The Politics of Love

November 4, 2008 at 9:31 am (Christianity, Confession, Forgiveness, God, Government, Hypocrisy, Jesus, Politics, Religion, Responsibility, Uncategorized)
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A friend of mine received an e-mail forward that greatly grieved her.  I wrote a response below; original text in black, my response is in red.

(Forgive the poor formatting – wordpress does not like things pasted from Word!)

I’m The One You’re Talking About

 

With all of the hurt I recognize from those labeled “left-wingers,” I decided to respond to the following e-mail post in order to show that there is a difference in those who consider themselves Christians first and Republicans later and the reverse.

 

With all the vitriol I’ve been hearing from the right-wingers of late, I can’t help but recognize myself as the target of their obsessive hatred. So I thought I’d take this opportunity to out  

myself, just so they know who it is they’re spending so much time talking about.
Yes, I’m that American-hating broad who believes in life, liberty and equality for all Americans, not just those of a “socially acceptable” color, religion, address, pay scale or political affiliation.

 

 

And I am the Christian who wishes that I could make up for all of the anger, hatred and fear that is displayed in the name of Jesus Christ – all of the fanaticism that states that if you are not like me, you are not a worthwhile person.


I’m that baby-killer who thinks that every child should be a wanted child, and that the ultimate decision to give birth is the domain of the woman whose body is involved. I also believe that people who really care about saving babies might want to think about the ones who are already born – especially the ones born in places our government is currently blowing off the map, or might plan to in future.

 

And I am the Christian who believes that if more believers would put down their arms about an “issue” and take up the cause of the already fatherless, there would be far less of a need for abortion in the first place.  I am sad that Christians demonize the results of failing our duty to humanity.

I’m that godless whore who believes that if the government wants a say in how I conduct myself in my own bedroom, they’d better be prepared to lay down a lot of cold, hard cash – because if I’m going to screw according to someone else’s specifications, it’s only right that I be paid handsomely for satisfying the john.
 

 

And I am the Christian who believes that I am not God’s police.  The greatest of the commandments, from Christ’s own lips, is that we love God and love others.  We have failed to show anyone a reason to love God, and have no right to ask anyone to live up to standards that we ourselves cannot and have never been able to meet.
 

 

I’m that infamous anti-Christian who actually believes that I am my Brother’s Keeper – and that includes supporting social safety-nets that provide food for the hungry, shelter for the homeless, care for the sick – you know, all that yadda-yadda stuff that Christ used to preach about back when people who called themselves Christians had a passing familiarity with his teachings. I also believe that just because Christ was tortured to death doesn’t mean he was promoting the idea as something we are free to do with his approval.

 

And I am the Christian who believes that the government has only to take up this responsibility because we largely fail to do it as the Body of Christ.  We were called to be an extension of His care, and have chosen instead the easy road of militant cause – lending us falsely free consciences when we turn our backs on those who we have decided are living “in sin.”

I’m that unscrupulous libertine, apparently devoid of any morals whatsoever, who has deluded myself into thinking that if the gay couple down the street get married, they’re not  going to destroy every heterosexual marriage in the neighborhood – and by the way, I’ve yet to hear a coherent argument as to how that would happen if they did.

 

 

And I am the Christian believes that we have destroyed marriage ourselves by treating it with such flippancy.  Marriage is about commitment and who are we Christians to bark about its sanctity when we divorce as often as those around us?

I’m that unpatriotic bitch who thinks that sporting a flag pin in your lapel doesn’t mean shit if you’re wearing it while supporting pay-cuts for the troops, or budget cuts to veterans’ care – or, for that matter, calling anyone and everyone who disagrees with you “unpatriotic” because you really have nothing of substance to say, but just love the sound of your own meaningless rhetoric blasted over the airwaves.

 

 

And I am the Christian who believes that disagreement does not equal hatred.  If we could re-learn to look beyond issues and labels and groups and see humans, perhaps we could learn that those humans have hearts.

