One thing I can’t get over is how quickly so many Christians will sell their souls for the promise of being made great again. It’s as if they’ve never read that whole “temptation narrative” from Luke 3 and 4. You know, the one where the devil promises Jesus all the religious and political power the world has to offer, and Jesus rejects it like Wenbanyama rejects weak layups.
So why is it, 2,000 years later, and Christians are willing to sabotage their testimony for a chance at great power? It makes no sense. What happens if they are wrong about this whole Christian Nationalism thing? What happens if their actions don’t line up at all with the message of Jesus? Then no one will want to take Christianity seriously ever again–I guess they’ll just be forced to at the threat of violence (how Christlike!).
When it comes to the proverbial “other side”–Biden, for instance–at least these folks don’t do their bull**** in the NAME OF JESUS. When liberals or progressives do that which is antithetical to the love and empathy and compassion of Christ–and sometimes we do, undoubtedly–it isn’t wrapped in an American flag. Biden hasn’t endorsed a Bible with the lyrics to a Lee Greenwood song in it. Only one man has ever done that.
That must matter for something!
Of course, you may be thinking that I’m just being nit-picky, but I’m not. Your testimony is supposed to count for a lot. If you’re going to be a Christian, it’s far more insidious to do evil while being the so-called representation of “Christ?”
Tell me I’m wrong.
That said, what is YOUR testimony, Mr. and Mrs. Christian? If you fly a Trump flag, do you feel no shame on Sunday? Y’all like to heap piles of it on us in the LGBTQ community, or women who have sex before marriage, or folks who smoke weed, or anyone else who doesn’t toe the company line. But where is your shame? Matter of fact, where is your love?
Because that has to be the ultimate testimony. Love. If you don’t have love, what does Paul call us? A clanging gong? Well, I can’t remember the last time I heard a gong, so let me remix it: Without love, you are like a Lee Greenwood song. Actually, no one listens to that s*** either, so let’s just say without love you are like one of those loud-ass Trump trucks that blows diesel everywhere. Sadly, too many know the kind.
So, how about we come back to love? (Let me rephrase, because I don’t know if Christianity has ever been about love in my lifetime.) Let’s love for the first time. Like, really love. Go out of our way to assist others. Be better friends. Listen more often and talk less. Tread lightly on the planet. Sit down and be humble. Stop gossiping. Stop demonizing. Show some god**** empathy. Because if Christianity can’t sweep off its own porch, what the hell is it doing worrying about the porches of everyone not like them? As my thirteen-year-old daughter said this morning, “If Christians say that God is love, why don’t they love people who aren’t like them?”
Well said, Elyse. Well said.
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