Jesus Followers: Stop the Damned Arguing!

 

As they say, "please pardon my French".  But darn (better?), enough is enough! Among followers of Jesus, disagreements are going to happen and arguments are going to occur.  But the hateful, vicious, malicious, cruel, hostile, snotty, snide, and caustic monologue and dialogue has to stop.

To those who aren't  currently Jesus followers, I want to say the rhetoric seen on social media, at the restaurants, bars and other public spaces, in family gatherings, or in the neighborhood, by Jesus followers is not a true reflection what the Kingdom of God is all about.  We've never gotten it (life as Jesus followers) perfect, nor will we.  The fighting, bickering, arguing, name calling, pot stirring, nastiness, and the like that you see and hear are not what reflects the image of God at all.  Those things are not what the Kingdom of God is all about at all.  Just like you in your own marriages, friendships, and other relationships, sometimes we try harder than others to get along and love like we should.  This seems to be one of those times that we're simply not trying very hard.  Instead of writing Jesus off, join Him in telling his people: DO BETTER!

Jesus followers:  First I want to apologize for all of my own stupid contributions to the problem.  In the past because of my political beliefs, I've done my share of ranting and raving.  I've gotten sucked in to social media fights with total strangers, many of whom have to be believers and part of His beloved group of followers, AKA His bride.  I tried to avoid name calling (plenty in private) but I know I did my share of pot stirring by posting memes and the like to get a reaction.  Slowly I've come to understand a few things.  The first was the realization that to my knowledge no one ever changed their political affiliation because of one of my memes.  So please forgive me for being part of the problem.  I'm detoxing and becoming more apolitical every day. Please bear with me in the process. 

It's no mystery to anyone that America is being torn apart by horrible and toxic rhetoric regarding politics.  It's sad because close relationships are being torn apart, families divided, sometimes long-standing friendships severed over who is sitting in the White House oval office and those in positions of authority at ANY given time.  That's not that surprising for someone who has not experienced the new birth and the gift of the Spirit of God to help us become the image of God He intended us to be on page one of the bible.  The result of choosing to NOT be image bearers, to reject trust in the wisdom of God, but instead choosing to make decisions and to live life on our own terms without any concern for God, was and is: murder, chaos, violence, darkness, increasing wickedness, rage, division, anger, hatred, de-creation.  Humanity's attempts to try to create the good life and to flourish without consideration of the wisdom of God ends in all of those things and sooner or later, he turns us over to what we seem to want.  It all takes us further east of Eden, and away from the blessings of Eden.  Further into anger, chaos, hatred, hurtful speech, and ultimately violence and murder.

What is disappointing and surprising is that Jesus followers are doing the same thing while at the same time claiming some sort of moral high ground.  In my opinion the damage to the church is much more devastating than anyone realizes.  The horrible rhetoric is causing division, rage, anger, hatred, and everything contrary to what characterizes life as citizens of His Kingdom.  The scriptures also call the church God's temple of which each believer is called a living stone.  The US contains around 10% of the total population of Christians.  That means about 10% of the temple is affected.  If 10% of your home's structure is damaged, are you going to ignore it or fix it?  I think it's past time to fix it.  It's time to do better.  It's time to be the kingdom of priests through whom God shows the world he is unique, he is the answer to the problems that the world (and all too often, we) believe politics will solve, that he is the key to the good life, that he is the one who gives us the wisdom to be able to thrive as humans. He wants his followers to be temple builders, not temple destroyers.

Jesus called us to unity. (I can already hear the coming firestorm of  "yes buts" coming.) Note that what he called us to is not uniformity where everyone must conform and agree on every single matter, or to look alike, sound alike, dress alike, have the same cultural customs, or to hold every belief and opinion alike.   Paul said to the Jewish Christians who still believed that it was only Israel that God desired to forgive and bless:  There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28).  Humanity is humanity with no labels attached, and as Jesus followers, we're simply humans saved by the creator's love.  The promise of the Torah and the prophets was that God was going to collect a massively diverse worldwide crew who following Jesus would become citizens of his kingdom.  That means people with diverse politics, diverse opinions, diverse backgrounds, customs, and beliefs.  And these people would finally demonstrate to the world through the new birth, through love, justice and mercy toward one another in community, who God is.  

Currently in the USA, when it comes to political rhetoric in conversation and social media, his followers look no different than those who don't give a flip about Jesus.  Where is the love, the kindness, the peace, the forgiveness, the grace, the mercy, the patience...the things that regardless of the context are supposed to define who we are as his followers?

