Author: PastorPartridge
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“James: Generosity and Favoritism (Part 3)”
The Most Important Book We Forgot
May 10, 2015
By John Partridge
Scripture: James 2:1-26
I want you to use your imagination with me for a minute. Many of you travel from time to time, so imagine that while you are away from home, either for work or for vacation, you decide to go to church on a Sunday morning. As you pull into the parking lot you slowly begin to realize that this church might just be a little different than your church at home. At home, the parking lot is filled with Chevy’s and Oldsmobile’s but in this parking lot, while you see an occasional General Motors product, the majority of the cars are built by Lexus, Porsche, Mercedes, BMW, and other high-end cars. As you enter the church, you notice that the people are dressed as expensively as the cars they drive and, although you are dressed decently, your suitcase didn’t have room for a suit and tie. And so, as you prepare to enter the sanctuary, an usher gently encourages you to head for the balcony where the youth group is sitting and you notice that the balcony also contains everyone else who is either visiting, or wearing anything less than a three piece suit or a designer dress. It is obvious that you have been seated with the less desirable elements of the church in a place that is out of sight of the regular members.
And now I ask you that question that the professors from the counselling department liked to ask in seminary…
So how does that make you feel?
At the end of last week’s message we heard James say that we should care for the widows, orphans, and others that do not have a voice in our society. In James’ world, and often in ours, these people are poor. And so, caring for the widows, orphans, and others is an issue of generosity and serves to transition us to the subject of today’s message. For James, generosity is a test of the reality of our faith, a place where faith and works collide. And as faith and works collide, how did it feel in your imagination, when you got stuck in the balcony because you weren’t good enough to mix with the regular membership?
Even in our imagination, that hurts. And more than a few of you were thinking that you would never, ever, go back again.
But more than that, James wants us to consider how it feels when it happens to others when they visit our church.
2:1 My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?
8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11 For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.
12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
James begins with his basic premise, his simplest assumption, that believers cannot play favorites because God doesn’t play favorites. From there, James accuses his church flock of doing exactly that. Much as I did when we began, James says, imagine that a man comes to visit your church… But to add to our understanding of this story, I want to add a few details. James tells a story that might have happened during a worship service, but might also have happened when the church elders met to judge a dispute between believers. In that story, James asks if those who have acted this way have not become “judges with evil thoughts.” These hints of judgement in the synagogue, are probably included to remind everyone of the rules for a synagogue trial because among those rules are some that mirror this story almost exactly. Jewish law required that everyone in a trial either sit at the same level or that everyone stand. No preference could be given for status or wealth. Also, both rich and poor participants had to be dressed similarly. A rich man could dress the same as a poor man, or he could pay for new clothing so that the poor man could dress the same as the rich man.
Apparently, the church (or churches) had been discriminating against the poor in exactly this way. James is also pointing out a tragic irony because rich people in that time were abusing Christians by dragging them into court and treating them with contempt because of their poverty and because of their association with Jesus Christ. And so, despite having been abused by the rich, many in the church are granting preferred treatment to the rich and abusing others just as they themselves had been abused.
James then proceeds to remind us that God loves the poor. In fact, James echoes the words of Jesus from his sermon on the plain in Luke 6:20 where he said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” James wants us to remember that the poor are only poor in the eyes of the world because in God’s eyes, they are heirs of the kingdom and rich beyond measure. And so, in all of this we are reminded that the church cannot judge the way that the world judges but instead must judge others the way that God judges James suggests that by discriminating among ourselves, we have “divided ourselves” and therefore become double-minded.
James further illustrates this by quoting the “royal law” (perhaps called the royal law because Jesus also said it) from Leviticus 19:18 which says “Love your neighbor as yourself.” His point is that favoritism lacks mercy and is not loving. For James, a failure to love is equivalent to murder or adultery.
The Ten Commandments are not a multiple choice question.
Next James connects these ideas of generosity, mercy, love and favoritism, to faith and action.
