Thursday, February 20, 2014

Loving Prejudices Instead of People

Jesus ate with drunkards and tax collectors. The Pharisees called him a glutton and a drunk.
Jesus healed people on the Sabbath. The Pharisees said he violated church rules.
Jesus loved people. The Pharisees loved principles.
The church had it all wrong back THEN and the church seems to have it all wrong NOW.
The church never seems more bigoted and ignorant than the way it approaches gays and lesbians.
From picketing signs that scream, “Fags burn in hell.”
To posters reading, “It was Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.”

Really?

Church people have fallen more in love with their PREJUDICES than with PEOPLE.
Have we forgotten that the same Jesus who died for US, died for ALL?
Do we think salvation is based on our LIKES and DISLIKES, not GRACE and FORGIVENESS?

We’ve got 400-lbs men declaring, “Homosexuality is a sin!”
Um…
So, is the way you treat your body.

We’ve got divorced people shouting, “Marriage is sacred!”
Um…
How sacred were the papers you filed?

We’ve got people working their second, third, and fourth marriage screaming, “Marriage is between a man and woman!”
Um…
Jesus said to be divorced and remarried is to commit adultery.

Nobody’s perfect. Jesus didn’t die for perfect people; he was perfect and he died for the messed up. The church needs to start LOVING people and stop trying to CHANGE them. The church needs to OPEN its doors instead CLOSING them. Church people need to start looking at people the way Jesus looked at people—through the eyes of GRACE.

Marinate on this thought for a while…

Jesus spent three years teaching, mentoring, laughing, crying, eating, sleeping, traveling, and everything else day in and day out with the man who would eventually betray him and send him to his death. He even invited that person to communion to eat of the bread and drink of the wine. He poured his life in the very person that would lead to his death.

Jesus loved Judas. He didn’t send him away on principle.



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