Here are some ideas for all of us. Just some thoughts:

Stop the toxic arguing - It's not a requirement that you respond to everything. Proverbs 26: 4 says:  Don’t answer a fool according to his foolishness  or you’ll be like him yourself.  Then again, sometimes wisdom will ask you to respond.  Probably a good idea to make sure it's wisdom who is asking and then to temper the response with love. Proverbs 26:5: Answer a fool according to his foolishness or he’ll become wise in his own eyes.

Also consider this bit of wisdom:  Proverbs 17:27 : The one who has knowledge restrains his words,  and one who keeps a cool head  is a person of understanding. 28 Even a fool is considered wise when he keeps silent #—discerning, when he seals his lips.    Mom and Dad's wisdom come into play here, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." 

Stop being a pot stirrer - Prov 29: 8 says: Mockers inflame a city,  but the wise turn away anger. Are you an arsonist who is going around starting fires and throwing gas on the flames, or are you doing what any good firefighter does daily by taking away the heat, fuel source, or oxygen so that the fire goes out.  Jesus doesn't want his community continually stirred up. There were pointless arguments and controversies which were apparently disrupting the community of Jesus people that Titus led which caused Paul to say in Titus 3: 9 But avoid foolish debates, genealogies, quarrels, and disputes about the law, because they are unprofitable and worthless. 10 Reject a divisive person after a first and second warning.

Stop the name calling and labeling - In Matthew chapter 5 when Jesus is describing Kingdom life to those gathered on the side of the mountain and he probably raised some eyebrows when he essentially said it's the same as murder when calling someone names.  Essentially you're robbing someone of their humanity, dignity, and personhood by talking to them like they are less than human.  It's the same attitude that leads eventually to murder.  

Stop believing that it's your political party that is the key to the good life God ALLOWED humans to participate in governing humans to ensure that his desired order in creation would be encouraged and maintained. The ideal form of government was rejected - See 1 Samuel.

Remember you don't always have all of the information Memes, soundbites, and segments never tell the whole story.  Things, especially political things are not as simple as they seem.  Without proper historical and contemporary context you may find yourself on the wrong side of truth.

Remember that you don't always have the correct information. Many times it's what information some people WANT you to have.  

Remember that you have dual citizenship, and one has more weight than the other- Jesus said, "all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me."  He chided Pilate who wondered if Jesus understood that he had the power to take or save Jesus' life by essentially saying, "You only have authority because I gave it to you"  In Revelation 11, it is declared: "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever."

Remember God can work with and through horrible human governments, parties, and leaders - even through harsh emperors and dictators - Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome and the heads of these nations. Why does he allow this??  The short answer seems to be this: most of the time it used to purify his people

Spend the time you currently spend ranting, raving, and arguing about the political climate de jour by pouring out your gut level emotions to God.  The lament and protest psalms are designed as a guidebook to teach us to address intense emotions the right direction.  In the wisdom of God, he can handle anger, rage, hateful attitudes and speech (think He'll be shocked), that we pour out, and in the process he helps sort all of that out, many times by pointing out the beam in our own eye.  The problem is, we react by pouring it all out to our mate, friends, family, or total strangers on social media FIRST instead of pouring it out to the one who desires even that level of intimacy. Maybe in the wisdom of God he wants prayer to be the emotional diffuser that allows us to have rational discourse with humans without berating and being nasty because of intense emotional baggage accompanying some issues.

Should we as believers care about politics?  I think so.  I believe the church should call out political leaders on issues of injustice and ignoring the needs of the poor, the marginalized, widows, orphans, the homeless, and the outcast.  Ranting to friends, family and folks on social media doesn't make a lot of sense.  Most political leaders do not read your social media posts.   Try taking your complaints to them only after taking them to God.  They have email addresses and they have phone numbers.  When is the last time you addressed your complaints to the 'powers that be' instead of griping to people around you who can't do a thing about it? They also have offices.  Set an appointment and talk to them.   Jesus followers should vote, should have opinions and beliefs, should be involved in being more than armchair quarterbacks.  Believers should be educated. What we should NOT be is hateful to one another.  The community of Jesus followers is characterized by doing right by God and doing right by others.  Love.  

Jesus is not a Republican.  He's not a Democrat.  He's not even an American.   He wasn't for the Chiefs OR the Eagles in the super bowl.  He's not on anybody's side except the side of humanity to whom he desperately wants to show his unbounded love, mercy, and grace.  HE is the King of all kings, and ultimately it's HIS Kingdom that matters.  We live in a kingdom among kingdoms, in huge tension of the here but not yet. He desperately wants us to join with him in this venture to redeem it all.  

John 13:8  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

Footnote:  I know this is not a perfect post, nor is it complete in all ways.  There is much to be said about all of this. I want to reiterate that I include myself in the chastisement.  My prayer for this post is that as a result there will be increased love for God and increased love for fellow humanity.