Jesus said to his disciples: “Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”
Saturday night I had a hard time sleeping. So at around midnight, I went to the living room and turned on the television. I flipped through the channels and came across a television program I believe was called “Investigation”; real life stories of murder.
If you are ever having a hard time falling asleep I do not recommend watching this program, especially around midnight. I was scared out of my mind. But I couldn’t help myself. I was shocked at what I was watching. In one episode a man went to great lengths to kill his wife. He even shot himself four times to make it look like an intruder had done the deadly deed. In another episode, a man killed his neighbor and then called 9-1-1 to make it appear as though a stranger had done it. How could they do such things? After watching over an hour of this program, it dawned on me that these individuals were driven not so much by selfish motives but by self-confidence. All of them really believed that they could do it and get away with it. They were all wrong.
In my twenty years as a religious, I have heard a lot of stories. Some of them unique, but most are the same. The names change, but the sad stories are always the same. Too often from teenagers they speak of their young love gone surprisingly bad. “I thought he loved me. I thought I was the only one. I thought I was special. I thought he was different.” From adults who are married, they use century old excuses to mask/justify their infidelities. “Gradually, we grew apart. I never loved her/him. She/he worked too much. It really started off innocently…” Infidelity never starts off innocently. Never! That’s as old as an old wives tale. Broken vows, like broken commandments, are a symptom of over-confidence.
Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.” The truth of the matter is this. I must ground, root, connect and attach myself to the Lord at all times. The moment I break one of His commandments I dig up the ground, I tear a root, I disconnect, I detach. And now, I am completely on my own. This is what confidence does to us: it gives us a false sense of security. And that is dangerous. It is dangerous because of an overlooked truth: I will never know anyone very well in my lifetime. I will never know someone as well as I know myself. And I don’t even know myself that well. The only person I will ever know very well in my life is the Lord. In fact, I know everything about him. What he said and what he did because what he said he did. If someone were to ask me who Jesus is, I would say: “He is the one who never breaks his promises.” That says it all. What else is there to know?
Whoever loves me keeps my word. I hate to bring this up, again, but I am reminded of Dan Savage, the homosexual activist and Christian bully. I am still reflecting on his anti-Christian tantrum of a week ago. What I find most disturbing about the whole affair is something that no one seems to have noticed or even thought about. As you know, it was reported that many young Christians had the courage to get up and leave. But apparently no atheist got up and walked out of his talk. To the best of my knowledge, no homosexual group or atheist lobby was disturbed at what he said and how he said it. Why? Because the truth of the matter is far too many secularists and atheists are religious bullies. When they talk, they can’t seem to talk about who they love but rather who they hate. When Christians speak, they speak about who they love and what they hate. A-theists, by definition, are not for someone. Actually, they are against someone, and in this case, they are against God. Christians, on the other hand, by definition, are for someone, they are for Christ, for God and man. In fact, Christ is God and man. No wonder why a follower of Jesus will never use foul language or slurs to describe someone, not even their enemy. If they attack, then they attack an issue, not a person. If they need to defend themselves or someone else then they will do so, even forcefully. But if they need not to, then they will walk away.
Again, I am saddened to think that not a single atheist or homosexual walked out on Savage’s talk. I am saddened to know that only Christians are truly against bullying. How disappointing. Of course, I would not expect an atheist to walk out on an anti-Christian speaker, but I would have hoped they would have walked out on a bully! After all, he wasn’t speaking against Christians as much as he was speaking like a bully.
I know for a fact, that if a “Christian” speaker got up on the platform and spewed out vulgarities and slurs against homosexuals or atheists, then not a few atheists and homosexuals would have thrown slurs right back at him, or thrown chairs right at his back, or, at best, walked out of the room. But what would most of the Christians, sitting in the audience, have done? I know. They would have gladly joined forces and walked out of the room, just like they have done for centuries.
Not to us, O Lord, but to your name give glory (Ps 115: 1). Paul was scandalized and tore his garments when the pagans wanted to worship him as a god. Bullies just can’t seem to leave people alone. They seek attention and get it by making others feel stupid or ignorant. I guess if you don’t have someone to love, then you have to look for someone to hate. That explains the anti-Christmas campaigns and posters during the Christmas season by some well known atheist organizations. That may explain the year-round antagonism by a few atheists against Christians in the workplace. Atheists, like bullies, just can’t seem to direct their energy towards what they believe and how they can love. Love requires humility. Far too many atheists exude confidence in themselves. Christians exude confidence in Jesus Christ. They do not seek to make a name for themselves; they seek to make disciples in the name of the Lord. Their motto is simple: “It is no longer I who live in me, but Christ who lives in me.” A Christian has the ability to love others and hate himself. A bully seems to do the opposite. A Christian does not have an obligation to agree with everyone, but he does have an obligation to love everyone. I’m not sure what obligation an atheist has, but it would appear as though it is to ruin someone’s day.
Christians do a pretty good job reminding each other that we need to forgive. It’s a good way to keep us from shifting to the other side. To end bullying requires a shift in confidence; a shift from confidence in oneself to confidence in the Lord. To end bullying requires a shift in love; a shift from love for oneself to love for others. To end bullying requires a shift in tactics; a shift from attacking people to attacking ideas.
