The thing
about modern Christianity is that so many people will only ever get to see the
bad examples. This may be true for
historical Christianity as well. The nut jobs, the pushy, the obnoxious, the judgmental,
you don’t have to look too far for them.
They are however not even a caricature of what Jesus intended his
followers to be like. Many of my
readers are right wing evangelical, born again Christians. Some are ardent atheists. For those two camps
and everyone in between I offer this video clip from Les Miserables.
For those who love Jesus I hope it will
inspire us to be more accepting, compassionate and sacrificially generous. For the other extreme my hope is that you
will know that there are so many who believe the story of Jesus who do in fact
want to avoid hypocrisy and spread love in a way that is meaningful. Believers, let's long to be more like the one
we claim to believe in. Critics balance
your criticism with the knowledge that all Christians are not sign carrying,
megaphone screaming freaks.
Out of curiosity which character in this video do you relate most to?
I sometimes find myself in the housekeeper's position wanting justice to be done. Yet, I am convicted by the reminder of the Bishop when he told Jean Valjean that he had been ransomed, bought back for the Lord from fear and hatred. The Bishop was a true reflection of Christ in what he did for Jean Valjean. A second chance- isn't that what we all would like- a "do over"? For me, that requires the love of Christ in me and the opportunity to direct others to the Cross and the ransom that was paid there for all of us- by my actions not just my words.
ReplyDeletei identify most with the priest always giving people that second chance and hoping they'll do the right thing...not to say i don't have those moments when i want someone to be punished for what they did merely that i constantly have this faith that people will change and do something better the second time around
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