If Jesus Was Like Me

I recently came across some bloggers, writers and articles from pastors, professors and layman who seem to have found an audience in those people who have been hurt by the church and are bitter and angry. I don’t disagree there are pastors and churches that are bullies. Those are dangerous places and should be avoided. However, Christians who bully is for another blog and I have opinions about those folks as well, but today I want to address those people who have gained an audience or developed a career around telling other believers that they are unsophisticated in their faith, mean spirited, hateful and in some cases lacking completely in godliness all because they have a set of values and beliefs that contradict the mainstream thinking of the day. I struggle with writing this because in my own way I am judging those people which is the very thing that I find most obnoxious, but I wonder about the real motivation of these “new enlighted Christians.” Is it to try and get others to their viewpoint? Is it constructive criticism for others in the church and in the spirit of love that is defined in the scripture? Is it to bash the church from which they themselves may been hurt? Is it to create a position that will simply gain them a following thus making their blog more successful and more about them than enhancing the faith

We all have seen these people both online and in person. They speak of the “outdated church,” they speak of the lack of inclusiveness in congregations, they speak of the misogynistic history of the church and how it really intends to put down women, the LBGTQ community and other religions, while they claim to me more loving, more open, more enlightened and more God-like then “those Christians.” They say things like, “I used to identify myself as a Christian, but I can’t anymore.” They say things intended to inflame the hearts of their followers rather than change the hearts of others. I found myself wondering about those bloggers and writers so I did some research. I find those people have had a “falling out” with a church, but also offered up (for a fee, of course) how to help a church, ministry or organization become more loving, kind, tolerant and enlightened like themselves. Focusing on a specific outcome rather than focusing on godliness. They focus their statements on the church as a whole wishing to appeal to those folks that like themselves have been hurt by some formal religious group. It’s interesting to see their words with such anger at other believers accusing the all of being bigoted, short sighted and betraying of their faith.

People that have been hurt by a mean spirited, unloving pastor or church are ripe to bring to this thinking process and will readily jump on the wagon that all Christians are like that. I have heard more than once words like, “that was being real Christian, or what kind of Christian are they.” However, when we presume that a whole group of people have characteristics or traits isn’t that just bigotry.. When we find that all groups associated with a trend or thought are all the same and we speak with that verbose, self-righteous thought are we really helping others or are we simply inciting the very emotions that led them to leave their faith journey. It’s like trying to say a person is liberal or conservative and then rolling our eyes as if to say, “you know what I mean.” Unfortunately like most things in life there is spectrum and we all fall in different places on the spectrum.

One thing I learned about sin growing up is that sin is sin. There are no gradations of sin. Some sins are not less sinful than others. As humans, we tend to impugn the character of those folks that sin in a way that we are able to resist while having our own little areas of sin that we justify as okay for some reason. We will readily point out what someone else is doing to avoid looking within our own hearts and seeing our own faults. I am lucky in many ways, my friends are varied in their values, beliefs, lifestyles and politics. They aren’t a homogeneous group of people and from them I have learned about friendship, love, compassion, tolerance and hope. Guess what we don’t agree on everything in life but respect each other enough to realize we all have our flaws and there is always ground to love and care about each other. Barb and I’s wedding last October was filled with Christ Followers, non-Christ Followers, Democrats, Republicans, LGBTQ, straight, bikers, and non-bikers. Wasn’t a fight in the whole day. Most of them have become facebook friends since.

Instead of engaging in this type of bashing rhetoric that creates animosity and division, I would challenge people who claim to be more loving, more inclusive and more caring to prove that with their actions. We should be focused on helping those that we aren’t like rather than just helping just those that we are like. How many of us would hug a homeless man and give him something to eat rather than just walk or drive by while muttering they will just use what I give them for drugs or alcohol. Have we ever sat with someone who doesn’t think like us and heard their struggles, their pains and their lives or do we do that only with those people we want to include in our narrow circle. Believe it or not every person regardless of who they are have had struggles at jobs, struggles at home, struggles at churches and struggles with character. Politics, faith, beliefs or lifestyle does not exclude us from the pains of life.

How many of us have worked to help coal miners get new skills and new jobs and supported them and their families while the coal mines shut down or do we just get outraged over mining and fossil fuels. Some of those families in Appalachia have a lifelong family history of mining and that is what they know and love. How many of us have held a child that is on the verge of starvation because there is no food or do we just yell about the lack of social programs while we scream about lowering taxes for us and raising taxes for others. How many veterans do we have to lose to suicide because we are so busy protesting our perceived rights violations before we realize they just want us to be there for them and we could give time to them which would mean the world and sometimes life. How many of us have been homeless and understand that life so profoundly that we will go out each week and spend our own money, time and gas to get food for the homeless shelter. (That’s a shout out to someone I admire) I have a friend that I love dearly who didn’t just call to see if I was okay during the hurricane but called to ask if he could meet me halfway to get my dog before the hurricane so she was safe. That is how you prove your love and kindness not by saying it and not by bashing others in the process but by loving others without regret. Matthew 18:15 says “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.” Try hugging and loving your Judas and then you have the right to discuss another’s sins and mistakes.

Pat Terry has a song that says:

“If Jesus was like me, He’d be all merciful and meek,

Till the first time you made like Judas and kissed him on the cheek,

Then He’d act all hurt and point out all your sins,

But when you ask would He forgive you, He’d say, it all depends,

How sad would we all be if Jesus was like me.”

#jesus #bloggers #anger #church #christian