The New Samaritan

"A man on his way from Atlanta to Greenville was robbed and severely beaten at a rest area. The thieves even stole his clothes and left him for dead lying on the sidewalk and drove off in his car.

As it happened, a fundamentalist pastor happened by that way and saw the man but he thought there was a good chance the man was dead anyway and the pastor was on his way to go soulwinning so he really couldn’t spare the time. Instead, he carefully stepped around the guy making sure not to get his wingtip shoes bloody and hurried away — muttering about how if conservatives were in charge of the government this sort of crime wouldn’t happen nearly so much.

A few moments later, a fundamentalist deacon passed by the same way but he observed that the man was immodestly clad and wondered how it might affect a Baptist deacon’s testimony if someone saw him near the wounded man and assumed it was the appearance of evil. So he too carefully stepped around the wounded man, hiking up his khaki pant legs to avoid the gore and went on his way.

But then along came an atheist, lesbian Democrat who taught Women’s Studies at the local community college and drove a Prius. And she saw the man and took pity on his plight. She called him an ambulance and sat with the wounded man and held his bruised hand until the paramedics came. Then she followed him to the hospital and handed them her Visa card and said “Whatever he owes on his bills you can charge it to me. And if he needs anything here is my cell phone number just give me a call.”

Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?

Go and do likewise."

From: http://www.stufffundieslike.com/2011/05/good-neighbors-a-fundamentalist-parable/

Here's why this is so good: To understand the importance of Jesus' parable of the good Samaritan, you have to understand the attitude Jews had towards Samaritans - they hated them. Samaritans claimed to practice true Judaism, not the altered version that they say emerged after the Babylonian exile. Samaritans even had their own temple on Mount Gerizim. (for more see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samaritan#The_Tension_between_the_Samaritan_and_the_Jews)

The Parable of the Good Samaritan

10:25 Now an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 10:26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you understand it?” 10:27 The expert answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.” 10:28 Jesus said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

10:29 But the expert, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 10:30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him up, and went off, leaving him half dead. 10:31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, but when he saw the injured man he passed by on the other side. 10:32 So too a Levite, when he came up to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 10:33 But a Samaritan who was traveling came to where the injured man was, and when he saw him, he felt compassion for him. 10:34 He went up to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 10:35 The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever else you spend, I will repay you when I come back this way.’ 10:36 Which of these three do you think became a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” 10:37 The expert in religious law said, “The one who showed mercy to him.” So Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.”

Needless to say, this challenged the established religious authority in Israel - the socio-political and economic order. In American society, a society so religiously arrogant that it sees itself as the moral authority, who is the Samaritan? Who do the religious authority view as socio-political and economic enemies? I think "an atheist, lesbian Democrat who [teaches] Women’s Studies at the local community college and [drives] a Prius," fits the bill.

What's the point? The point is Christians are called to love, to be a neighbor and to the credit of all my atheist, LGBT, Democrat friends, the "Samaritans" are doing it better.

A Christian Response to the Death of Osama bin Laden

Sunday night, May 1, I was watching NBA playoff basketball just about ready to go to bed when I saw the news - President Obama would be making a special announcement concerning national security. My first thoughts were in regards to Libya or perhaps he would announce a foiled terrorist plot. Very soon the rumors started and were quickly confirmed that the president would be telling the nation that US Armed Forces had found and killed Osama bin Laden.

I guess really though, this story starts on 9/11, both individually and corporately. I was incredibly upset on that Tuesday and I could only think of vengeance. I wanted to enlist in the military that day - thankfully my dad talked me out of it.

But, it seemed on Sunday that justice had been done - and I didn't know how to feel. First, I felt a hollow glee. Very quickly that glee faded and I was just hollow. It seemed like a good thing that bin Laden was dead but I had a hard time being happy that anyone was dead.

All through Monday I watched as various people posted their thoughts to Facebook and Twitter. Some rejoiced, even posted Bible verses to justify their celebrations. My genuine question is would a loving God rejoice in death? God is just, for sure. But my justice is not God's. My desire for vengeance is not God's. My justice is typically selfish - centered only on how things have affected me.

