Tag: What Would Jesus Do

Does God Hate?

May 8, 2012
by Gayle

When I was a child my mother taught me many things. She taught me about Jesus and how her accepted people that no one else did. She taught me that we were to love everyone because that was what God wanted us to do. She taught me to love my country and to understand the rights of others. A favorite saying was that ‘your rights end where mine begin.’ She taught me of the separation of Church and State and how the State should not interfere with the practice of religion. I also learned from my mother how in the United States we do not have one governmentally sanctioned church (like the Church of England) and that we have the ability to choose which church entity we embrace.

 

I have no doubt my mother is disappointed because I took her teachings to heart! I believe that the government has no business obstructing religion or religious practices (even the ones I disagree with). Conversely, I believe the Church has no business obstructing the work of the government.

 

I become exasperated when I hear ‘Christians’ complain about a ‘welfare state’. WHY? Because Jesus commanded Christians to take care of the poor; Not the government! A welfare state exists because Christians have shirked their responsibility!

 

Today is a voting day in North Carolina. It’s a day when voters go and exercise their right (and obligation) to participate in our governmental process.

 

It is my sincere desire that those who vote today will remember that voting to deny rights to anyone is not Christ-like but is hate filled. My Jesus commanded me to love all people and love does live in a heart filled with hate.

 

: Thoughts

Are Christians Culpable in Gay Teen Suicides?

September 24, 2011
by Gayle

Who am I to place blame? However, I do believe that Jesus commands us to love one another. There were no provisions made to love one another but hate who they are, nor any other type of spin or Semantics.

Love you neighbor as yourself. <THE END>

: Struggles

Stones of Deflection

August 9, 2011
by Two or more

Some of the people in my life who have treated me the worst have worn the label ‘Christian’. It makes me sad. They have pointed at my life and ‘they’ condemned me and my life. I used to take great joy in the idea that they would answer for their ‘sin’ of keeping me from God. However, I have come to realize my hatred toward them is just as damning.

In the 8th Chapter of John we find a story we all know. It is the story of the adulteress… or maybe the story of the ‘cast the first stone’ quote:

At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

11 “No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Is not our modern Church the same as the Pharisees? Our modern Church takes the words of the Bible and chooses which they wish to believe and which they choose to think of as no longer necessary.

In this Bible passage, Jesus basically told the Pharasees to mind their own business.  If you as a church member are doing anything that is keeping someone else from God and the church, you need to take a long hard look at your own life, and probably just mind your own business.  When speaking with the woman, he didn’t condemn her, nor did he give her any road map to follow to be a better person.  He just told her to be a better person – it was up to her to determine what that was for her own life.

By condemning those who are homosexual, they think that they can change them by the force of their will or the extent of their anger.  By doing this, they hope to deflect the light from their own perceived sins; whether it be lying, cheating, infidelity or even their own sexuality.  When they “cast stones”  they do so in order to feel superior and be able to forget their own shortcomings. Has homosexuality become a red herring for Christians everywhere?

Jesus tells us to love one another, as Christ loves the Church. In that manner, we each have to determine what we should do to be the best person we can be. We must determine how we love others. Jesus didn’t love the woman in the story with condemnation and reproof. He loved her with compassion and understanding. We must all decide to be like Jesus and make our mantra to others ‘neither do I condemn thee’.

From now  I am going to try to remember that every time I pick up a stone I should examine myself in a mirror  BEFORE I cast the stone. Are my motives clear? or am I just deflecting from a light being shown the corners of my own life? Even more, I will remember that those who are casting stones at me are making me the scapegoat for their own guilt.

: Theology

Who Would Jesus Friend on Facebook?

July 29, 2011
by Gayle

We live in a day and age when connecting with family and friends has never been easier. Social media is a term we hear constantly. We call, we text, we tweet and we Facebook. For many if not most, we carry a device in our pockets whereby we can connect with the universe of information and people.

How many of us have lost the connection to God because of our connection to everything and everyone else? Or is Social Media being rebooted by the new social interaction as this article Social media rebooting religion suggests. In the article the author asks “Are Facebook and Twitter changing religion? It seems clearer and clearer that the ever-growing dominance of social media – especially on mobile computing devices like smart phones and tablets – is bringing religion back into the daily lives of many, while challenging religious institutions to revise notions of spiritual identity and community in both online and face-to-face worship.”

Perhaps there are those for whom the hyper-social interactions are increasing their connection to religion. But are those interactions producing a closer relationship with God?

The religious noise I hear via Facebook and Twitter are the extremists shouting from the roof tops. They are those who give the impression they wish to create great divides in the body of Christ. They rant and rail against anyone who would dare to question their conclusions. I have little or no doubt they would be the first to condemn those who appear different and had the audacity to attend ‘their church’.  The part ‘they’ missed is that it isn’t ‘their church’ it is Christ’s Church.

Luke 19:10 tells us that Jesus came to came to seek and to save that which was lost.  I am here to tell you that we have seen that which was lost and it is us! We are the lost ones. The question my friend is who is we? Am I more lost today than I was 30 years ago? Yes.  Am I more lost because of my sexual orientation? Yes, but not in the way you might believe.

I am not more lost because God loves me less. I am not more lost because I am living as God created me. I am more lost because those who would lay claim to Christ’s Church have created a hostile environment whenever I attempt to come into the fold.

In June of 1987 Ronald Reagan challenged the world to ‘Tear Down this Wall’ as he encouraged the world to eliminate the divide between East and West Germany. It was a powerful and motivating speech; one that came with results, a mere twenty-nine months later, in November of 1989 when ‘the wall’ was indeed removed. I have no illusion that I am nearly as powerful as Mr.  Reagan. My suspicion is that I am more of a lone voice crying in the wilderness. However, my message is the same. Tear down this wall! Fling open the doors. Create an open and welcoming environment. It is what Jesus would do!

: Thoughts