I’m that blatant sexist who thinks that if someone like Sarah Palin has nothing more to offer than a pair of tits while seeking the office of the vice presidency, she’d damned well better have something more in her training bra than a wad of Kleenex – like actual knowledge of the responsibilities of the job, for starters.

 

 

And I am the Christian who wishes to apologize for our lack of faith in God – for the fact that we feel the need to press on everyone else and force them to fit in to our mold, like the school bully, instead of showing God’s love and trusting that He can work it out if we would just obey Him ourselves.

I’m that socialist commie who thinks people should reap the financial rewards of their own hard work while the CEOs of the corporations they toil for share the resulting profits, rather than pocket them all while throwing crumbs to those whose labor created those profits in the first place. Yup, that’s me – another anti-capitalist, spouting my big mouth off when oil companies earning record profits get tax subsidies, as though they don’t deserve them.
 

 

And I am the Christian who believes that capitalism is the life-blood of our economy, but for the fact that it has been hi-jacked and subsidized by a government seeking to attain its own ends and fill its own pockets.  The corporations receiving government payouts because they have run their companies into the ground with poor business practices are the same corporations that put Mom and Pop’s Hardware Store out of business, though they were possibly the most honest, hardest working people in the town.


I’m that big city chick, who couldn’t possibly share the same values of the kid from the suburbs, or the mid-western farmer, or the small-town librarian – or anyone who, unlike me, was raised in the right pocket of Americana – wherever that may be.

 

And I am the Christians who wishes we could do away with all references to “right” or “left” and learn to see the things that we hold in common – to protect the innocent, to bring hope to the weary and food to the hungry.  We are all in this together – who cares where the “pockets” are?

I’m that no-good Bush-basher who had the gall to notice that an idiot who couldn’t string two words together without getting both of them wrong would inevitably lead this country into an unwinnable war (or two), financial ruin, complete moral failure, and global disgrace.
 

 

And I am the Christian who does not turn a blind eye to disgraces from anyone just because they are in power, and I definitely do not make an exception just to make myself feel better about it if it is someone that I helped put there.


And while I’m at it, I may as well come completely clean – because, let’s face it, you’ve got me dead-to-rights: I’m also a tree-huggin’ environmentalist who believes in such outrageous ideas as upholding the Constitution, equal treatment under the law, and civil rights – and the hypocrisy of you people who call ME un-American makes me want to retch.

 

And I am the Christian who believes that our Constitution has been trampled on from persons of all political parties whenever it best suited their needs at the time, because politics is no longer “by the people, for the people,” but it is a selfish grasping for power and agenda.

So now that you know who I am, please feel free to rant about me all you want. I’m proud of who I am, what I believe in, and what I stand for – a feeling you’ll never know.

 

 

And now that I hope that you know we do not all hate you.  Some of us are saddened by the mis-use of our God’s name to try to manipulate the world around them so they can feel comfortable in a controlled moral environment instead of worrying about the hearts and souls of individuals.

But don’t be embarrassed by not recognizing me in a crowd – you see, there are tens of millions like me, and you know what they say: All those damned anti-Americans look alike.And we’re all about to vote alike – which means voting your asses out of office.

 

 

I hope that you also can see that I think it is completely irrelevant who is in office, because I believe in a God who loves – a God who is not threatened by man and our selfish, confused attempts at running a country, a business, a family or our own lives – a God who will be working in the hearts and lives of those who are seeking Him regardless of the political climate.  I am not threatened by political change, because my God is not a God of politics.  He is not trying to “win.”  He only wants to love.

See ya around, chumps. And the next time you think about calling me or anyone like me anti-American, you might want to look back at what this election has been all about – and who the REAL Americans truly are.

 

 

And along the same lines, I am not trying to be more American than you.  I do not want to compete with you.  I want all competition to be put aside so we can work together, live together…together, though not identical; in harmony, though not the same.

 

Thanks for taking the time to learn who we are, too.  We’re out there, I promise.

