Over the last several months, I have become aware of how we blast people with stereotypes. We hear about how Walmart discriminates, how the rich are greedy, how protestors are miscreants and how women mature faster than men. Honestly, if you look around, you may find that some people you know fit those stereotypes, but it's very difficult to find any group to which the terms "always" or "never" really apply. Always is a very difficult standard to meet. Yesterday, the topic was on who exactly Christians are, as if everyone who says they are a Christian is and that only they can say who else is one.
In one of my classes this semester, I have a muslim student. We have had a few lengthy discussions about some of the practices of her religion since we are in the middle of Ramadan. She pointed out that she takes exception to Christians who think that every muslim is actively engaged raising his sons to be suicide bombers. I can understand her position since everyone who knows my Faith assumes that I have multiple wives or don't believe in television or that all of us drink Dr Pepper when none of that is true. Then again, I have been pointing out for some time that not everyone who worships with you shares your faith. There are some who try to project their interpretations on others.
What particularly disturbs me is how people who are not members of a Faith or members in good standing are considered experts on something that is foreign to them. Just as not every muslim is a terrorist, not everyone who claims to be a Christian is. Who gets to define what it means? Is being a Christian really about where you worship or how or who? Yesterday, Mark Davis said that what matters about whether a person is a Christian is whether other people think you are one. What about what Christ thinks? What about people who consider themselves Christians but who do not act like it? People who say this strike me as people who are not looking for truth; they are looking to have their version of truth certified. For a long time I have maintained that membership in the Kingdom of Christ depends more on who has your hearts than who has your records. Having the surname Christian no more makes you a disciple than having the forname Jesus makes you the Messiah.
Usually, when you are absolutely sure of something, you are wrong. I am constantly unsure of my own state of grace. If I knew I were guaranteed an eternal reward today, what would be my incentive to continue to follow Christ? Just as a lifetime of good deeds isn't ablated by one major mistake, a lifetime of evil cannot be cancelled out by a single magnanimous gesture just before death. Our reward is not based on what we do. It is based on what we ARE, and God is not fooled by pretended, half-hearted efforts in the twilight of life. Christ taught that where our treasure is our heart will follow.
We are too quick to condemn. While judgment is a natural part of life, important for decision-making, it does not license us to condemn or exalt other people. We know very little about the details of their particular Gethsemane or what has happened exigent to that snapshot of time during which we know them. I am confident that God considers the difficulty of the trial in His calculations of our state of grace, because "where much is given, much is required, and he who sins against the greater light receives the greater condemnation". As a consequence, I am fairsure that many of those with whom I worship will be surprised where they find themselves at judgement day as well as next to whom they find themselves.
Groups do not generally do things. People do. Walmart doesn't descriminate; some of its employees do. Corporations are not greedy; some of the members of management are. Students are not lazy; some of them are. There is an exception to every rule except for this one. People are people. When we stereotype we draw attention to minor differences and lose sight of the wide range of things that draw us together. It is an attempt by our enemies to render us weaker by driving us apart. As Ben Franklin so famously said, we must all hang together or most assuredly we will hang separately.
This morning, I read a post that answered all of my questions of faith in politics. Furthermore, it could be contended that our opponents, blinded by science, follow the Religion of the Scientific Method and are led by people who themselves are poor practicers of the method they proscribe.
I miss the days immediately after 9/11 when Americans came together and vowed a unity that really mattered inspite of differences. While America might not be a Judeo-Christian nation, it is a nation of morals and values. Monarchists among us push diversity and outreach and compassion at the expense of what is right.
GK Chesterton was prescient. He spoke of how what's wrong with the world is that we do not ask what is right. We worry too much about who is right, or what is right for us. Our new morality is the service of expediency. People make decisions with a selfish and self-centered world view even as they clothe that naked villainy with odd old ends stolen forth from holy writ. The new morality today is a reflection of our society. Like our gas stations, our lives have become self-service. New Morality teaches "You only live once, so live it up" instead of "You only live once, so live well". Freedom and Faith are not license; they are concerned with truth and justice, about with what is right. Liberty like true worship means we discipline oursleves suc that even when we would like to do something we instead do what we ought. Freedom and faith are right. True religion is the fertile soil in which morality can grow if the seed of faith is a good seed. By their fruits you shall know them.
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