“Find someone you think is wrong, someone you disagree with, someone who isn’t like you at all, and decide to love that person the way you want Jesus to love you.”
What if this was our response to those on the other side of the political aisle? What if we loved like Jesus, sacrificially, instead of swearing like drunken sailors?
I can’t promise I’ll do this, I’ll certainly fall short, but it seems like an ideal to strive for.
15 comments:
Of course, we should try to embrace this.
The complication comes when we're faced with competing demands for solidarity.
Of course I love my conservative family and friends and even strangers, or certainly strive to. I strive to treat them with respect, even when they call me a liar or a fool or an idiot or not a Christian. No harm, no foul.
But, I am also to love the Stranger, the Poor, the Foreigner, the Marginalized, the Abused and Oppressed.
And, if and when my beloved conservative friends advocate policies that cause harm to the latter group... the least of these, well, like Jesus, I fall on the side of the least of these.
First, do no harm.
My disagreeing - even strongly - with policies that abandon people seeking refuge or that scapegoat women who've been harassed and molested and worst is not a sign that I'm disrespecting or not loving the conservative friend. Indeed, I'd hope that Jesus' love for me would precisely put the needs of the least of these ahead of my own interests.
I bet we can agree on this.
Agree on what?
I quoted a simple statement. That our goal should be to find someone you think is wrong and love them in the way you’d like Jesus to love you.
It’s not complicated, there isn’t any need for qualifiers or excuses, it’s simple.
I’ll just say that if your public love for those you disagree with is an expression of how you want Jesus to love you, then im not sure your version of Jesus is particularly attractive. I also think you miss the point. It’s not about loving the least of these, or those who you find sympathetic, it’s about loving your enemies.
But that’s just me.
I think you misunderstand. You are not my enemy Trump is not my enemy The GOP is not my enemy my conservative friends and family are not the enemy. Y'all people with him I disagree. That's all.
You missed the point. You and conservatives are not my enemy. My beloved family members who are more conservative, who even support Trump and not the enemy.
However, some of Trump's policies are oppressive. They cause harm to refugees, to the Free Press, to ideals of Liberty important to all of us, to women.
I'm opposed to oppressive policies because of the love for the other, the stranger, the least of these. The ones that Trump tells us (and some of his followers believe) are the enemy.
And so our love for the least of these leads his followers to oppose strongly the oppressors. I think this is what Jesus would do, this is the model that Jesus left for us.
Do you disagree?
Dan, you really need to stop lying about those with whom you disagree.
No, I think you missed the point. If you read the quote, it’s not about loving the oppressed or the least, it’s about loving your enemies and those you disagree with.
It’s about trying to replicate Jesus love for you to those you dislike or disagree with.
My problem is, I’ve seen how you treat those you disagree with and if you want Jesus to love you like you love those you disagree with, I want no part of a Jesus who loves like that.
I think that the Jesus who said, “Father forgive them, they don’t know what they’re doing” to the people who killed Him, is the example of prefer to follow.
But that’s me. I don’t see the people I disagree with as excrement, I see them as bearers of the image of God and infinitely valuable.
I think the model (as I pointed out earlier), and the command is to “love your enemies” and “bless those who persecute you.”. I don’t see where He leaves any loopholes or exceptions.
The thing is, you still miss the point. I simply do not treat those I disagree with as excrement. If you disagree about whether or not it's a good thing to drive an SUV or not, or if it's a good thing to ride a bike or not... I don't treat you as excrement. Even though we may disagree.
My point is, there is a line where we're moving from simple disagreement to someone advocating harmful dangerous policy. Someone who's attacking the Free Press and calling them an enemy of the people is just wrong and causing potential harm. Great harm. That's worth denouncing and denouncing strongly.
Again Jesus said to those who failed to receive the least of these that they we're Hell Bound... that they did not know him... that they were awful, awful people.
He used the strongest language. There comes a time to take strong stands. That doesn't mean I don't love those that i disagree with. It means... Well, never mind. You just appear to not understand.
The problem with your model is that it lends support to the rapist and oppressors of the world. I don't think Jesus speaks kindly to rapist or oppressors, and I do think he lets the victims of these people know he's on their side. When it comes to harm, we have to choose the side of the oppressed. But again, you're not getting it. Good luck.
The problem with my model, is that it’s not my model, it’s Jesus model. You can’t seriously be suggesting that the Roman Empire and the Roman soldiers who tortured and executed Jesus are less oppressive than the current president.
You most clearly and emphatically see others as excitement, you’ve been quite emphatic about it.
You’re right, I don’t get your non Christlike attitude. I don’t get your refusal to follow the clear teachings/commands of Christ. I don’t get your pathological need to dehumanize and belittle those you perceive as “rapists and oppressors”. You’re right, I don’t understand at all how you can carve exceptions out of “Love your enemies.”. I don’t understand how you can look at a person who was created in the very image of God and see excrement.
You’re right. I don’t understand someone who claims to love Jesus, but refuses to love others.
