Monday, November 13, 2006

To Sir with love...

I read yesterday in an MSNBC article that Sir Elton John said in a newspaper magazine that "religion encourages hatred and produces hateful lemmings," and that he would "ban organized religion completely." Admittedly, as I read what he had to say, it didn't exactly help me be more loving and accepting. It wreaks of Karl Marx's "religion is opium for the masses" statement, indicating that outside of providing some emotional high to deal with everyday issues, religion is useless.

So my immediate reaction was, "How dare he! How dare Sir Elton John would say these things..." To go along with his words, Rosie O'Donnell in October made comments on her new show The View in which she said, "Radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like the United States." And again, my thoughts immediately were, "How could she say that?! How dare she!"

But before I went and picketed and boycotted and wrote to every major Christian organization to ban the listening and viewing of these entertainers, the Voice of the Spirit within had to remind me of a few things:
We can get mad at the comments - they were ignorant and just as bigoted as a racial slur. They reflect intolerance (a Christian could NEVER say anything like these things and get away with it) and do nothing but spread hatred. The very thing they condemn is what they promote.

BUT we are to not curse them, but love and bless them (Romans 12:14) and show them just how untrue their statements are by the very ways we react to them. If we are people of faith (who trust in and act on what God says...that sounds familiar), then when we are openly scorned, ridiculed, and spoken evil against, we respond by demonstrating love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness to those who do so. Paul calls love a "more excellent way," and it ought to be our defining characteristic.

I'd love any thoughts if you have any...Pastor.

1 comment:

Ed said...

2 Timothy 2:22(b)
pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

23But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels.

24The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged,

25with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance "(a change of mind)" leading to the knowledge of the truth,

26and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.
(NASB)
These people are being held captive. They are simply voicing what the prince of this world puts in their heads to say.Satin knows the power in the spoken word so he gets these people to "say it anyway".We know that they are speaking foolishness but they don't. They don't even know what they are doing.

2 Corinthians 10
4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.

5We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,

6and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.
We don't forget the domino word God gave us. Lets stay focused on our obedience to HIS word TO US.Our obedience creates a plumb line. A standard. Noahs obedience to build the ark was what saved he and his family. It wasn't about arguing with the towns folk about the reality of rain.