hate/love/hate

hi.


there's a fine article on the last page of the 28th may 2007 issue of time magazine. it's one of probably thousands of pieces written over the last ten days about jerry falwell and his "legacy". i found it to be well written, not coming down on either "side". here's a quote from near the end of the article:


Falwell practiced the politics of division, flinging damnation at those who resisted his vision of a Godly America. Now a rising generation of Christian leaders is looking to bring people together: the politics of division may be a shrewd electoral strategy but a shallow spiritual one. Their God is bigger than their party, more mysterious, more forgiving and more embracing. (my emboldening)


it makes me very happy to see a publication like time give some props to christians. they haven't had much reason to, goodness knows; we christians have not made the best name for ourselves (or for christ) in this country, and that goes back many decades.


still, i consider john's words -- in both his gospel (quoting jesus) and in his first epistle -- as he puts forth the fact that the world is going to hate us for being followers of jesus, and that this shouldn't surprise us. followers of christ are a "peculiar people", says peter; our standing as such puts us at odds with the rest of the world. it causes me to consider a crazy thought: was jerry falwell doing something right? much of the world thought pretty ill of him -- hated him, even -- so isn't that some indication that the stand he took and the ideologies he championed in christ's name were well-founded?


not necessarily.


the biggest distinction between christ and anything else that could command our loyalty is summed up in one simple word: love. love is what we are to put on first and most, because it brings people together, not rips them apart. love is the greatest thing; without it, we may as well not even talk, think, act, or believe. love is the only thing that matters when it's all said and done. to love is the greatest commandment. love is the only thing we owe anyone, but we owe it to everyone. love is what motivated god to come to us in the first place, which alone is reason enough to think it's important.


love manifests itself most profoundly when it is done in an environment of hate, just as a light is brightest when it is shining in the dark. again, we see this exemplified in christ. we're called to that as well: to love the rejected, to show compassion and grace to those who are hard to love. we human-types were not all that lovable ourselves, but god still did.


my good friend brian made a keen observation that evangelical christians are often much more interested in being right than being loving. my prayer is that the "rising generation of christian leaders" to which time is referring will allow, yea insist, that the latter trump the former. the reverend falwell probably loved well in several (perhaps even most) areas of his life, but in those public arenas where christians are most scrutinized, he does not escape reinforcing a rigid legalism that the world perceives to be the universal "christian" social/political/theological worldview. sadly, the result is, well...the world hating us.


what then did jesus and john mean?