What Would Jesus...uh, Legislate?

I've researched the Indiana Religious Freedom law and am still unclear of its repercussions. I've read it and don't fully understand it. Getting unbiased information is nearly impossible and both sides are relatively convincing. On one hand, I become suspicious of most single interest groups. On the other, I don't trust what some people define as "religion".

If you've read my blog, you know that I am a follower of Jesus Christ. To that end, I am attempting to understand what Jesus' position would be on the matter. All I know for certain is that his choices for company look a lot different than that of many who purport to follow him. Even the Apostles weren't too good at recognizing who his followers were. For example, they thought the "rich young ruler" was a perfect fit for the group. They were wrong. Certainly, as he pointed out, the religious elite of Jesus' day didn't know how to follow him. So, who fits and doesn't fit, I'm always hesitant to say. One pattern I think continues to hold true...his choices sometimes aren't ours and he usually sides with the downtrodden. Similarly, I try to error on the side of inclusiveness and love for others.

So, does this legislation legalize the mistreatment of anyone based on religious conviction?  I don't know. I hope it doesn't. That would be wrong. I've seen that this law is already in place nationally since 1993 and passed with overwhelming support of both parties. Whether there have been negative repercussions of the law, I just don't know.

I do know that there are some credibility issues at stake. One side claims that blatant discrimination will occur here. Some within that group are acting with real aggression toward an entire state populated with many people who have no interest in this legislation. The other side is acting on the fear that their religious liberty is at stake. But, Jesus himself asked for no similar government protection even to the point of his execution.

I hope both sides are wrong. To some degree, I'm certain that they both are; neither side has a corner on the entire truth nor have they an impeccable track record of righteousness. I'm sure this will be read by some as support for the legislation - while others will guess that I'm against it. I tend to side with the great Christian Martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer that said "Politics are not the task of a Christian". Even more, I side with God and whatever bunch of misfits he chooses as his followers. But, I can't count entirely on my own judgment to determine who they are...or will be.

Real Faith, Real Living

I believe that one of the reasons that God created human freewill was so that faith and love would exist within us.  He loves us enough to allow us to choose whether or not to follow him.  So, while our broken world is full of hurt, love does exist and it carries the most incredible and overwhelming power.  True love manifests itself in us in ways that can be quite surprising.  Who among us hasn't been surprised by what people are willing to sacrifice for someone for whom they have deep adoring affection?  Thus, Jesus said that those who truly believe in him will lose their life for his sake; they place his interests before their own. They end up seeking to glorify him in how they live.  Paul called this "being a living sacrifice"

Some people picture Christians as self-loathing religious rule-followers. They think that we live in a state of shame and guilt subjected to oppressive rules and regulations of a controlling church.  Some churchgoers have an equally distorted image of what it means to follow Christ believing that merely repeating a particular prayer, kneeling before an altar, or robotically following a set of rules (Jesus called this last group "whitewashed tombs") will lead to a fulfilled life with Christ.  Unfortunately, disappointment follows this approach when their spiritual walk is short-lived and empty.  They find that a formulaic approach to God is a dead-end road leaving them further from God rather than closer.

When true belief is found, the disciple approaches God in a manner that can be somewhat similar to other relationships in their lives.  A follower feels compelled to learn as much as possible about the incredible one with whom this relationship has started.  The more we understand him, the more we grow to appreciate how truly magnificent God is.  The more we appreciate him, the closer we grow in our relationship with him.  We also see that while we can never fully understand God, we are called to trust him.  To trust in the unseen and to believe his promises.  This is where our faith lies.

Followers get joy from following Jesus.  They pray by speaking and listening to him, study the bible to learn more of him, and observe his works in their lives in order to better understand him.  They desire to please him in all that they do - not because they are forced to but because they wish to offer themselves as living sacrifices to the everlasting God.  They trust what he says and follow him because they know and love him.  They even pray that he will strengthen their desire to live in a manner that brings glory to him and not to themselves.  This is massively different than being a religious rule-follower isn't it?  Regimented rule-following is founded in self-interest, staying out of trouble, fear and appearances.  It is a sham.  I am most happy when my children do good because they have the desire to do so - rather than because it has been demanded of them.  I imagine God feels the same about me.



  

Encouraging the Inconceivable (Am I a Stumbling Block?)

While some people are blessed to find God early in life, others like Saul of Tarsus, can take many years consisting of twists and turns that no man could possibly conceive.

We know how the story ended with Saul (mostly known as Paul after his conversion).  So, it is easy for us to not be shocked by the complete transformation of the man who personally oversaw the murder of Christ followers.  In modern terms, prior to becoming an apostle, he was a terrorist that was involved in a horrendous genocide.  But, we now recognize him primarily for his zeal for Jesus Christ.

Apparently, the prayer of the apostle Stephen was heard by God when he prayed for the forgiveness of his attackers while he was being beaten to death.  That prayer was answered by God's deliverance of the gang's ringleader, Paul who wrote most of the New Testament books.  No man could write Pauls's story - nor could any man foresee his deliverance from an evil past.  In fact, when Paul was converted, Jesus' disciples were still initially afraid of Paul and skeptical of whether he had truly been changed.

At a minimum, this wildly radical story of deliverance should cause Christ followers to pause when attempting to determine another person's station in life.  Today, a person's journey to Jesus Christ can no more be determined by man than could Saul's path be comprehended nearly 2000 years ago.  The question is whether we can finally stand before God as one who provided encouragement, or conversely, a stumbling block toward their final destination.