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Circus Christianity

July 28, 2008 at 12:09 am (Christianity, God, Humility, Hypocrisy, Jesus, Pride, Questioning, Religion, Self-Esteem, Sleepless Ramblings, Society)
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This morning as I was sitting in church, an image popped into my head.  It was the image of a clown.  This particular clown had a sad face with tears painted on, but was still doing its silly clown show to make people laugh.  And I thought about how Christians do this…how there are Christians who act like clowns.  They might vary in how they look – some of them may have the sad faces, but some have happy ones and some just look a little crazy.  The common denominator is that each of them has painted on a persona that is not their own – a persona that, in fact, hides what each of them really is.  Have you ever seen a movie or a TV show portraying a clown that ends his or her act, then when they no longer have an audience, they begin treating everyone like scum or you find out that they are a raging alcoholic?  It’s a ridiculous analogy, I know, but this style of Christians does the same ridiculous thing.  Their real character is completely incongruous with what they try to portray, leaving people disillusioned and disappointed when they find out the truth.  They thought those Clown Christians had it all together, but turns out, that’s only while they were on stage. 

 

Christianity is not about faking it.  Some people may say, “Well, we have to look cheerful or act cheerful or do something to make everything look great.”  I say this is one of the best ways to chase people away from Christianity.  It doesn’t take a very long look for anyone to tell that everything is not always great for anyone.  It’s hypocrisy at its grandest.  So, if people do fall for it initially, they drift away easily after coming to the truth of the matter: that Christians struggle and mess up, too.  Even the clowns with the sad faces are going through the motions of making people happy…a performance they’ve often been rigorously taught.  People pleasers rarely please people.  Let’s be real, Christians.  The clown act doesn’t become us.

 

And as I thought through this, I realized it was more than just clowns.  There is an entire Christian Circus going on all around us. 

 

There’s the guy/girl walking the tight rope.  It doesn’t take long to spot this one.  These guys are in shape.  They’ve worked hard.  They probably even have a little talent.  And now they want to show it off.  “Look at me – I can walk this rope.  It’s a fine line, but I can do it.”  They put themselves way up there…they are the elite.  They’re not going to fall…falling is not an option.  I mean, if you fall, you die, right?  There’s no net.  God’s not big enough for me to fall.  These are the legalists.  There’s no room for error, and anyone who can’t do what they can do has not quite got it all together.  What happens with them?  They crash…and burn.  They live in fear of stepping one toe out of line, and inevitably find out that they can’t stay up there forever.  It’s a lonely road.

 

Christianity is not about fear.  And all this act does is scare people.  “Ooh, I could never do that.  I might as well not even try.  I’ll just stay down here and walk around on this dusty tent floor.  You have to really work too hard…and it’s dangerous, too…I mean, what if you fall?  You’re done for.”  When are we going to learn that it’s not about what we can do, but about what God already did?

 

And now we have the lion tamer.  This is the dude with the whip.  He is all about beating everyone into submission.  There’s no love in this act.  It’s all force: conversion by conquest.  And then once you get them conquered, you make sure you keep them controlled.  He’s not getting people to follow God; he’s getting people to follow him.  It’s all about the power.

 

Christianity is not about force.  The lion tamer eventually gets his head ripped off when one of the lions he thought he had tamed suddenly realizes this guy doesn’t have its best interest at heart.  He’s just a mean guy with a whip on a power trip.  If conquest were the answer, then the whole world would’ve been Christian after the Crusades.  Let’s stop pretending we can hold people down until they say uncle…or Jesus.  This would only establish that the strongest guy wins.  It says nothing about truth.

 

Then we have the guy who eats fire.  He’s a showman.  He uses a lot of slight of hand, illusions, tricks.  The Christian fire-eater is really not much more than a magician with an agenda, but he sure does make it look exciting.

 

Christianity is not about the hype.  Hype goes away.  People get tired of watching him eat fire every day…he’s a one trick wonder.  They lose interest.  There is no substance to his message.  People don’t get tired of watching someone who is living the abundant life that Christ offers us to the fullest, day in, day out, in every area of their life.  THAT is something to see.