We Senior Citizens thank you for the more generous font!
ReplyDeleteVery interesting you updated this post....I read your "deleted" sentences earlier this morning. I was about to respectfully refute them! But, I see now you have removed them. (99% of bullies are **not** necessarily closet atheists. Christians spill out vulgarities at people just like atheists do. We're all sinners!!) ;)
ReplyDeleteI think an atheist has an obligation to the **self**. It's all about them and their insecurities, over-confidence, and lack of tolerance. It's all about hatred and negativity. They are pessimists, extremists, and anarchists. I personally think God invisioned the "atheist" in his design of the world just to mess with Christians. In terms of this Dan Savage beast, he's not worth meditating on. I listened to some of his filth and was shocked at the clapping and laughing in the audience. Did you know this man writes a "Savage Love" sex advise column under syndication, available for enjoyable reading in the "Dallas Observer?" (Oh, make me vomit!) It's the most vile, perverted trash I've ever read in my life. Unfortunately sensationalism, profanity, and "bullying" sells in the media and secular worlds.
Unfortunately, we cannot label bullies as only atheists. We have bullies in Christianity and non-Christian religions, too. I was the victim of bullying while attending a Christian daycare center as a child. It was humilitating and degrading. I thought I was safe from emotional harm playing with other children who went to Church every Sunday and sang "Kumbaya" in chapel! Not so the case! To this day I still have some scars from those bullying days. Not a fun experience at all. Bullies exude confidence because they lack in confidence. They bully because they hurt inside. They are broken, lost, and ashamed. Bullies may even believe in a "God" but they are so tormented in their hearts that they feel the need to project hate on another person. It's a complicated dynamic.
Blessings,
-Jennifer
Jennifer, we know that if a Christian spills out vulgarities, then they really aren't representing the person they claim to follow. They need to work harder. But what about the atheist who spills out vulgarities? Who are they misrepresenting. The only reason why I took out the 99% was because I couldn't back it up with any facts. But I believe I am not far from the truth. That we are all sinners is a terrible excuse for a Christian to not try harder. But what reason does an atheist have to try harder?
ReplyDeleteP.S. I think Dan Savage is definitely worth meditating because Dan Savage represents the applause and cheers of hundreds of students and that is worrisome, especially if they represent the "tolerant".
ReplyDeleteI felt somewhat like you Jennifer when I first read this, then I realized or think he was talking about what Christians are supposed to be. We have a model to follow, to imitate and when we do those 'things' that are 'bad', we have a conscience as well as each other to remind us that we are not acting as the Christian we claim to be.
ReplyDeleteThe atheist on the other hand makes up their own rules and decides what is right and wrong on his own terms so really there are no rules and they do not feel guilty or believe they have done anything wrong because to them there is no wrong. Well except not being tolerant to anyone but Christians. They do have a rule that Christians are the only ones that have to be tolerant. Christians are the ones that need to change. Christians are the ones who are making their lives so difficult to live 'peacefully' in utter chaotic immorality.
Or maybe that's not what he meant.
….I wonder, I wonder…. if Saul would be a present day Savage? I wonder who we Christians would think would be worse? I am still with you Father; I’m just wondering.
ReplyDeleteI can’t wait to get to heaven to see who or how many Christians suffered for the salvation of Paul. Paul had nothing to do with his own conversion: no repentance, no faith, no Christian could convince him with WORDS! Jesus did it to Paul without one thought from Paul! I think that is exactly why Paul had so much zeal! He absolutely, positively knew that everything that happened to him, all desires for God, all desires for the cross was all due to grace! It is a gift – we cannot earn it.
Isn’t there some connection with the stoning of St Stephan and the conversion of Saul? I look around me and realize that we are not only asked of a physical martyrdom in this day and age but also to embrace the mental, emotional, and spiritual sufferings of today – ADD, autism, anorexia, depression, anxiety, narcissism, dark night of the soul.
Where sin abounds, there grace shall be… This is why I think that we are privileged to be living today! Just look at the evil, sin, relativism, media, Sauls all around us! We are not the underdogs – we are abounding in grace!!! Has there been a time in history that Christ has been so ridiculed? We are abounding in grace!! We have more than what we need to carry our crosses!!! This is how Jesus will manifest Himself to us – it will be through us….We will do greater things in this age than Jesus would in His age b/c there is more evil now than it was then…We are abounding in grace!! I wonder if that is how that works..? ??
….. we must die to ourselves, struggle everyday with our own interior torn up souls, our own lack of humility where we cannot see it, our own confusion, our own temptations in whatever circumstances that God Himself has specifically packaged up for us. We must go through many hardships to enter into heaven… (May 8th reading)
and Love the person that God puts in front of me in every present moment of life so that I am not thinking of myself but Jesus in front of me. This is my struggle every day. I fail so very many, many times every day thanking God along the way.
But saints are sinners who get back up again… only with the grace of God!
…. I wonder if this is how we will help to convert Savage….