"Too many Christians want to change the world not because they love the world but because they hate the world."
- Frank Viola and Leonard Sweet in Jesus Manifesto
(Full disclosure: I haven't read the book, I just saw the quote on the internet.)
A few days ago, the internet blew up and many were outraged over the treatment of Phil Robertson (the patriarch of the Duck Dynasty family), after he made a few comments in an article for GQ.
First off, GQ!? That's the first problem right there. No one should really be surprised that Phil Roberston and GQ didn't mix well. Honestly, who seriously thought that would be a good idea?
I read most of the article. I didn't like it for a lot of reasons. I have watched about 5 minutes of an episode of Duck Dynasty. I didn't like it for a lot of reasons. Just not my thing. However, I have heard that the Roberston family are the best Christians on TV, so they have my respect. Being a Christian is hard at times no matter where you are and what you are doing.
Here's the thing, I have 430 friends on facebook and work at a church with a congregation of 300 or so...and I can't tell you how many times I censor myself. I erase facebook posts all the time. I hold my tongue. I write long blog posts and never publish them (at this point, I'm not sure if this one will be published). At the end of the day, my chief aim, my ultimate goal is to bring glory to God. I am a Christ-follower and I want to represent Him well to the world...therefore, sometimes the world doesn't need to know what Alex thinks. (I realize that is a strange comment to make considering this is a whole blog post about what I think...but honestly, this is on my heart, so I'm sharing.)
Now, I'm pretty sure I can guess what some of you are saying..."but Alex, Phil was just standing up for what he believes...what the Bible says." Okay. Sure. I get it. I am a conservative Christian Millennial, which some would say is an oxymoron...and it's true, there aren't many of us out there. :) I believe that the Bible has very black and white things to say about sin. I believe the Bible. I have no desire to or intention of compromising my beliefs. But my thoughts, no matter how much I read the Bible, no matter how much I seek after God, are NOT God's thoughts. I am not God. Not even close. I can say what the Bible says and I can have some thoughts and opinions about what it all means, but at the end of the day, there's a lot that I just have to trust God with. I have grown up in a world that is increasingly more diverse. I have known and befriended people of all different races, religions, and sexual orientations. I do not and would not ever want to see them hurt by me being insensitive...especially if I thought I had a free pass to be insensitive because of my beliefs. I believe in a God who loves His children. He weeps for us and His heart breaks for us. He rejoices when we rejoice. To me, that is the opposite of insensitivity. Think about Jesus for a second, how did he talk to the woman at the well? He didn't call her names, He didn't condemn her...but He did change her.
The Gospel message is offensive. It says that we are going to mess up big time and can't fix it on our own. Being an independent perfectionist, this good news offends me. I have to depend on Someone else. Someone who came from heaven to earth, put on human skin, and loved people. He didn't hate them, He offered them hope. He wasn't disgusted by their sin, He was determined to help them.
Jesus never compromised when it came to what He thought was right and wrong and I don't think we should either. However, I do believe that love speaks louder than hate. I believe that before we can change minds, hearts must be changed...and only God can do that. Perhaps our goal should be to introduce people to God through our loving words and actions and let Him take care of the rest. Perhaps we doubt God's power if we think we need to be in control of changing people. After all, salvation, if it is real, is always supernatural. It's a God-thing, not a human-thing.
When facebook blew up earlier this week, I was just sad. All of a sudden, it became us vs. them. We complain about the media vilifying us and then we fall into their trap. We draw battle lines. We fight for a principle, more than we care about people. I don't think constant bickering brings glory to God, it just makes us look like the hateful people they accuse us of being. We're all sinners. We all need a Savior. The sins I commit don't break God's heart any less than that of a murderer. The media is going to give us a hard time. We could debate for days whether this is right or wrong or fair...but it is going to happen. What if it isn't supposed to be easy? Maybe we're supposed to be more careful with what we say and let our actions speak for themselves. We have to understand that our actions and our words have consequences. As Christians, those consequences don't exist just in this world, but heaven as well. We're either helping people see Jesus or convincing them that they want nothing to do with Him. We have a big responsibility to show others the love of God...it's not about our rights, our opinions, or our feelings...it's about Him. He'll deal with the details, but in the meantime He commands us to love Him and love others. Maybe the media giving us a hard time should be an impetus for us to be more accountable for our actions and words.
When facebook blew up earlier this week, I was just sad. All of a sudden, it became us vs. them. We complain about the media vilifying us and then we fall into their trap. We draw battle lines. We fight for a principle, more than we care about people. I don't think constant bickering brings glory to God, it just makes us look like the hateful people they accuse us of being. We're all sinners. We all need a Savior. The sins I commit don't break God's heart any less than that of a murderer. The media is going to give us a hard time. We could debate for days whether this is right or wrong or fair...but it is going to happen. What if it isn't supposed to be easy? Maybe we're supposed to be more careful with what we say and let our actions speak for themselves. We have to understand that our actions and our words have consequences. As Christians, those consequences don't exist just in this world, but heaven as well. We're either helping people see Jesus or convincing them that they want nothing to do with Him. We have a big responsibility to show others the love of God...it's not about our rights, our opinions, or our feelings...it's about Him. He'll deal with the details, but in the meantime He commands us to love Him and love others. Maybe the media giving us a hard time should be an impetus for us to be more accountable for our actions and words.
As for Phil...he still has Jesus, his family, and a legion of fans. So what if he doesn't have a TV show? I think he'd agree with me when I say that he is still a very blessed man. God told us that we'll face troubles in this life. It can't be happy, happy, happy all the time. In the interview (or some other time, I'm not entirely sure), Phil also said, "I would never treat anyone with disrespect just because they are different from me. We are all created by the Almighty and like Him, I love all of humanity." What a shame that this message of love and care got buried in all of the other comments he made...but that is what happens. So, let that be a lesson to all of us to watch what we say, so that what we really want the world to know about us, our hearts, and our Jesus is what they hear.
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