It was weird enough when I was going home from Quaker meeting yesterday and passed a "Bible Chapel" where a man was getting out of or into a Hummer, clearly dressed up for Sunday services. I thought: How can someone who claims to follow Jesus drive what is so obviously a war toy, an armored tank of a car, let alone a gas-guzzling one?
Of course, this wasn’t the first time I asked myself such a question. Even as, I have to admit, there at times when I all but gag over all the oh-so-right Priuses parked in the meetinghouse parking lot.
What made this instance stand out and what was even weirder was the small item I saw in the newspaper later in the afternoon. According to the report, a "gun-toting Kentucky pastor" encouraged his Pentecostal congregants to bring their guns - unloaded, in holsters - to a service celebrating the Second Amendment. About 200 did, many with their guns.
Again, I had questions. Why would a minister carry a gun and encourage his church’s members to do so? Where do guns fit in with Jesus’ message, which was all about love and peace? Would Jesus be a member of the N.R.A?
And, again, this of course was by no means the first time I have had such questions. It is like when Republicans go on and on about getting government out of our lives and then do their damnedest to pass laws against same-sex marriage, if not also other anti-gay laws. It doesn’t help that many Republicans also are pro-gun and claim to be Christian.
So many questions. WWJD?
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The question I have is in the same regard, as to what would Jesus do if he knew the crucifix hanging on someones neck is any better than the man who gets out of an obscene truck like an S.U.V.?
ReplyDeleteThe fact people go out of their way to wear a cross is under the same subtext, when they do not want to act like Him, but only to convert, or more in line with being saved in a relationship.
My beef is like yours, when people want to represent, by worshiping, but fail to walk the walk, like loving.
I get a charge out of Jesus just by knowing he was a man, to do what was a perfection, and to have his life emulated, where we all seem to miss the mark. This man, was my perfect friend, and I wonder why there are groups who interpret the Constitution with violence, because the pathetic N.R.A. is a powerful lobbiest as well as the oil and meat industry. There are wanabe Jesus persons, who do their own thing, and there are righteous relationships doing what Jesus would do, which is love, not hate. Especially when we have the economy versus the environment as well as the white washed Christian versus the obedient follower. And by the way, didn't Jesus say love your others? I mean love period, and stop being a sinner. We all should look at what Jesus said about being gay, oh yeah, nothing! Let's see if we can live and learn to love, like Jesus hanging with twelve men for his journey.