Terrible news is coming out of Pakistan<\/a> today where a Christian couple was tortured to death by an angry mob before having their bodies burned in a brick kiln.<\/p>\nTragically, it is but the latest heartbreaking moment\u00a0in a seemingly never-ending stream of news reports coming out of the Middle East and beyond involving the persecution of Christians; the most infamous, of course, being the wholesale slaughter of Christians (and other religious minorities) at the hands of ISIS.<\/p>\n
Christianity was born in the Middle East and if this extermination continues, it may very well die there.<\/p>\n
And yet what do we hear from American Christians and our\u00a0leaders in response to the Body of Christ being torn apart on the other side of the world?<\/p>\n
Virtually nothing.<\/p>\n
Sure, you might occasionally see a story pop up on your Facebook wall or in your Twitter feed, maybe somebody even thought to add \u201cChristians around the world\u201d to the prayer request list at your church.<\/p>\n
But our collective silence is deafening.<\/p>\n
No, that\u2019s not right.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not deafening.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s disgusting<\/em>.<\/p>\nWhen we enthusiastically\u00a0show up in droves to buy a chicken sandwich in order to make a meaningless ideological point, scream and shout over having to\u00a0bake a cake for the \u201cwrong\u201d people, and cry injustice\u00a0when a for-profit business is\u00a0forced to obey the law, and yet do virtually nothing\u00a0when it comes time to stand up and cry out\u00a0for our brothers and sisters who are daily being exiled, oppressed, and murdered, our message becomes clear.<\/p>\n
We just don\u2019t give a damn<\/em>.<\/p>\nOur actions (or lack thereof) make it clear to the rest of the world that here in the United States we\u2019re more concerned about winning debates and keeping\u00a0our place of political privilege\u00a0than we are about the suffering\u00a0of men, women, and children we profess to be our brothers and sisters in Christ.<\/p>\n
Shame on us<\/em>.<\/p>\nShame on us for having the audacity to claim persecution in a land where we\u00a0face literally no threat whatsoever to our safety\u00a0because of our\u00a0faith and where we are free to practice that faith in virtually any way we see fit.<\/p>\n
God forgive us<\/em>.<\/p>\nGod forgive us for being so focused on winning the\u00a0culture\u00a0wars that we ignore the plight of those suffering the effects of actual war.<\/p>\n
God open our eyes<\/em>.<\/p>\nGod help us to see that\u00a0disagreement is not persecution, that living in a secular nation that enforces its secular laws is not persecution, and that having to treat our neighbors as equals is not an act of persecution even when we don\u2019t like them, their faith, or their way of life.<\/p>\n
God stir our hearts<\/em>.<\/p>\nGod stir our hearts to love those we\u2019ve never met, to care for those we\u2019ll never see, and to\u00a0stand up\u00a0those whose names we\u2019ll never know.<\/p>\n
God protect our brothers and sisters<\/em>.<\/p>\nGod be faithful to your people and do not abandon our brothers and sisters\u00a0in their time of need. Let your justice roll on like a river and your righteousness like a never-failing stream to the parched corners of the world where your mighty and healing hand is so desperately needed.<\/p>\n
Bring peace, Lord Jesus, where there is now only war and hope where there is only despair.<\/p>\n
And grant to us\u00a0who have been silent, the courage to speak out on behalf\u00a0of those who suffer so greatly.<\/p>\n
Amen<\/em>.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(Credit: Mosa\u2019ab Elshamy, Flickr Creative Commons) Terrible news is coming out of Pakistan today where a Christian couple was tortured to death by an angry mob before having their bodies burned in a brick kiln. Tragically, it is but the latest heartbreaking moment\u00a0in a seemingly never-ending stream of news reports coming out of the Middle […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3437,"featured_media":13221,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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(Credit: Mosa\u2019ab Elshamy, Flickr Creative Commons<\/em><\/a>)<\/p>\n