Now, I am making no proclamations regarding the death of Osama bin Laden. I am not going to declare it justified or immoral. That is just my point - I don't know because I do not have God's sense of justice. What I do know, is that celebrating a death, any death, to me, seems rather immature.

Let me leave you with two quotes, you can decide for yourself which is more godly:

"“It is unusual to celebrate a death, but today Americans and decent people the world over cheer the news that madman, murderer and terrorist Osama Bin Laden is dead. The leader of Al Qaeda—- responsible for the deaths of 3000 innocent citizens on September 11, 2001, and whose maniacal hate is responsible for the deaths of thousands of US servicemen and women was killed by U.S. military. President Obama confirmed the announcement late last night. DNA tests confirmed his death and his body is in the possession of the U. S. It has taken a long time for this monster to be brought to justice. Welcome to hell, bin Laden. Let us all hope that his demise will serve notice to Islamic radicals the world over that the United States will be relentless is tracking down and terminating those who would inflict terror, mayhem and death on any of our citizens.”

- Mike Huckabee; former Southern Baptist Minister, former Governor of Arkansas,

presidential hopeful

"In front of the death of man, a Christian never rejoices but rather reflects on the grave responsibility of each one in front of God and men, and hopes and commits himself so that every moment not be an occasion for hatred to grow but for peace."

- Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican Spokesman

For further reading check out this great article from Relevant Magazine: http://www.relevantmagazine.com/life/current-events/op-ed-blog/25463-should-christians-celebrate-the-death-of-osama-bin-laden

Shit Happens

John 9:1 Now as Jesus was passing by, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. 9:2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who committed the sin that caused him to be born blind, this man or his parents?” 9:3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but he was born blind so that the acts of God may be revealed through what happens to him.

Ecclesiastes 3:16 I saw some else on earth: In the place of justice, there was wickedness, and in the place of fairness, there was wickedness. 3:17 I thought to myself, “God will judge both the righteous and the wicked; for there is an appropriate time for ever activity, and there is a time of judgment for every deed.

You may not agree with the language, but it is true – shit happens, and one of the mistakes of faith in the sovereignty of God is to believe that He somehow allowed or caused that shit to happen for some greater purpose. But sometimes, shit just happens.

Growing up it was common in my church to believe that if you were going through some personal suffering because the devil was trying to divert you from your path. Specifically, I can remember thinking that there was some special call on my life from an early age. When you grow up hearing of Daniel, David and the other heroes of the Bible, it is easy to believe that you too will be heroic. Some kids thought they would grow up to be Spider-Man, I thought I would be Joshua. Whenever I felt particularly tormented by life – teasing, sickness, or struggling with issues of faith – I thought it was because there was this call on my life that Satan recognized and wanted to keep me from becoming.

This is a weak type of faith. Certainly I am not denying that there are powers and principalities that seek to subvert the message of Christ, but not every stub of the toe in the dark is the work of Satan. Sometimes, you just stub your toe. Sometimes, shit happens.

In the first passage, from John, we have the story of a blind man being healed by Jesus. Jesus' disciples ask who is responsible for the man's blindness – was it caused by some sin of his parents or the sin of the man himself. I can just picture Jesus having to swallow his annoyance before answering. He does answer them that no one's sin caused this but that the man's blindness served to reveal the glory of God. Now you may think this verse serves as evidence against what I am saying – here we have a clear example of God allowing or causing blindness for a higher purpose.

The difference here, is the direct revelation of Jesus that this was its purpose. At the same time, how many hundreds and thousands of other people were blind in the world? They were not all caused or allowed to be blind for a purpose – some of them were blind because blindness sometimes happens to humans.

Ecclesiastes could just as easily be called by the title of this post. The Teacher is writing about the futility of life and how to deal with that. One of the futilities recognized is that justice, fairness and equality are non-existent in the natural order. In other words, good things happen to bad people and vice versa.

The point is this, if your belief is that God uses trials and tribulations to prove a bigger point, when the point goes unfulfilled or unrecognized, you will begin to resent God. Sometimes, being human causes human things – disease, death, hardships. This is not to say, though, that God doesn't use these things to reveal his glory, but sometimes, shit just happens.