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
20 You foolish [Greek for “foolish is “kenos” which literally means “empty”] person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? 21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.
25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
James introduces us to a person who is not properly dressed, probably someone who cannot afford a coat or appropriate outer covering, and who does not have enough to eat. This person is not worrying about having enough food at the end of the month, or even at the end of this week, but does not have food to eat today. For us to simply pray for food, when it is within our power to give them food and clothing, is wrong. Theologically, such a prayer is not wrong, but it lacks action. The prayer that is offered is missing the deeds that could back it up. And so James tells us that if we believe that God loves the poor but we do nothing to help them, then our faith is dead.
As a counter argument, James anticipates that someone will argue that their faith is enough, that they will say “I believe that God is one.” That argument does not immediately click for us but today we would hear something quite similar. Remember that most of those reading this letter were Jewish followers of Jesus. Every good Jew would, at least twice each day, repeat the ‘Shema’ a prayer that begins by saying, “Hear, Oh Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.” It is an expression of devout faith and orthodoxy (which means right practice). The Shema is a basis of both Jewish and Christian belief but it is not enough. Something more familiar to us today would be a recitation of the Apostle’s Creed, or the Nicene Creed, or the Lord’s Prayer but likewise, these are not enough. As James said, even the demons believe that God is one, and their knowledge of God makes them shudder with fear, but still, they do not have faith.
James argues that Abraham, the father of all Israel, was considered righteous because of what he did. That phrase “what he did” can be literally translated as “from his works” and understood as ‘because of a lifetime of obedience.’ Abraham’s faith was so strong that he obeyed regardless of the cost. But James anticipates another counter argument. He knows that someone will say that Abraham’s deeds grew out of his thankfulness for all the things that God had done for him and not from his faith, and in answer to that, James gives us Rahab. Rahab was not from Israel and did not receive the blessings that God had given to Israel’s people and in fact, Rahab had received nothing at all from God, and yet, she had faith. Because of her faith, she acted on her beliefs and it is her actions that reveal her faith to the world.
The weird thing here is that while James says that Abraham was proved righteous because of his works, Paul teaches that Abraham was righteous because of his faith. While there are different opinions on this, I think Paul’s point was that Abraham was righteous before the law was written and so the law could not save him. In that sense, works, according to the law, were impossible. But Abraham did have faith, and his faith produced works which proved that his faith was real.
And so, when James says that faith without works is dead, he wants us to understand something important.
It is deeds that give life to our faith.
Faith is not just an intellectual thing. It is not an issue of the mind, but has to migrate south and become an issue of the heart. If (and once) it does that, faith must, by necessity, continue its migration to our hand and feet and be lived out through our actions.
Some of the things that we must do are to show mercy, give generously, run away from favoritism and to love others the way that God loves them
We aren’t Christians simply because we say that we are. We are not Christians because we academically subscribe to a particular doctrine or statement of faith. We are not Christians simply because we go to church or because we have memorized the Apostle’s Creed.
We are Christians because we do the things that Christians do.
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Baltimore – A Rush to Judgement?
I wish everyone would shut up for a minute.
But probably not for the reason you think.
I waited a long time to write anything about the riots in Ferguson, Missouri because I wanted to try to understand the issues.
But this time, after watching and listening to media outlets talk about what is happening in Baltimore I don’t want to wait. I am posting now, not because I think I understand what is happening, but because I am convinced that almost no one does.
Every media outlet, every reporter, every politician, and a great many bystanders have taken sides.
Just like the Ferguson case, and the Travon Martin case, and so many others, everyone seems to be absolutely certain that they know exactly what is happening and why.
Everyone is rushing to judgement.
They judge the police. They judge Freddie Gray. They judge the mayor. They judge the President. They judge the protestors, the rioters (those are vastly different groups), they judge the victims of the violence, and people are even judging the parents of the people in the streets.
Christians are often accused of being judgmental, but this is ridiculous. Everyone, Christian and non-Christian alike seems to think that they know so much about what is happening hundreds of miles away in Baltimore that they can stand in judgement of people they’ve never met and who they know almost nothing about.
