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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (ANS) -- If you ask people what comes to mind when they think of Christians, you might be shocked at the results. Here's some of what I suspect you may hear.
"Christians? They're those people who are against everything. They think they're right and everyone else is wrong."
"Christians? Oh, they're those people on TV who are always begging for money. With everything I've seen about them on the news recently, I think they're all crooks and hypocrites."
Somehow there seems to be a huge disconnect between the Jesus of the Bible and what His followers are known for today. While we complain about the way we're profiled by the media, is the coverage really unfair? Perhaps we're suffering the effects of our own shortsighted interpretation of the gospel, as well as the strident, angry discourse dispensed by those individuals and groups whom the media believe speak for us.
I think it's fair to say that evangelical Christians (of which I am one in the sense that I hold to a literal interpretation of the Bible) are not known as the dispensers of love and compassion. As a result, we're not necessarily the first people to whom the hurting turn for help.
My friend Garth Hewitt, whose heart breaks for the plight faced by the needy worldwide said it like this in his song, "Stealing Jesus Back." Garth wrote, "The weak and the outcast, the poor and forgotten - The lovers of the earth. They wonder what's happened to the Man from Nazareth
They want to hear His voice. They want to release a vulnerable Savior who walks on a narrow track. To say words of peace to a warring world. They're stealing Jesus back"
Explaining the song, Garth said in an interview:
"I think that the ways of Jesus (in the Sermon on the Mount) seem to get ignored these days, and the song simply says we should be faithful to the true message of Jesus. The song suggests He has been taken hostage so we can't hear his voice! It's time to liberate Him and hear His words of peace."
Continuing to forcefully drive his point home, Garth continues in his song, "They took Him hostage somewhere in Texas, or was it Guantanamo Bay? Fundamentalists hijacked and kept His voice silenced. They kept Him hidden away. Tortured Him with Bibles carefully interpreted; designed to exclude and keep many at bay. To justify killing in the Name of God, but Jesus keeps turning away."
It seems to me that the "Christian" message perceived by the world is the one I call "The Gospel of No." Rather than focusing on the Lord's redemptive love for humanity, it's a message that co-opts politicians to fulfil its theological agenda, bombastically demanding Christian laws and a culture that reflects the Judeo-Christian ethic. Sadly, the proponents of the gospel of no seem to have forgotten that behavior changes when hearts are changed, not when a new political party gets into power.
This different gospel has also resulted in many people quaking when they see self-described conservative evangelical Christians. (And it's not the presence of God at which they quake).
In our haste to condemn everything with which we don't agree, and trying to make our agenda the nation's law by using politicians who end up using us, we have failed to offer any solutions for the issues we criticize.
Over the last couple of years I've had a spiritual epiphany as I've come to realize that rather than being defined for what we are against, we should be known for what we stand for.
Here are some examples. Christians should be the leaders in compassionate assistance for the disenfranchised, hungry and homeless.
And when people whom we try to help don't behave in a societally acceptable manner, rather than writing them off and congratulating ourselves for being Biblically correct, we should try and dig deep into their circumstances to see what issues they are dealing with that are causing them to act inappropriately.
As Christians, we should also be in the forefront of the battle against AIDS and be known as comforters of those who are so afflicted.
On the world scene, we should also recognize that while we have a Biblical obligation to love Israel and its people, we have just as much of a mandate to love the Palestinians and remember their plight and the needs they experience.
As Garth Hewitt said in his song "Palestinians are Humans Too," "I've got some news. It may be a surprise. It's a basic truth I've come to recognize. It may come as a shock, because it's only known to a few, but Palestinians are humans too. If you share this secret and you say it aloud, you're going to be criticized without any doubt. Because they're hated and despised and denied their rights, but strangely they're precious in God's own eyes."
I'm hoping that the Lord will use this article to as a motivation for you to help relieve poverty, pain and suffering wherever you may happen to be.
As a character said in John Grisham's new novel "The Appeal," Pastor Ott "believed and taught that poverty and injustice were more important social issues than abortion and gay rights, but he was careful with his politics ... Ott considered (the entire town) to be his mission, and no one would go hungry, homeless or sick if he could possibly prevent it. Not on his watch, and his watch never ended."
People have abortions, get involved with gay rights and become homeless because of tragedies that they've experienced, or needs that haven't been addressed in their lives. If we begin addressing these issues, we just might end up convincing people that Christians really do bring "good news," not the gospel of no.
Jeremy Reynalds is a freelance writer and the founder and director of Joy Junction, New Mexico's largest emergency homeless shelter. He has a master's degree in communication from the University of New Mexico, and a Ph.D. in intercultural education from Biola University in Los Angeles. His newest book is "Homeless in the City: A Call to Service."
Used by permission of Assist News Service: www.assistnews.net
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