 

The next one is more like a category.  It includes the bearded lady, the tattooed man, etc. – the pejorative “freak show.”  These are the Christians who have embraced their fears and insecurities.  They have accepted the lie that they have nothing to offer anyone, except as a novelty, and therefore have retracted from normal daily interaction with people.  They get mocked a little bit and just take it as their lumps in life, figuring this is the price you pay for being different.  You may as well just own it, right?  Their inability to fit in has become their identity.  It’s an excuse not to become something else, something more.

 

Christianity is not about hiding behind your insecurities.  It’s about facing them head on, and allowing God to make something of you in spite, or possibly because of them.  When we, as Christians, retreat because we feel inadequate, that says to the world, “Look, they really don’t have anything to offer.  They don’t even believe in the power of it themselves.”  God has promised that He will make something of us, and we need to start acting like it!

 

There are probably more, but this is as far as I got on the performers in the circus.  However, there’s one more I want to mention: the ringmaster.

 

You might think that I’m going to say the ringmaster is God.  Not in this case.  In the case of Circus Christianity, the ringmaster is Satan.  He is standing in the middle of that big red tent, directing the performance.  “Yes, that’s right,” he says.  To the clown: “Don’t you dare show your true colors.”  To the tightrope walker: “You (and everyone else) must be perfect or it was all a complete failure.”  To the lion tamer: “Anyone who disagrees with you should be treated as a hostile.”  To the fire-eater: “Give them a good thrill!”  To the bearded lady: “You are not worth anything.”  Satan applauds it all…anything that makes us ineffective, impotent Christians.

 

How many spectators of a circus do you know who watch it, and then decide they’re going to go join up and become part of the circus, too?  It’s just a show; something to do…see what those crazy Circus Christians are up to now.  There is nothing remotely desirable in it.

 

So, this is a call to all Christians – step out of the circus!  Stop doing tricks and putting on shows.  Become a real person with real purpose as God has called us to.  Be engaged with those around you and with what you believe.  Don’t be afraid of people questioning things; know that God is big enough to handle their questions as well as your own.  Don’t pretend to have it all together; if you don’t know, say so.  Respond to people with the love that God asks us to respond with.  Don’t focus on your own insecurities or other people’s faults; focus on God’s strength and the way He can make something out of anyone – just like He does over and over again in the Bible.

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What If They’re Right?

June 22, 2007 at 7:15 am (Christianity, Expectations, Failure, God, Humility, Hypocrisy, Jesus, Pride, Relationships, Religion, Responsibility, Society)

The day before yesterday, I was sitting talking to my neighbor.  I loaned her a book by one of my favorite authors a while back, and she told me that she had finally started reading it.  She had first loaned it to her granddaughter to read.  The book was Patrick by Stephen R. Lawhead, and it is about the famous St. Patrick whom we all celebrate, depending on our lifestyle and culture, with wearing green and leprechauns and four leaf clovers or excessive amounts of beer or some varied combination of those things.  I’ll be honest – I don’t know much about the real St. Patrick.  I’ve never looked into how much Lawhead may have embellished in his novel, but I know he does not claim it to be anything other than historical fiction.  Either way, what Lawhead wrote is all I know about our beloved Patrick, and that is scant as it has been some time since I read the book.  So, as my neighbor began discussing it, I have to admit that my recollections, for the most part, failed me.  I cannot confirm nor deny her allegations against Patrick until she completes (if she completes) and returns my book.  However, this is what she thought of him.  She said that she got to about page 235 or so, and had grown increasingly more angry with Patrick, culminating, at this point, in her throwing down the book and refusing to read any more.  She said she was thinking something like, “If what he’s got is Christianity, I don’t want any part of it.”  Now, my neighbor is a Christian, so she was just upset with Patrick’s version of it, I guess.  She went on to tell me that she was frustrated by Patrick’s ingratitude, arrogance, selfishness and lack of personal growth in the face of undeniable truths.  She asked me if he redeemed himself, and although I feel like I remember that he did, I cannot remember the story well enough to be certain.  To be honest, I don’t remember being angry with Patrick once while reading this book.  In fact, I remember identifying with him greatly.  I almost told my neighbor this, but then I was afraid she wouldn’t like me anymore.  Sorry, guys, I’m getting to a point here, really I am.   

