An intriguing, controversial title! Jesus told us to love our enemies and bless them that curse us. That's hard to do. Success at that depends on your motives. In the mission field, I experienced several instances of direct, physical persecution. On one occasion, as I rode by on my bicycle, an old man threw a piece of a brick at me and hit me in the head. It nearly knocked me off my bike. On another, some kid spat on me. The most disturbing one involved a mob that formed to eject my companion and me from an apartment building. In that moment, I considered the possibility that I could die. It was pretty scary getting roughed up by a group of about 20 people.
In each of those cases, I was able to find forgiveness in my heart and move on. I held no ill will toward the people. I didn't forget the instances, but I don't dwell on them. It's hard to find forgiveness and compassion for those who persist in doing you wrong, however. It's one thing to move past a one-time event. When the offenses are ongoing, constant, and intentional, it's harder to move on. Again, it comes down to your motives. In the situations from my mission, I knew the people were acting in ignorance and that they simply didn't understand why they felt such aggression against me. I understood that the hostility was directed, not at me personally, but at what I represented. They despised God, they hated churches, they felt anger, resentment, and hatred at the whole religion thing. When it comes to current politics, it feels different.
In today's political battles, we are seeing good versus evil, or at the very least, the greater evil versus the lesser evil. The willingness of people to hate me because I am white, male, and conservative is disturbing because I don't hate them back. I have been called racist simply because of my own skin color--and if that isn't racist, what is? My opinions are discounted because they are based in the Judeo-Christian ethos. Apparently that's not a good enough reason to form personal beliefs and opinions.
That religious ethos tells me that I should not engage in violence, even while the other side burns cities and harms people. That ethos tells me I should be honest, obey laws of the land, and treat people with kindness. Meanwhile, the ethos (or lack of it) of the other side allows them to lie, loot, commit arson, and do violence to other people. Meanwhile, for simply criticizing such actions, I'm labeled racist and intolerant.
Today, I got into an online debate with a friend of a friend on Facebook. The guy was attacking Trump, saying that he refused to denounce white supremacy. Knowing that Trump has been badgered by the media about this, and that as far back as four years ago, he publicly denounced racism, the Klan, David Duke, etc., they are still pressing him on it. The media does this to establish a narrative. In the case of the person with whom I was arguing, he doesn't know any of this and he bought into the narrative. Although nothing I could say would sway him, I chose to not leave him ignorant. I provided historical evidence that the Democrats are historically the racist party. Among their sins is Indian Removal, slavery, and opposing the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments.
Dems created the KKK, they opposed desegregation of the military and of the schools. They opposed the Civil Rights Act right up until Lyndon Johnson saw the political advantage and switched sides on the issue to curry favor with blacks. The first black senators and congressmen were Republicans, not Democrats. Racists like Woodrow Wilson and George Wallace were Democrats. For decades, KKK Grand Dragon Kleagle Honcho Big Mahuga, or whatever you call him Robert Byrd was the Senate's honored patriarch. Even the recently departed Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg defended the need for abortion, saying that its purpose was that we could prevent having too many of the kind of people they didn't want in society (meaning blacks). Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood created the "Negro Project" to get rid of the "weeds" of the human race. Hillary Clinton looks up to Margaret Sanger as one of her role models and Robert Byrd as a mentor. But never mind all that. The MSM says Trump is a racist, so that's all the morons will hear.
How do you love that? How do you love those who fight to enshrine racism and ignorance. These people and their allies promote killing unborn babies and even the born ones, if the parents decide at the last minute they don't want them! They promote homosexuality, pedophilia, and even bestiality. They publicly state on their web sites that their intention is to destroy the nuclear family. The want criminals on the street and to defund the police that protect us from them. Following the tactics of the German national socialists, they want to get rid of the police and replace them with political agents that will persecute those who don't support their politics. If unopposed, they would destroy the very agency God has given mankind and force us to submit to Satan's demonic dogmas in the form of a totalitarian government.
How do you love that? They are persistent, constant, aggressive, and determined. They are coming for each of us if we don't fight it. They represent the devil's work on the earth. How do you love the devil? Can you? Should you? These people are God's children, and we seek to love them. Yet they would destroy us. In the end, we either bow to them and let them destroy the world, the Church, and God's plan--or we must fight them with all the resources available to us. For now, that involves engaging with them on social media or in he public forum. Even now, they are trying to silence our voices in that domain. Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms are openly censoring conservatives. In the end, we may very well have to fight them with weapons to preserve our agency.
That time is close at hand. If we do not consider the moral dilemma before us, we will be unsure how to act. Our salvation and theirs may depend on it. The devil is in the details.
Comments