foolishness coming out of Hollywood, I don’t think Satan is a fool. (Just a little lighthearted humor, at the Screen Actors Guild’s expense.)
My point is that Jesus made a clear point of who the Kingdom of God was intended to battle and (FYI) it was never other people. On the contrary, people are always portrayed as the reason for Christ’s giving up Heaven and dying on the cross. People are called captives of the devil, not demons of the devil.
We are not following Jesus when we act as if our fellow man is an enemy.
How did Jesus defeat his human “enemies”? The answer is he did not defeat them. He surrendered to them. He died for them.
Jesus died for me while I was turning my back on God. Jesus did not say ‘David is my enemy, therefore I will, attack him, ignore him, avoid him, or let him go to Hell.’
Disciples of Jesus should not do what our Lord did not do.
We, instead, embrace them who disagree with us, who hates us, who wish us harm, who would kill us, because that is exactly what our Lord’s example shows us in the Gospels.
My posting on September 28, could not have happened had I not listened to my friend, who said things that I did not want to hear.
I would have never heard Bill Maher’s testimony for Jesus. I would never have seen Bill Maher as the purpose for Jesus’ self sacrifice on the Cross, because I would have seen Bill Maher as my enemy, to be turned off, tuned out, and shouted down.
12 For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms.(Ephesians 6:12)
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