This blog is not based on theology. I do not have a Ph.d. in anything. I am not a learned Bible scholar. Frankly, I am not really all that observant, but I do observe some behavior that both puzzles and convicts me, for I am guilty of most every thing about which I am going to complain.
I am most aware of Bible Bangin' People Haters on Facebook. Recently, I was like a crazed lunatic trying to remember how to block some one's posts. I mean it was like my computer (or I) was going to go up in smoke if I did not get this person off my daily news feed......IMMEDIATELY! Being, the propah Southern girl that I am, I could not just unfriend them, because then they would know and it might hurt their feelings (as if) so I had to hide their posts without them knowing it. Wow, how direct and brave am I? But, I have convinced myself that it was to spare their feelings, not because I am such a coward. Actually, it is because Facebook, in my opinion, is not the place for the airing of grievances. Obviously, I think a blog is. Go figure.
This may come as a shock to many of you, but God is not a Republican (nor a Democrat, nor a member of any other political party). Can that possibly be true? Yes, yes it is. Many Bible Bangin' People Haters would vehemently disagree with me, because if God is not a Republican, how can they justify their complete, bordering-on-hatred dislike of Democrats? Let me be the first to say, that I am not a big Barack Obama fan, and he seems to be the one most despised at the moment by Bible Bangers. I have also come to not concern myself with "respecting the office" because so many of those who have held the office have disrespected it in ways beyond mentioning.
Sorry to report, but God is not a U.S. citizen, and to further offend, he is not a Southerner. He is not white. He is not black. He does not only live in the affluent suburbs. He actually may be even harder to find there. He lives in ghettos, and prisons, and mental hospitals, and under bridges, and in drug rehab centers. He walks beside the offended AND the offensive. He has all the answers, but he does not beat us over the head with them, but rather coaxes and loves us to find them. This is very much unlike those of us Bible Bangers who do not have all the answers but think we do, so we bang people over the head with scripture, when in fact what we might better do is hold them with the love of the Lord.
Forgive me if I sound ignorant, but isn't this Bible we read so diligently a means for teaching us the true nature of God? Wasn't the meaning of Jesus' life to show us the face of God? Bible banging and people hating are incompatible. They should not be able to coexist. In my opinion, and my opinion is all I have here, we cannot be a lover of the teachings in the Bible and hate people. We cannot. I may not be a Barack Obama fan, but God is, and not because he is president of the United States. God is a fan of all his children, and make no mistake, every living human being is a child of God, not just white, protestant, middle class, Southern Americans. So, I better get about the business of being a fan of every person I meet no matter how frustrating I may find them.
This does not mean that I have to agree with their politics, their conduct, their lifestyle, whatever, but it does mean that I am called to love them, wholly and completely. Not warm fuzzy, oh-they-make-me-feel-so-good love, but the down in the trenches, hard choice of treating others with respect and dignity, and yes, love even when I do not feel like it~perhaps, especially when I do not feel like it.
If you are a FB friend who is a Bible Bangin' People Hater, I love you, but I will block you. I am fairly certain that your life will continue just fine without being on my news feed, but I hope all of us will think twice before we blast away at one person, or a whole group of people, especially, if we call ourselves lovers of The Word. It is unseemly.
For today, I wish us all opportunities to choose love, and I wish you
blessings
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