Loving the bad man, and everyone else

It's sometimes dangerous when I think, and I've been thinking. A couple of things have made me think.The First is a  series of books I just read by Hank Hanegraaff and Sigmund Brouwer, The Last Disciple Series. The other is a movie I watched, Loving The Bad Man.

The books are historical fiction set in the days when Nero was emperor of Rome. As with all historical fiction, there is real and fictional parts. There was a lot in the books about the persecution of Christians, and how Nero treated them. Pretty bad stuff. I wouldn't have wanted to be a Christian living in Rome in those days.

Loving The Bad Man is a Christian movie that deals with forgiveness. A young woman is raped, and the rapist is caught and goes to prison. The rape results in a pregnancy, and after the baby is born, the young lady feels she must start visiting her rapist in prison, and forgive him and love him.

I include myself in this when I say it, but we Christians have lost loving. Jesus said the second greatest commandment is to love our neighbor as our self, that he who loves not does not love God, for God is love. And other similar statements.

Maybe we are too busy, too wrapped up in ourselves, but the church has lost loving. We are good at judging, condemning, and shooting our wounded, but loving: not so much.

Oh it is easy to love our kids, our pastor, the people who treat us well. That is a piece of cake. But what about the others? The drunk, the drug addict, the homosexual? What if the person treats us wrong? Could we forgive and love someone who raped us or someone we love? Someone who killed a loved one in a drunken accident?

We get angry over the smallest things. In the past I have given my opinion on a certain type of schooling and the issues I see with it. Wow. I think I would have gotten less angry response if I had criticized God. I have inferred a certain singer that people hold in too high of regard might not be in Heaven....again, angry response. And sure, I have a habit of saying what I think, but get real people. That is small stuff. We could face real persecution and bad things some day, and if we react like that when someone criticizes something we hold dear, then how on earth will we stand up to real tribulation?

We are all guilty. Very few have the loving thing down pat, and then we wonder why sinners hate the church and view us a judgmental and hateful. Maybe its because all too often we are.

What would happen if an openly gay person started to your church? Would everyone gasp "child molester!, back off, and isolate that person, or would people befriend him, welcome him, love him?

What if an ex-con started to your church?What kind of reaction would he get? Rude looks, a cold reception?

Some years back, I was sitting in church, and the speaker mentioned homosexuality. A friend of mine behind me, leaned up and said "they ought to hang all of them queers." Wow. Fast forward a few years and we had the topic of homosexuality in Sunday School. A couple of people were very vocal about it. One man said he'd rather have a murderer around his kids than a gay person. Another man said he's never want one of those guys around his kids.

That is just a couple of examples about one sin. If we have those kind of attitudes, is it any wonder there are people avoiding church, and that there are people sitting in our pews that are afraid to be honest about what they are dealing with? Can you imagine if someone went to one of those guys I mentioned above that was silently struggling with same-sex desires?

I did a couple of blog posts about Christians wearing masks. (http://thoughtsofasojourner.blogspot.com/2010/02/masquerade-party.html and http://thoughtsofasojourner.blogspot.com/2010/02/more-on-wearing-masks.html). I talked about how so many people in the church hide their struggles. If we loved more, is it possible that people would be more open, more willing to seek help? Who knows how many men - and women - are in our churches addicted to pornography, struggling with same-sex attractions, are having an affair, or other things that aren't "nice sins." If we loved more, and judged less, how many of those might come forward? That isn't to say we must approve of sin.

WWJD. That was popular a while back, and became pretty much a fad, but it is a good rule to live by. Jesus would love, for He IS love.

I don't believe God is impressed with perfect church attendance, or how much we put in the offering. I think what pleases Him, outside of someone living for Him and obeying Him, is when they love others. The ones who aren't easy to love. The ones whose actions and lifestyle aren't what we approve of, and what God doesn't approve of.

There was a song written several years ago titled "To be like Jesus." I could be wrong, but I think when we are most like Jesus, is when we love.