A homeless man once told me that this story of Stephen's stoning has resonated with him his entire life.  Stephen's unearthly reaction to his execution has been an encouragement to a man that has no earthly hope.  I have no doubt that, when reflecting on that horrible day, Paul somehow found encouragement in Stephen as well.  Maybe this homeless man finds his way to finally have hope in Christ partly due to the God given grace of Stephen - or maybe he will simply be encouraged by a believer that is a source of love and care.  As a follower of Jesus Christ, I pray that I am able to be a source of encouragement, not to serve as a stumbling block, to those unknown pilgrims around me.  Like Paul's journey, the path they are on is sometimes impossible for me to see or even comprehend.    

Don't Blend In (Jesus meant what he said)

When I was a kid, I thought that being a follower of Christ meant that you were in the mainstream of society.  Christians were people who would dress nicely, smile a lot, and knew a few special words and phrases.  Certainly, their behavior was completely acceptable because they pretty much just blended in with everyone else.  They weren't really that different than everyone else.  That was the image that I had of a "typical" Christian.

During his earthly ministry, Jesus would have been difficult to classify as mainstream.  He combated the traditions of the religious elite, told his followers to lose their lives in order to follow him, and dined with people with whom most of us would be embarrassed to be seen.  Downtrodden people were honored by him and the people most honored by the rest of society (usually people in positions of authority / power) were most often challenged by him.  Jesus took man-made convention and stomped it into the sand like a scorpion.  The Jesus that I have come to know and love was a counter-culture radical that turned the values of the world on its head.  He continues to do that today.

What if Jesus actually meant what he said and did?  For example, Jesus kept company with some pretty rough characters; he really seemed to prefer the company of the least desirable people.  How might we treat someone who collected taxes for a hostile occupying foreign government and profited from these activities by skimming money from the top?  Would we be embarrassed if a prostitute barged into the room to wash our feet while we dined with the local pastor or priest?  Given the choice, would we choose to spend our time with those on the very lowest rung of our society? Would we try so hard to be first if we really believed him when he said that "the last will be first, and the first will be last"?  Do we really believe that we are loving Christ when we are loving the lost and forgotten - prisoners, homeless, addicted, and broken? Do we really believe the Sermon on the Mount? Or do we skip the hard stuff?  Questions like these make me wonder how accepting we Christians actually are of the One we profess to follow.

This message of Jesus' is as radical today as it was then: the values of this world have no place in a person's heart.  We are simply called to be different.  In his book "The Cost of Discipleship", Dietrich Bonhoeffer disposes of the myth that Jesus' messages were merely an ideal to be merely strived for and not practical to live by.  Executed in a martyr's death in Nazi Germany because of his faith, Bonhoeffer explained that Jesus meant exactly what he said and that we shouldn't skip past the hard stuff - perhaps especially when that means we won't blend in so much.

Grace - Undeserved Favor

For as long as i can remember, the word grace has stirred my soul.  During my younger days, I didn't really understand the full magnitude behind the meaning of the word.  I certainly didn't know how it applied to my relationship with God.  But, to merely hear the word grace had a tendency to soften me.  Philip Yancey wrote the book "What's So Amazing About Grace" that was devoted to the topic.  Within the book, he explained how the word grace was one of the few uncorrupted words in the english language.  He spoke about how grace resonates with other-worldliness.  He explains that, while justice seems right, grace has a supreme, other-world quality.  Grace is so big that it is troubling to think that I am to possess it.  Not only possess it but, I am to freely dispense it to others.

God is perfect.  God's justice is also perfect - he is the perfect judge.  As the creator and ruler of the universe, we would want him no other way.  A universe ruled by an imperfectly just God?  No thanks.  Within his perfectly just system, he placed grace.  Grace - that wonderful means for us to receive righteousness through Christ.  God's grace was the means through which the sacrifice of his son was accomplished.  Perfect justice will be achieved but, God's grace enables us to bear it!

So, where does my responsibility lay when it comes to grace?  I believe that it starts with me realizing that I am not God (yeah, a universe ruled by me would not be a pretty sight...I have a hard time picking a tie in the morning).  Since I am imperfect, I should not consider myself more capable than God in determining who should receive grace.  In other words, since God willingly displayed his grace on the cross for anyone willing to accept it, who am I to withhold grace from anyone?  Yancey also stated that God's grace is like water - it flows to the lowest part.  There is no one that is beyond God's redemption.  How can I rightly receive grace from God if I am not willing to freely dispense it to others...especially when I, an incredibly imperfect judge, don't believe that they deserve it?  

A New Command

I can be narrow-minded.  Sometimes when I say "in my faith", I am referring to the people that believe and worship the same way that I do.  I may be referring to those that belong to the same denomination or maybe a larger group of followers that are dispersed throughout the many denominations of Protestantism and within Catholicism that generally profess their faith in the same manner as do I.  If I make this reference (in this manner), I am narrowing what it means to be of a follower of Jesus to fit within my definition.  

Sometimes, I can be even more narrow-minded by referring to people that are "in my church".  Considering the fact that the biblical definition of church is the entire body of Christ's followers, I am incredibly negligent in excluding followers that attend other "churches" when making this particular reference.  

These two references don't usually offend other followers because they are not meant to be negative.  Plus, they are used so prevalently by other followers.  But, these references might point to a problem within our faith (OK, this time "within our faith" truly does mean everyone that is on the journey to/with Christ).  The problem?  A lack of love.

Jesus said:  “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35).  Note:  I chuckled as I copied-n-pasted this from Biblegateway.com because he repeated the command three times in this very short passage.  So, I think he meant it.

To our own chagrin, today's Christian isn't known for his/her adherence to this command - our tendency is to gravitate toward our differences and focus on those places of our disagreement.  The result is that we cast our judgement on others, disassociate ourselves from them and consequently, tend to shrink the church.  Let us open our hearts to all believers...yes, even to those that may be in a very different place within their journey than our own.  Perhaps by accident, we might be an attraction to those who do not yet believe.