HATE YOUR ENEMIES
Yesterday was an interesting social media news reading for me. First, I read of a CNN news anchor who told his viewers, “If you believe in one another and if you do the right thing for yourself and your community, things will get better in this country. You don't need help from above. It's within us.” He is the brother of the New York governor who told his constituents that the COVID-19 cases are down with no help from God.
And before I retired for the night, Facebook suggested I might be interested in The Atheist's Bible Commentary which introduces itself as “We're Anti-theists here. If making fun of religion isn't your thing then you're probably not going to like this page. Thanks for stopping by! =) This page was formed to give atheists a forum to blaspheme with impunity. Our goal is to provide humorous and educational material to the atheist community, we can also have fun mocking the Bible here too. We post a new verse everyday in sequential order, feel free to comment whatever you want. If you see something you like, share it and help the page grow! Jesus f******g Christ, thank you!”
When I encounter such posts, I usually check the comments because more often than not, I would see Christians who may be sincere in defending the faith but are as offensive in their reactions. They would condemn the offenders to hell and even relish at the judgment that awaits the “blasphemers.” And we wonder why the world keeps maintaining its social distance from us? As trite as it might sound, we are the only Bible they would ever read. Our venomous words only confirm their disdain for God. And know what? The same venomous words betray our limited and skewed understanding of the Word.
Friends, what do we expect from people who do not believe or admit to be openly hostile to Christianity? The Bible is replete with warnings about it. Again, it betrays our lack of spiritual eyes when we attack our attackers. We are to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Mt. 5:44).
We never read Jesus spewing the same thing to those who never claimed to believe in God. If anything, He reserved them to those who do claim to follow God. In short, he called out the hypocrites---the very powerful and influential hypocrites who later conspired to put Him to death.
Again, if anything, it is open season to expose false teachers INSIDE the church. Unfortunately, there are already too many of them for us to even find time to go after those who would rather be caught dead than find themselves in the church roster. Yes, the latter, too, can mislead other people but there is greater damage from those who stand behind the pulpit than in front of a secular camera or administering an FB page because the false teachers are trusted more. Our guards are down because of their reverend or pastor prefix.
And for the third time, if anything, we should “look forward” to encountering hateful posts because they give us tremendous insight in how they see God and help us be ready with an answer (1 Peter 3:15) should we come across a real person with the same sentiment set up to meet us by divine appointment. And after encountering us, may s/he, like the Samaritan woman, go back to "the town and (say to them), ‘Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?’” and later hear the friends declare, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.’” (John 4)
Yesterday was an interesting social media news reading for me. First, I read of a CNN news anchor who told his viewers, “If you believe in one another and if you do the right thing for yourself and your community, things will get better in this country. You don't need help from above. It's within us.” He is the brother of the New York governor who told his constituents that the COVID-19 cases are down with no help from God.
And before I retired for the night, Facebook suggested I might be interested in The Atheist's Bible Commentary which introduces itself as “We're Anti-theists here. If making fun of religion isn't your thing then you're probably not going to like this page. Thanks for stopping by! =) This page was formed to give atheists a forum to blaspheme with impunity. Our goal is to provide humorous and educational material to the atheist community, we can also have fun mocking the Bible here too. We post a new verse everyday in sequential order, feel free to comment whatever you want. If you see something you like, share it and help the page grow! Jesus f******g Christ, thank you!”
When I encounter such posts, I usually check the comments because more often than not, I would see Christians who may be sincere in defending the faith but are as offensive in their reactions. They would condemn the offenders to hell and even relish at the judgment that awaits the “blasphemers.” And we wonder why the world keeps maintaining its social distance from us? As trite as it might sound, we are the only Bible they would ever read. Our venomous words only confirm their disdain for God. And know what? The same venomous words betray our limited and skewed understanding of the Word.
Friends, what do we expect from people who do not believe or admit to be openly hostile to Christianity? The Bible is replete with warnings about it. Again, it betrays our lack of spiritual eyes when we attack our attackers. We are to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Mt. 5:44).
We never read Jesus spewing the same thing to those who never claimed to believe in God. If anything, He reserved them to those who do claim to follow God. In short, he called out the hypocrites---the very powerful and influential hypocrites who later conspired to put Him to death.
Again, if anything, it is open season to expose false teachers INSIDE the church. Unfortunately, there are already too many of them for us to even find time to go after those who would rather be caught dead than find themselves in the church roster. Yes, the latter, too, can mislead other people but there is greater damage from those who stand behind the pulpit than in front of a secular camera or administering an FB page because the false teachers are trusted more. Our guards are down because of their reverend or pastor prefix.
And for the third time, if anything, we should “look forward” to encountering hateful posts because they give us tremendous insight in how they see God and help us be ready with an answer (1 Peter 3:15) should we come across a real person with the same sentiment set up to meet us by divine appointment. And after encountering us, may s/he, like the Samaritan woman, go back to "the town and (say to them), ‘Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?’” and later hear the friends declare, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.’” (John 4)