I wish everyone would all shut up and listen for a change.
As I watch and listen to the reporting from Baltimore, all I seem to find is more questions.
What exactly happened in police custody that led to the death of Freddie Gray?
Did Mr. Gray really have surgery on his spine only weeks before his arrest?
Did that matter?
Did the mayor tell the police to allow the mayhem to continue when it might have been stopped much earlier?
I could ask questions all day but it seems clear that, so far, there aren’t very many answers.
And without answers, all the self-proclaimed experts (left, right and center) should slow down their rush to judgement until they actually have some facts. Right now there are too many things that we just don’t know.
Instead of rushing to judgement, why don’t we listen instead?
We all want justice.
But we should be careful to find the facts so that there can be justice for everyone. There needs to be justice for the police, the demonstrators, the rioters, the politicians, and especially for the victims.
Investigating, finding, and sorting through the facts are all things that will take time.
While we wait, instead of judging everyone, why don’t we do something helpful?
Why don’t we try to find ways to help those who lost homes, jobs, and businesses? Can our politicians and academics find ways to reduce poverty and joblessness instead of just pointing fingers at each other? Why not volunteer with some charity or aid group to clean up and rebuild Baltimore? We should all take the time to listen and understand people with whom we disagree.
Instead of pretending that we know exactly what is going on and who is to blame, our time would be better spent trying to fix the problem and help Baltimore heal. And while we’re doing that, we should talk less and listen more.
Instead of judging, try donating.
And if you are so inclined, I’m sure that everyone involved could use your prayers.
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Our Hardest Prayers
Could you pray for God to take your life? Or your child’s life? Or pray for cancer?
Our gut says no.
How do we pray for something that we *don’t* want to happen?
Everything in us resists.
But sometimes the prayers God desires are the prayers we do not want to pray.
Surrender is necessary.
What do I mean?
Is God so vindictive and manipulative that he would want me to die? Or take the life of a child? Or give someone cancer?
Honestly, those are deep theological issues that we all struggle with and I do not have a solid answer for you.
Seriously, I don’t know.
I think that the answer is no. I know that God is a loving God and I know that before the world was corrupted, Adam and Eve weren’t supposed to die. Death and disease and suffering are abnormal.
But on the other hand, in our world, these things exist and while God doesn’t give us these things, sometimes, for his own reasons, God chooses not to take hardship away from us.
And so the question is, when trouble comes, when we experience hardship, and suffering, pain and even death… how should we pray?
Our natural reaction is to pray for God to rescue us from our trouble, to take away our pain, and to save us from death and most of the time, that is exactly how we pray. Unfortunately, that is not the model that we have been given.
In John 12:27-28, shortly before Jesus was arrested, he said this to his disciples:
27 “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name!”
And later that night Jesus prayed two times saying, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26:39) and then later, “He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”
Knowing that God has sent him to die, Jesus prays that the Father will use his suffering to bring glory to God. Jesus lives as an example to us that our prayers might not always be for God to rescue us from our troubles, but that, if God has prepared that trouble for us, or has chosen to allow it into our lives, that our suffering would somehow bring God glory.
The crucifixion of Jesus meant the death of God’s own child but God allowed it, even planned it, because, in the grand scheme of things, in God’s master plan, that pain, that suffering, that death, made the entire world, and the future of everyone, better.
God brought glory to himself when Jesus was lifted up on the cross because that action pointed all of humanity toward Jesus and toward God. So we know, that whatever we do that points others toward Jesus, likewise brings glory to God.
And so when we experience hardship, and suffering, pain and even death, even though our natural reaction is to pray for God to rescue us, we must remember that is not the model that we have been given.
