Repudiations

Remember how after 9/11 people would say if Islam as a religion is peaceful and nonviolent, where are all the Muslims denouncing what the terrorists have done? I remember that. Well, unfortunately, followers of Christ do and say a lot of crazy things, though fortunately less of them are violent. I believe we should hold ourselves to the same standards we expect of others, and so I want to repudiate some things. These things are incompatible with the gospel of Christ, and when Christians do or say them, they dishonor the noble name of him to whom we belong (an idea from James 2:7).

Let's start with Fred Phelps (he's the pastor who runs a website about God hating homosexuals, and he and his family (nearly everyone in his church is related to him) protest at people's funerals that they deserved to die because America accepts homosexuality). I don't believe Fred Phelps is a good follower of Christ. I don't believe he honors Christ in his words or his actions. I don't believe God hates individual people, gay or straight; he hates sin - and we all sin. He hates sin so much, and loves us so much, that he sent his son Jesus to pay for that sin - even the sin Fred Phelps commits when he misrepresents God. I don't believe there is any sin can outweigh the love of God, shown on the cross. I don't believe that God focuses his discipline on unbelievers, but on people who claim to follow him.

How about this one. Jerry Falwell said, just after 9/11, "I really believe that the pagans, the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way... I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'" I don't believe 9/11 was something God did to us, I believe it was something horrible, sinful people who don't distinguish between civilians and the military did to us. I believe God allowed 9/11, but I don't know what his purposes were. I believe if there's anyone God expects to hold to his standards, it's not pagans, gays, atheists, or the ACLU, but believers.

This one might be more controversial, with current events, but Terry Jones in no way demonstrates the spirit of Christ, who loved the world (John 3:16) and died for all (2 Corinthians 5:15). He's the fellow from Florida who leads a church of about 200 people, but has made a lot of national news by agitating Muslims. He held a trial in his church of the Koran, decided it was guilty, and then threatened to burn one. Personally, I don't think books are magic, and if you need to burn a Bible to keep warm or something, I don't mind, although there are certainly better books to burn first. But some people, including Christians, and presumably including Terry Jones, do think books are magic, and... thinks he can penalize a book for its ideas by burning it? Honestly, he's just doing this to incite Muslims and provoke a reaction. Terry Jones is a troll obsessed with being in the news, and he does it under the guise of being a Christian. But he's obviously forgotten some important words of Jesus... how did they go? Something about doing to others what you would want done to you, or something. He's also responsible for publicizing this film the Muslim world is rioting and killing over currently. Thanks, Terry - I'm sure God is pleased with what you've accomplished.

And I'll wrap up with "pro-life" people who think it's a good idea to threaten or kill doctors who perform abortions. I'm pro-life, with only two exceptions - I don't think abortion is wrong to protect the physical health of the mother, and I don't think it's wrong when the baby is greatly deformed and certain to die shortly after the umbilical cord is cut. I could be wrong about either one of those, but my point is I'm pretty strongly in favor of protecting the unborn. But there's nothing pro-life about killing people, even people who are really bad. There's particularly nothing pro-life about shooting an abortion doctor, through the eye, at his church where he serves as an usher. Who he is or what he did is irrelevant here; followers of the Lord of Life don't deal out death unless they do it as a member of the government, which the Bible teaches us is established by God (Romans 13:1-7). Outside of that, killing is murder, and "you know that no murderer has eternal life in him." (1 John 3:15) So don't claim to follow Christ, and kill people, regardless of your reasons.

Nope, I remembered one more category I need to cover: Christians who pray for the president to die. I never heard of anything like this before we had a black president, but out of deference, I'll assume these people would pray for God to kill any democratic president (though I'm not sure if that's better). For starters, there's this crazy guy. Fortunately, he's just one crazy guy pastoring a tiny independent baptist church in Arizona, but unfortunately, there's also this guy. Well, he's also crazy, but he's an officer in the Southern Baptist convention, was Alan Keyes' running mate, and is popular enough as a pastor to have a radio show. There are others, but that's enough to start a discussion. What's disgusting about these two Christian men is there are clear instructions in the New Testament telling us how to pray for our leaders. For example, 1 Timothy 2:1-2 says this, "I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness." Requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving are how each Christian should be praying for Obama, or Mitt Romney, should he win the election. Christians should not, under any circumstances, be praying for them to die.

That's probably an attention-span full. I don't pray for any of these people to die, but I do hope they become ignored and irrelevant, no longer make the news, and no longer misrepresent what Christ died to make us into. Feel free to leave me suggestions for future posts in the comments. Oh, and an afterthought: I'm not making theological claims based on 1 John 3:15, other than "Christianity is fully incompatible with murder." Thanks for reading!