Monday, June 27, 2022

What is a Christian to do these days?

I am a Christian. This gives me pause to state in text. I do not like or support what that label has come to mean in our country over the last several years. More accurately I should say, I believe in Jesus Christ. That He is God's son. That He died and rose again. That He is Lord over this messed up world and will return to fix it someday. I believe that His mandate until then is lead with love, live with grace, and humbly remember that we are not God. (Micah 6:8 "He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly[a] with your God.") Why do I start with this assertion? Because all of what follows comes from that kind of a heart and value set. I believe in the sanctity of life and God's sovereignty over it. I DO NOT believe in legislation demanded by Christians to ban abortions and many other issues that are currently represented in a one-sided way and labeled "The Christian View." I believe that the Christian commission is to surround with love. If I were to know a young or old woman who was unfortunately pregnant and in a desparate way, my Christian role should be to offer my love and support to that woman so expansively that she could bare her circumstances without as much fear and pain as she would have felt if a "Christian" wasn't by her side. Whatever the woman did, or did not do, would not be mine to judge or condemn as I would have plenty of my own sins to be atoning for - always. If a child is in need from life in this world without parental support, then I should, as a Christian, step in to offer my own resources (space, time, money, love) to build them up - this is the long game, for the entirety of their life if need be. The young men in our lives could also benefit by a model of love and support for others that would, perhaps, lead them to being gentle and respectful to all women, to all people. Love over legislation is where I come down as a Christian. It saddens me to see the name of our Lord used to judge, condemn and legislate over others; the same Lord who clearly stated to the men about to stone the adulteress according to the "law", "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." John 8:1-11 “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?” 6 They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. 7 They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” 8 Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust. 9 When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. 10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” 11 “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.” The only way to be pro-life as a Christian is to support the life God creates from cradle to grave with the love and mercy and grace that Jesus showed us and everyone He met throughout the texts of the New Testament.