A Messy Divorce

In this advent season (which I don't really celebrate as such, but understand the desire of the Christian community as a whole to do so), it is wholly fitting that we should see the Syrian refugee crisis emerge. Never has a call been more clear to serve God and testify to His love than when we see the throngs of people attempting to escape oppression and look for hope beyond their borders.

Never has the need for a true evangelist been more obvious.

But a lot has changed within the church. Instead of evoking an image of Mother Theresa embracing the hurting, the needy, feeding the hungry, and clothing the poor, we have Christian leaders promoting the image of a Commando Christ, with the worship of guns rather than God, attacking the people who need Him the most.

That is not the God I understand. And that is not the God I will serve. Yes, I have watched patiently as we have engaged in wars, trusting that our leaders had intelligence that I didn't, and refusing to wage a full scale war on foreign policy right here at home. I believe an opposing voice was needed, but unless I felt the call was clear, was not willing to BE that opposing voice. In the wake of this current crisis, that has changed.

Jesus never promised the way would be easy. Quite the opposite. We revere people like Corrie Ten Boom, whose family suffered greatly in their display of Christian faith in the face of Nazi terror. We champion disciples like Bonhoeffer, who led the Confessing Church in the very midst of that tempest. We extol the Quakers and their involvement in the Underground Railroad. Yet we insist in the face of Islamic extremism that the answer lies in carbines, not in Christ.

How differently would history have been written if Jim Elliott and his crew had pulled out the weapons (which they had) and swept the beaches clear of the attacking Waodani when they died for the Gospel in which they believed.

Understand, I am certainly prone to frustrated outbursts. But understand this is not one of those. In the 27 years since I have been a Christian, I have studied closely the lives of the martyrs, those whose faith weathered in the midst of persecution. And I know from those readings that the path the church leaders take is not always the correct one.

And so, rather than create division within the church, I will respect the leaders within those churches and take my leave. I will not allow the discussion to turn to the genocide, when we were called to REACH the people who hate us, when we are called to LOVE our enemies, even to the point of forfeiting our lives if necessary.

I cannot express, though, how difficult this is. I love the people in these churches, I just cannot agree with them on this extremely fundamental point of doctrine. The mainstream Christian response towards the refugees is wrong. I would bet my very salvation upon it, if it were mine to give. The Jesus who could have called 10,000 angels is certainly capable of defending my family even in the midst of the tempest.