What I’m not getting is why you’ve gone to school ch lengths to carve out exceptions for yourself.
You are simply actually mistaking what I said about people or think about people. I do think oppression is b*******.
The oppressor is a human being, beloved of God. And the oppressed is a human being, especially beloved of God and with whom we are told to side. Again, when it comes to harm, we must choose the side of the oppressed. This is Jesus' teaching.
Now if you disagree, well, that's on you. I do not have to be kind or sweet to oppressors, to rapists, to killers, too racists.
You appear to be confusing loving with being a pushover. That is not Jesus' model. Jesus was no milquetoast. In the temple, when the rich were oppressing the poor and cheating them out of their money, he tossed their asses out of the Temple. He wasn't sweet and kind to them. You're confusing loving with giving in to oppression and rapists.
Lord, save us from your followers.
Look, if you want to ignore both Jesus’ words and actions, that’s fine with me.
If you want to try to establish some sort of hierarchy of who’s more deserving of you living out Christ’s love to, that’s fine to.
If you think it helps to put words in my mouth, that’s fine too.
Fortunately I neither have, nor desire followers. I do hope to follow Jesus’ example and commands as best I can.
If you see some sort of “Love your enemies, but...” or “Pray for those who persecute you, but..,”, that’s great. Just own it. Just say that Jesus forgiving the Romans who tortured and executed Him was somehow empowering the oppressor.
Your confusing the fact that living out the sacrificial love of Jesus to everyone, is to give in to anyone.
I’m beginning to think that what may have started out as “righteous indignation”, has morphed into simply an addiction to anger and the self righteous rush you seem to get when you demean and dehumanize people and view them as excrement.
I’d consider focusing on love, not anger. Repentence, not condemnation.
Who, but Jesus, has the standing to truly condemn?
You seem a little obsessed with “rapists”, I’m confused as to why “rapists” specifically attract so much of your ire? In other comments, you appear to be connecting “rapists, oppressors, and attacking the media” as being representative of the same person or people. Would you care to step out from behind those terms and be specific?
Do you realize that referring to someone as a “rapist” who hasn’t been charged, investigated, tried, or convicted of rape could be considered to be slander? Bearing false witness? Libel?
It seems to me that falsely accusing someone of rape is a pretty serious accusation to throw around with such abandon.
Except that the fact is I have not refused to love anyone. Calling sexual predators out and holding them accountable for their behavior is not refusing to love them. Refusing to call the mount is refusing to love their victims though.
Do you understand the point?
Since the only two “rapists” ( I note your substitution of “sexual predators” for “rapists”), I’ve ever heard you refer two specifically are Trump and Moore, can you point me to the specific jurisdictions where either was charged with “rape”? Or perhaps the trial transcripts outlining the evidence presented against them? Perhaps their criminal records that show a conviction? In the absence of anything like that, I’d say that reference to people as “rapists”, might actually be that slander you used to worry about.
But all that aside, it seems that Jesus was clear that He called sinners to Himself for forgiveness and reconciliation (for those who repented), not to publicly flagellate and demean them.
I know what Trump said about needing forgiveness, and it’s just one more example of his sinful humanity, but I look to the way Jesus treated sinners and can’t help but think He’d treat Trump worse than the people who tortured and killed Him.
I just see Jesus exhibiting a love that is less harsh and accusatory. One with less dehumanizing references to humans as excrement, and less bitter and angry.
In short, more of a sacrificial love, less of an accusatory love. A love that attracts sinners, not repels them. A love that points toward forgiveness and repentance, not punishment.
Maybe letting go of your anger, taking a deep breath, and focus on love might be helpful.
Any number of unproven allegatons does not justify labels people like Dan are so eager and happy to apply to Donald Trump. No doubt Trump's adultery and womanizing makes it easy for those like Dan who pay lip service to selective teachings of Christ. But then, Dan only engages in victim blaming/shaming by his willingness to pick that low hanging fruit. If we focus on his womanizing and adultery alone, "predator" becomes a far less appropriate term given the two-way street nature of his immorality. That is, it takes two to tango, and those cases are clearly a matter of mutual consent.
But again, that behavior in no way allows a Dan Trabue license to presume sexual assault allegations are absolute fact and thus "predator" is an appropriate description. This is true given that people in his position are prime targets for gold diggers and other unscrupulous females. Actual adults realize and accept this reality and the real possibility that such is potentially the case with Trump. As such, actual mature adults do not assume guilt on the basis of randy history and unproven allegations.
Then there's Dan. He eagerly prefers to believe there are victims where no proof has been confirmed there are any. He's not "loving victims". That's blatant attacking someone with whom he disagrees because he WANTS to believe the worst about Trump. He NEEDS to believe the worst. For me, Trump's adultery and womanizing is enough and worthy in itself of legitimate criticism. I don’t need to pretend I know what I don’t, and it's not at all in keeping with ANY teaching of Jesus to presume is true that which is not proved to be so.
Post a Comment