Do any of you remember the 90s show Seinfeld? Well there was one episode where Elaine has a "Christian" boyfriend Puddy. Elaine is deeply troubled because he does not seem bothered by the idea that she is going to hell. He says "You are the one going there, not me." She says "David, I am going to hell, the worst place in the world with devils and those caves and the ragged clothing" Puddy says "Pretty rough" and so she begins hitting him and says "you SHOULD BE trying to save me." Puddy says, Don't boss me, this is why you are going to hell." Elaine: I am not going to hell, and if you think I am going to hell YOU SHOULD CARE that I am going to hell, even though I'm not."
How times have changed. In the 90s pop culture seemed to somewhat understand that if you would warn someone of what you believed to be impending disaster it meant you cared for them, even if they thought it was not true. Now if you warn someone of the danger large segments of society would immediately impute motives of hate and bigotry, which, of course, is itself profoundly unthinking and prejudicial. But I suppose if you repeat a cultural narrative enough times it becomes true to uncritical minds. When the news media makes the 40-member Westboro Baptist church WORLD FAMOUS then you know they are grasping at straws to promote their narrative. And, to top it off, many of those members come from one family ... By making these kind of obscure, marginalized moralists into headline news the media obviously has an agenda and has done our country a disservice by promoting a dualistic, Manichean world, in which those who share their views represent the forces of goodness and light while those who don't share their views represent the forces of evil and darkness. As a result society begins to suffer. But I suppose the media makes its money in controversy. Peace and truth are too boring and unprofitable.
Further, I guess with all this propaganda and a President who seems to share the media's view, we should not be surprised in being misunderstood, but it seems the new generation has so grabbed on to their completely made-up narrative about Christians created by the media and image consultants that they have become unwilling to take the time to understand from another person's perspective, and just label it with such vitriolic terms like "hate". As a result, there is, sadly, no longer any room for civil discussion on our society, but only a shouting down and demonization of those not towing the line. Fact is, there is real hate and bigotry in the world ... lots of it. But people need to learn to differentiate between those who wish us harm with those who simply disagree with us. To watch the actual Seinfeld scene click here:
"Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent." - Jesus, Rev. 3:19
Apart from the grace of God in Jesus Christ we are all lost and undone, helpless and morally ruined. We are all sinners and merely changing our outward behavior is not enough. We need a new heart.