Greetings Dear Reader,
I grow weary of all Christ-followers being cast into the
same basket of deplorables. I am not angry
or offended. I simply see the laziness
of painting in broad strokes everyone thought to be in a certain group or
class. I have very intelligent friends
who are painting these strokes that know better.
I realize that there are those who follow Christ or claim to
who do the same thing. I would hope
those who know how to think will pause and remember that one cannot hate anyone
and follow Christ. One cannot remain
angry and remain holy or righteous. I
would like to see my fellow followers pause and remember to love our enemies,
allies, neighbors, and strangers as Christ commands us to do.
I recently viewed the film American Gospel:
Christ Alone. It gives one understanding
that all those who follow Christ are not alike.
It points out the distinction between those who use the name of Christ for
their own purposes and those who seek to live out the difficult life of a
Christ-follower. There is a difference
and my hope is that honest people who do not believe will see that difference.
I am hurt by the statements that are being made about Jesus. Things like “if Jesus returns kill him again,”
would not be tolerated were we to put the name of someone else’s deity in place
of Jesus. I will not be unkind to anyone
over this but for those of you who call me friend, when you attack Jesus you
insult the very essence of my faith.
It is true that the church, the body of people who follow Christ
have not done as they should to exemplify his love and grace. We are guilty of allowing our faith to be co-opted
by politicians. Not all of us, however,
ignore the needs of society. Not all of
us hate, condemn, or judge.
We have Americanized the Gospel to the point that it is hard
to see the love of Christ. When it is
seen, there is no longer the natural association with Jesus that should
exist. We have spent the inheritance
of our faith, failing to build on the capital we had when our nation had
Christ-centered underpinnings. We have
not cared for the good that we had by ensuring that every man, woman, and child
received love and justice representative of Christ.
We may not be able to fix any of this. What we can do is choose that we are going to
walk in faith by loving everyone on every side of every issue. We are going to feed the hungry whether they
agree with us or not. We need to show
respect to all humans whether or not they respect us. If a group of people feels that we do not
love them, respect them, or treat them with justice, we need to fix it no
matter how we feel about it.
I will not compromise my faith but I will give up things
that make me comfortable if it means showing Christ to anyone else. The Gospel of Jesus Christ seems to grow
increasingly distinct from what passes for the American Gospel. If it is not Christ alone that someone
represents, please do not consider what they tell you as representing Christ-followers.
Wishing you joy in the journey,
Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every
writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a
homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure
store.”
(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Contacts for Aramis
Thorn:
#aramisthorn
Bookings: aramisthorn@aramisthorn.com
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