LAST FRIDAY when having breakfast with my friend Adam we came to the topic of being strangers on this earth. We weren't talking of being foreign nationals or illegal immigrants but of the fact that as Christians we stand out so much against the world (or at least we should) that we feel as strangers on this earth, rejected from the things of the world because our view is on something higher. We spoke of America, we spoke of materialism, and we spoke of Malibu.
How fallen man really is...
This morning I woke up to see a headline on my computer that stated, "Kathy Griffin's Jesus Profanity Stirs Outrage". Upon reading the article, I found that at the Emmy's, Kathy Griffin, in response to many stars thanking Jesus, proclaimed, "Suck it, Jesus. This award is my God now!". The article itself goes on to state how Christian groups were outraged but that many groups got a nice "giggle" out of the whole thing, making the Christians reaction sound ridiculous and the whole thing like a big joke.
Kathy Griffin just told the Son of Man to put a penis in his mouth....and the news article is surprised that people are UPSET!? How fallen are we?!
As my anger started to calm a little after I read the article, I instantly thought of the Danish cartoonist who portrayed the prophet Mohammad with a bomb as his turban and how Muslims all over the world started riots out of anger of the insult. I thought to myself, why don't Christians stand up and openly fight and more strongly express their anger about such things? In a world where when you walk into Urban Outfitters and you see the image of Jesus on flasks, shirts and action figures, why don't we get more upset? Is it out of lack of passion? Lack of love? Fear? Has the worldliness and insult of the world become so strong and so severe that when an open mockery of our savior is made, we find it necessary to keep silent out of embarrassment for our beliefs? Why do we do nothing?
Yesterday I was reading the book of Peter. In it Peter says,
"Dear friend, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us....Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing"It was in this passage that I realized the answer to my own question: the reason we do nothing is because we are called to do nothing; not nothing in the sense of being passive but nothing in the sense of refusing to retaliate. Kathy Griffin helped me realize just how much a stranger I am in this world.
I sit here and I am surrounded by amazing buildings and wealth yet see nothing but movie sets and dust. I live in a world where people are given golden statues of man to congratulate themselves for being good liars; where drunkenness is entertainment and sin is bliss. I see it all and I see how lost we really are. I see it all and I see how fallen we really are. I see it all and I thank God that I have become a stranger in this world.
In response to Kathy Griffin, I realized I should not feel anger but sorrow and hope that she one day realizes the gravity of the statement she made. I am absolutely insulted by her comments but I do nothing because I am called to do nothing. It is my job to respond not in anger, but in love.
This is my job as a Christian. This is my job as a disciple. This is my job as a stranger.
-Theophilus
1 comments:
are you being real
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