Praying for rescue isn’t a bad thing. Before his arrest Jesus was praying for exactly that when he said, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.” But he didn’t stop there. Jesus continued by saying, “Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
It is okay for us to pray that God would rescue us, in fact, it’s normal. But we always need to remember that rescue might not be a part of God’s plan. And so, as we pray for rescue, we should also remember to pray that if God chooses not to rescue us, that our trouble, our suffering, and yes, even our death might, somehow, bring glory to God and point others toward him.
And those are probably the hardest prayers we will ever pray.
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Excuses, Excuses
“I could never be a _______ because I once heard about a really stupid _______.”
This kind of statement is all too common on social media. It has been said about almost every possible group. I have heard it said about Republicans, Democrats, pro-lifers, pro-choicers, Christians, Atheists, and everything in-between.
But those aren’t arguments, they’re excuses.
And it is unfair to everyone.
Sure, it’s funny to point at the Republican that didn’t know that Tehran is the capitol of Iran. Or the Democrat who thought the island of Guam would capsize if we sent too many Marines there. But it isn’t really fair to say that these people represent all Republicans or all Democrats.
And the same is true for Christianity.
I admit that sometimes Christians say really dumb things. There are some Christian leaders who make me cringe almost every time they open their mouths.
But that seems to be true of people from any large group.
I have heard people with Masters and Doctorate degrees say dumb things but that doesn’t mean that education is stupid. We shouldn’t give up on education because we once met an educated person that did, or said, something dumb.
Just because someone in Hollywood made a bad movie (and there have been some really awful ones) is no reason to give up on movies forever.
Just because we saw a stupid driver on the highway (and there are plenty) is no reason to give up on driving.
Our opinions about education, politics, morality, religion, or anything else, should be built on the truth and on the merits of their arguments, not simply on whether or not we once heard one of “those people” say something stupid.
If you want an excuse to stay away from a political party, or church, or anything else, that’s up to you. But don’t say that it’s because a few people said, or did, something dumb.
Don’t judge an entire group by the actions of a few.
Because that would just be stupid.
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Good News, Bad news
This week I got a card in the mail reminding me that it is time to make an appointment with John, the audiologist that programs my cochlear implant. It hardly seems like six months since I have seen him. Once again, I am uncertain how things will go. On the one hand, because whatever changes are happening in my head are incredibly gradual, I don’t really notice that much has changed. And yet, other people tell me that they can tell that I am hearing better.
One of the few places that I notice a difference is in meetings. Whether it is in a small meeting, or in youth group, or in a large room like the fellowship hall, I notice that I can hear more than I used to. Not that long ago, I could barely make out anything in our youth meetings and almost nothing at all in a big room like the fellowship hall, but lately I can hear enough to keep up with some of the conversations. I still am not where I would like to be, but I can tell that things are better than they were.
At least until last week.
Right around Ash Wednesday, I noticed that it was suddenly harder to understand the people around me and discovered that my hearing aid was acting up. No problem. Since receiving a cochlear implant, I have two hearing aids and only one ear to wear them in, so I have a spare. In fact, at one of my last visits my regular audiologist, Walt, reprogrammed them both to fit my right ear. So when my hearing aid went on the fritz, I just switched over to the spare. Things were kind of busy at work so I figured that I would just make an appointment after things calmed down a little.
That worked for two weeks.
But after two weeks, my spare hearing aid quit. I emailed Walt on a Thursday and got an appointment the very next Monday. One hearing aid didn’t work at all and the other works as long as the ear mold isn’t attached. Even Walt thought that was pretty weird. In any case, both of them have been sent back to the factory. That means that the only things that I am currently hearing are coming through my cochlear implant.
And that is my good news, bad news thing divides.
The bad news is that I really can’t hear anything on my right side without hearing aids. But the good news is that since I have an implant I can still hear something. If I didn’t have the implant and both hearing aids quit, I would be in deep weeds.
The other good news, and really sort awesome, is that even hearing only through my implant, I am doing fairly well. I can hear reasonably well in most situations and have even been listening to the radio (a little) in the car. Of course, any place with a lot of ambient noise is almost impossible, and conversation around the dinner table at home is pretty difficult to follow, but I am relatively functional.