My point is about my knee-jerk reaction to people saying anything like what she thought about not wanting Patrick’s kind of Christianity.  This reaction is composed of myself saying something to the effect of, “You can’t blame God for how stupid Christians act,” or “That’s why we need Jesus, because we’re not perfect” or “Of course Christians make mistakes, too.  If they didn’t struggle with things, no one would listen to them because they would not be able to relate to the masses.”  Or it may contain a reference to what Ghandi said when asked what the biggest obstacle to Christianity coming to India was: “Christians,” he stated.  Now, I didn’t say anything of this sort when talking to my neighbor yesterday for a couple of reasons.  One being, as I stated, this lady is actually a Christian, so Patrick was not really a stumbling block for her; she just disapproved of his kind of Christianity, and by this I mean the way he lived (or didn’t live) it out.  Another reason I did not give any of my usual retorts is that my neighbor is nearly seventy, and, well, I am not quite thirty, and somehow my trying to impart my version of “wisdom” to her seems a little silly if not presumptuous.   

But there is another reason – just this: of all the arguments against Christianity, which is heard the most?  Christians are hypocrites.  What if they’re right?  I’m starting to believe maybe I should pay more attention to it than giving it the canned answers I usually do…that maybe my responses carry within them a lack of accountability that is part of the reason Christians are such hypocrites.  The Bible does say that we will be known by our fruits.  I am sitting here trying to imagine if I could see my life as a tree; branches extending out to everyone I’ve come into contact with and the people they’ve come in contact with and so on.  I wonder what my fruits would look like.  I think I’m kind of glad I don’t know, because I can recall far to many times when I’m sure the fruit is not pretty.  Now, here’s the deal: I’m not advocating a kind of legalistic Christianity that crushes you and throws you out when you mess up.  Grace is the most beautiful part of Christianity…the fact that it is unconditional is astounding.  However, I’m afraid the problem is that there is not enough grace.  I, as a Christian, am not very grace-ful to others in return.  And I’m not talking about balancing books on my head.  I’m talking about extending that unconditional love to everyone I come into contact with.   

I realize that I also said something about accountability above, and somehow that may seem counter to unconditional love.  However, accountability should be a reaction to wanting to help others become their best, do their best, be what God created them to be.  I don’t mean a schoolmaster running around cracking a whip and threatening you with beatings, just itching for you to do something wrong.  We’re so screwed up in America that we can hardly even understand the concept of loving correction.  I try to talk about it here, but feel like I have to explain its validity to do so.  Accountability between Christians is encompassed in this unconditional love that I was speaking of, not opposite to it.  And by the way, God never tells us to call un-believers out on their sins.  He just tells us to take them the Gospel.  Why should we expect them to live by a morality they do not believe in?  This is why I consider all the boycotts in the world to be hopeless failures.  (It wouldn’t take me a far stretch to say that I think they are completely contradictory to Christianity, but I’d have to study and ponder a bit more to go that far.)  All of the Christians pointing fingers simply make everyone else want to point fingers back, and I would wager that it brings no one to Christ.   

You could all be reading this post and thinking I am being very condemning and making you feel like a useless dirt bag as a Christian.  That’s not my point.  I’m not saying that we have to be perfect.  I am saying that for all of the people out there saying, “Christians are hypocrites,” I wish I could find a few who said, “Well, I don’t know…I know this one guy….” I am conceding to non-Christians that they are valid in their mistrust of us.  And I’m not claiming to be included in the precious few good examples.  I don’t think I’m very good at showing people the love of Christ.  So, even though all of my customary answers to this accusation are still valid – God should not be blamed for our stupidity, etc., etc., there is a better answer to this.  Let’s change.  When people look around and find no positive Christian examples in their lives, no one who breaks the mold, no one who lives differently, makes them feel differently or treats everyone differently, then there is something wrong.  Where are we? 

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