Afflicting the Comfortable

How many times have you seen something that said "What would Jesus do?" The problem is that I think that most people who avow this motto do things that Jesus wouldn't do in a thousand years. When I hear someone who professes Christianity make some excuse as to why universal health care isn't feasible, or why this mess in Iraq or the torture of prisoners is necessary.

The simplest words of Jesus always give me pause to think when I'm dealing with others. The specific quote that I'm thinking of is Matthew 25:40, where Jesus says "…inasmuch as ye have done unto the least of these, my brethren, ye have done unto me."

So the question is, would you deny Jesus health care? Would you advocate the torture of Jesus?

This has come down to us as the "Golden Rule" – do unto others as you would have others do unto you. Or, in the case of torture, do unto other countries soldiers only as you would have them do unto ours. And no, the "they did it first" argument doesn't work. THAT'S WHY THEY'RE THE BAD GUYS. Our moral high ground becomes a very slippery slope when we start doing the same things that the bad guys are doing.

Oh, and another thought on torture… do you believe that all of our boys who returned from Viet Nam after being coerced into signing false confessions to war crimes under torture should now be persecuted for those crimes? No? Because they only signed them because they were tortured? And yet, we're prosecuting people based on information and confessions gained through torture. See the stupidity?

Just as people who profess Christianity really need to study and attempt to follow the words of Christ, so do those of us who deny the usefulness of torture on our own soldiers need to deny the usefulness (and use) of torture altogether.

Here's the point that we've arrived at by being a "Christian" country who doesn't follow Christ: we have become a country of such moral ambiguity that we are perpetrating a "war on terrorism" without defining terrorism. You see, if we define it then we will have to hold ourselves accountable for any times that we have fallen into that definition. No definition = we are never guilty of it. We have become a country that advocates torture of our "enemies" while berating other countries for torturing their enemies. Honest to God, guys, we can't have it both ways.

Do yourself a favor, if you call yourself a Christian… shut your computer down, go grab your Bible and read the red words – these are the words of Christ. It'll only take you about a half hour. He didn't really say all that much. But what he DID say is pretty damned amazing. And I'd be willing to bet that you don't hear all that much about what he said in your church. The reason? Many modern churches are about comforting their flocks so that their flocks will continue to support them financially. Modern Christians use the Bible to justify their greed, their support of the mess in Iraq, their divorces… pretty much whatever they want. They use very specific parts of the Bible anyway… namely the Old Testament (the Hebrew Bible) and the Epistles of St. Paul. They skip the Gospels (which contain the entire teachings of Jesus) entirely. Because it's really, really hard to try to justify getting what you want based on His words.

I forget who I'm paraphrasing here, but Jesus came both to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.

"…sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me." – Luke 18:22

Peace

Randal