Six months ago, I’m not certain that I could have done this well on my implant alone.
So I guess I’m a little excited to see John and have my implant reprogrammed again.
Who knows how much better things might get?
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Six Ways to Get Unfollowed on Twitter
People follow one another on Twitter (and unfollow) for a lot of reasons, but in my book, these six things will get you unfollowed pretty quickly.
1) Post too many times a day – My general rule of thumb is that most people can post five times a day. Even ten is acceptable if you have something really good to say, or if there is some special event that you are live tweeting. But once you start crowding my feed, you are a target.
2) Post too many times in a row – Some people post five or ten tweets in a row. Sometimes it is a bunch of separate things all sent at once, and other times someone strings a long post into five or ten tweets. If you want to blog, write a blog. Either way, if you do it very often, I’m probably not going to follow you.
3) Post too many pictures – I know everyone says that pictures attract attention, but if all you do is post a bunch of pictures, posters or memes on my feed, I’m probably not going to follow you.
4) Post Off topic – I generally follow people because I am interested in what they post. I completely understand that we are all human and a little “human interest” is fine. The occasional post about your kids, or your nice dinner is okay, but if you say that your posts are about science, religion, business or whatever, and spend most of your time posting about something else, your days on my list might be numbered.
5) Post ads – I understand that many of us are on social media to promote our place of business, books, or even ourselves. But if all I ever see are ads instead of useful content, I’m probably not going to follow you.
6) Post “click-bait” – We all have a variety of interests and occasionally we find interesting things that we want to share, but if the majority of your posts are links to “click-bait” advertising that looks like “Wow! Look at this Crazy Stuff!” I’m probably not going to follow you.
I’m sure that missed a few.
What have people done that made you unfollow them?
I tweet primarily about church, faith and religion, but also science, technology, the space program and the human condition. And of course, a few about my kids. Follow me @PastorPartridge
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Immigration: A Christian Dilemma
Should we build a wall at the border, or should we let everyone through? As I scroll through my social media feeds, I see posts by friends that seem to support both extremes. Some say that, as a matter of security, out nation must seal the border. Others say that as a matter of Christian compassion, we must care for the foreigners among us and allow them in.
So what should a faithful Christian believe?
Is there a “right” answer?
Honestly, I don’t know.
What I do know, is that both extremes miss the mark. I recognize that both “sides” are represented by people of faith who believe in the message of the gospel. But at the same time, each group ignores vital and valid points that are made by the other.
In the interests of full disclosure, I am the product of an immigrant family. My grandparents came here from Germany, as did my Mother-in-law. Our family is certainly sympathetic to the cause of immigrants. But even so, I understand that the discussion pulls us in different directions.
Here are some points of discussion worth considering:
1) As followers of God, we are called to be the voice for the voiceless (Proverbs 31:8) as well as to care for the foreigners among us (Exodus 22, Jeremiah 22, Ezekiel 22, Zechariah 7)
2) There are limited resources with which to care for them and a limited number of volunteers who can provide care.
3) Border crossings that avoid official checkpoints, cross deserts and other inhospitable territory. As a result, men, women and children die crossing the border.
4) Unscrupulous people, who are hired to guide others across the border, often abandon their charges or sell them into various forms of human trafficking.
5) Whenever the chance of success is higher, or the rewards for success become greater, more people attempt to cross the border.
6) Is it fair, or just, to those who are following the law and applying for proper documentation, to allow undocumented immigrants to flow across the border?
7) Is it fair, or just, for native born citizens to compete for employment against undocumented migrants?
8) There are valid local and national security concerns related to some of the people who are crossing the border. Is it justice to put others at risk by allowing known criminals into the country without a background check?
Clearly, we are called to be compassionate and to care for the foreigners among us, but the most compassionate, caring, and just thing to do may not be found at either extreme. Building walls and returning undocumented migrants results in injustice, but opening the floodgates and allowing everyone in creates a different kind of injustice. Making it easier to cross the border will increase the number of people who die crossing it. And the failure to regulate who is crossing, will drive migrants into the hands of human traffickers.
