Love Your Neighbor (unless he/she is really annoying)

I'm really starting to get sick of the way Christians treat non-Christians. Or the way we treat each other. And the way non-Christians treat each other. Basically, the way everyone treats everybody else...


Is it really too much to ask for us to treat each other like freaking human beings?!?


These Westboro Baptist people really grate on my last nerve. It's like they were sitting around one day, talking- "Hey guys, you know what would be a really great way to show Christ's love? PICKETING FUNERALS!" And then everyone else was like, "Oh yeah, that sounds like a great idea, and we should really hate on the gays, too..."


I'm sorry, but Jesus gave us some pretty specific instructions in Matthew 22:
"Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 'Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?'
 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”"


There isn't an asterisk there. No caveat saying, "love your neighbor- unless he's gay or liberal or a different race or a different denomination than you- then that loving thing is completely optional." Nope. He said love your neighbor as yourself. Period. It's not dependent on your neighbor; it's dependent on your capacity to love as Christ loves. And that's not an easy thing. That kind of love will stretch out its arms and die for you while you spit in its face. That kind of love will look at you and tell you you're beautiful while the rest of the world calls you ugly.


The thing is, if you're a Christian, loving others isn't an option. It's a command. But you know what? Besides being called to love the ostracized and marginalized "sinners," we're also called to love the Pharisees, the religious zealots who think they're better than everyone else. The bullies as well as the bullied. Meaning, I have to let my resentment for the Westboro Baptist congregation go, and pray that they learn the real meaning of why Jesus did on the cross for us. That we're all the thief to His side and He's offering us all a shot of redemption. Because we all started out in the same gutter.


So I feel for the victims that have their loved ones' funerals picketed by these misguided folks, and I pray for them. But I also pray for the misguided ones holding the picket signs, because they need Jesus just as much as they think the people they're picketing do.


Read the blog that inspired this entry.

Savages

Confession: I love Disney movies. When I was younger, I used to dream about growing up to be the voice of a Disney princess someday. I mean, that is every young girl's dream, right? Anyway, this evening we watched one of the classics, Pocahontas. That movie has all the elements of a good Disney cartoon: action, cute animals, and romance.

One of the key plot points, though, is the animosity between the natives and the new white settlers. They even sing this (fantastic) song about how much they hate each other called "Savages." Both sides accuse the other of being savages for the way they act. One of the lines is, "They're not like you and me, which means they must be evil!" It sounds ridiculous, right? Why can't these guys just get along? But the thing is, how many times do we all do that on a daily basis? Maybe we don't grab our pitchforks and attack people, but we do judge people who are different than us based solely on their appearance, or something superficial.

I've heard it said before that unless you have a gavel, you shouldn't be judging others. Jesus warns us against doing just that in Matthew 7:1-3, "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?" So, the next time you make a quick assessment of someone before you really get to know them, stop and think about Pocahontas and her people. You wouldn't want to be a savage, right?