February 3, 2021 – In Which Soren Briefly Tangos With Conservative Christian’s Frightening Obsession with the Use of War Metaphor and Attempts to be a Very Tall Bono Sans the Shades
The Bible, especially the Old Testament, is not a how-to guide. If anything it gives us stark examples of the consequences of doing stupid things. For example, a lot of conservative Christians love to hold David up as a role model. No doubt he is a fundamental figure in scripture. If you were talking about how he composed music or was “a man after God’s heart” that’s cool and good. What bothers me is how Christians will use war languages and metaphor in how they speak. People should be uneasy about using the term “cultural war” or hosting “crusades”. There is a reason non-Christians recoil at the use of these words. Do these phrases conjure up the idea of Jesus ministering to the sick and broken? Does it capture Jesus teaching and helping people to understand Love does conquer all? No. Wars and crusades are about killing your enemy and raping their women and children. Compare that to the teaching of Jesus:
“But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, offer the other cheek also. If someone demands your coat, offer your shirt also. Give to anyone who asks; and when things are taken away from you, don’t try to get them back. Do to others as you would like them to do to you. “If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them! And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit? Even sinners do that much! And if you lend money only to those who can repay you, why should you get credit? Even sinners will lend to other sinners for a full return. “Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate. Luke 6:27-36 (NLT)
Jesus is not teaching us to allow ourselves to become victims. This is a radical call for putting our faith into action instead of just being passive. It takes effort to love those who have done evil to us. It takes effort to express a loving attitude to those who have done us wrong. Having empathy and compassion towards those who are not just broken but actively hostile is exhausting. If you have never had to deal with someone’s cruelty on a daily basis then you have no idea how difficult it is to try and be Jesus to them. That is the bare minimum we are expected as Christians. Don’t let yourself be a victim, when possible use a spiritual Aikido to sidestep hate and use their energy against them. Don’t let words of hate cause you to become mad, let it inspire you to bless them, pray for them, and make the world a better place. We don’t need a war metaphor and we don’t need to treat the Bible as an instructional manual. We would be better at our faith to acknowledge it contains stories of some incredibly broken people God used in spite of themselves and that God has continued to do so. That is the victory David is speaking of, how God can transform even the most broken and jaded person into someone capable of love and compassion. It’s not a victory where there is a loser or being better than someone. The hard part of all this is Jesus delighting in sending us Fools out into the world to be a witness and light. We Christians make for poor Christ imitators. But we must show up and try, give our best effort, roll the dice, and let God handle the rest.
“God creates out of nothing. Wonderful you say. Yes, to be sure, but he does what is still more wonderful: he makes saints out of sinners.” -Soren Kierkegaard