When the waiting list for legal documentation can drag on for years, how are those applicants harmed by migrants who are given such documentation after crossing the border in the dark of night?
We have seen similar waves of immigration. There were waves of Irish, Germans, Czechs, Chinese, Vietnamese, and others. Perhaps with this wave of immigrants from Central America, we might reconsider an old idea. What if we built a new “Ellis Island” on our border with Mexico? It would be a place where migrants would be welcomed, cared for, and kept safe, but also a place where they could be documented, we could conduct background checks, and verify that they met other requirements.
At Ellis Island, migrants were tested for disease, and were required to provide documentation that they had employment and a place to live in their new country. While most migrants passed through Ellis Island in a day or two, my grandfather was detained for a week because the man who was supposed to verify his employment was delayed. He was finally approved for entry after that man sent a telegram which verified his status.
Once again, I don’t know what the answer is. Most likely, there is no single answer.
But each extreme carries us toward injustice.
Justice and compassion demand that we try to find a way between these conflicting demands.
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Snipers and Burning Pilots – God Weeps
Lately there has been a great deal of publicity and social media chatter about the movie, American Sniper. Of course everyone is also talking about the Jordanian pilot, Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh, who was burned to death by ISIS fighters.
I struggle with these things.
I spent ten years in the Army Reserve. For years I collected and read books on military history and one of the books that I liked was about the Marine sniper, Carlos Hathcock, who was the “most lethal” sniper during the Vietnam war and whose record held until Chris Kyle broke it. I have always admired the courage and fortitude of men like Carlos Hathcock. At the same time, seeing a helpless, caged man burned to death (I haven’t actually seen it. I just can’t bring myself to watch a man die) stirs an incredible anger in me.
A part of me wants revenge.
But as much as we have made heroes out of men like Carlos Hathcock and Chris Kyle, and martyrs out of men like Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh, we ought to stop and think about what God wants.
We know how these things make us feel.
But how does God feel?
While it is true that our God is a god of Justice, and while it is true that God has sent armies to destroy evil and to avenge wrongdoing, God is also a god of compassion, mercy and love. In cases like these, clearly, we find that there is tension between the world that exists and what God wants.
But even if, in the darkest sense, we assume that God desires for evil to be destroyed and that, at least by our definition, ISIS is that evil, what do we know about God?
I do not pretend to know the mind of God.
God did not speak to me from Mount Sinai.
It is not my place to declare that God wants to kill or destroy ISIS regardless of their violence and evil. If we have learned anything from history, we should know that it is not the place of human beings to go to war under the assumption that we have been “sent by God” or that we are doing the “will of God.”
Unless God speaks to me in a clear and audible voice, I am not likely to change my opinion on that.
But I think that the message of scripture tells us quite clearly how God feels.
God weeps.
God loves the people of his creation. God loves the Jews, and the Christians, Buddhists, Atheists, Muslims, and everyone else.
God claims all of us as his children.
And God desires for every one of his children to come to him. That, after all, is the message of scripture and especially the message of Jesus and the New Testament.
God loves us so much that he was willing to sacrifice the most valuable thing he had, his own son, in order to rescue us. God loves humanity so much that he was willing to set aside his God-ness, come to earth in human flesh, and suffer and die as one of us, all so that we might have the chance to live forever in his home.
And so I honestly don’t know how God feels about Chris Kyle or Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh except that he must feel like any other parent who watches their children fight. God loved Chris Kyle, and Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh, and the men they killed, and the men that killed them.
Every one of them, whether they were Americans, Jordanians, ISIS fighters, Christians or Muslims, were his beloved children.
And with us, God watched them die.
And so, although I cannot say whether God sent Chris Kyle to impose some kind of “divine judgment,” I do know something else that is certain.
Just as any parent who watches a child die, when God watches the horror that is war…
God weeps.
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