In the Image of God
Our responsibility to our neighbors and, probably, some mildly offensive encouragement towards grace.
Recently, I fell down the atheist wormhole on twitter and discovered a microcosm of conflict that looks a lot like real life.
Just faster.
Let me save you the trouble of making that particular journey, here’s what you’ll find:
Atheist: Funny meme mocking a cruel and judgemental God
Christian: “You’re going to burn in hell, sinner!”
Atheist: (Points to the Christian) “See?”
And… that’s it.
Ya’ll wonder that no one is convinced?
Nevermind the internet… it’s just an easy example.
This is bigger than that.
If what people from outside of our faith see from Christians is what is represented above… why would they ever believe any different, outside (of course) the miraculous move of God?
(Which happens, all the time, thank you God!)
Would you?
It’s a real question.
If what you believed — right now, as a starting point — was that Christians are judgmental, unloving, self righteous, delusional, hypocritical idiots… then tell me… exactly what behavior would change your mind?
I somehow doubt that “burn in hell sinner!” would move the needle much.
Do we all need the reminder that every person in the conflict is our brother? Our sister? Nuestra familia?
That so are the tens, and tens of tens, and sometimes tens of thousands that get to witness these debacles on the internet, in the media, and in our living rooms?
Familia.
All.
I think that we need to talk about this. All of us.
This is our Father’s house, and the mission Jesus lived and died and lived to accomplish… to reach these incredible, tenacious, witty, and lost people who are throwing stones at the Church… and all the witnesses thereof.
Might there be a better way to minister than throwing stones back?
I mean… if we won’t speak up within our own faith and help each other learn to act, speak, and live like Jesus did… then what are we even doing?
And I gotta tell you… if the reason we won’t speak up is because we’re scared of the response we’ll get from inside-the-church for doing so… we have a much bigger problem.
(Much)
If the Church is going to ‘cancel’ us for having the guts to call out religious hypocrisy… then let’s get canceled.
Seems like a no-brainer that that is what Jesus would do.
Let’s do the Jesus thing.
Here’s how I’d much prefer the story went:
Atheist: Funny meme mocking a horrific-and-cruel-God
Christian: “Totally! That would suck! Thank goodness it’s not like that!”
Atheist: “Yes it is! You think it is!”
Christian: “No, no, I really don’t! But I get it! I used to think that too! Love-Grace-Forgiveness-Faith-Change!”
Atheist: “Come back and fight!”
Christian: “No thanks!”
But that just isn’t what happens.
Instead, all involved feed off each other, hate breeding more hate… and probably a lot of dopamine for all.
Kinda like the news cycle or an American town square, if you could somehow include all the stuff people normally save for behind closed doors.
It is a sadly natural high… just hate your neighbor.
Except, here’s the problem, we can’t claim Christ and do that at the same time and ‘win’.
Please… just picture His face right after we let loose with fire-and-holy-hell-judgement on one of His chosen-that-has-not-yet-come-to-table.
What’s that face going to look like?
Thrilled?
You and I are image bearers of God.
We’re also choosers.
We have to chose how much of His image we are going to actually ‘bear’ and how much of it is just innate or sort of ‘glued on.’
Like a cheap mask at high school halloween party.
But uglier.
When we ignore His every-single-lesson-ever on character and attack the very people He is dying to save — who bear just as much innate image as we do — we cannot expect to succeed at anything of meaning.
Sure, I mean, we can get likes, attendance, money, platform, or applause.
But He didn’t ask us to do any of that stuff. That’s not what He said, did, or is.
He talked about all that as temptations.
Not outcomes.
We’re talking about a man that died to convince the people killing Him that He wasn’t going to judge them.
Matthew 7:1–2
“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.”
Maybe we all just need to read that again and reconsider the wisdom of condemning someone to hell?
Look.
I don’t know what exactly will trigger the following response from Jesus… but I would suggest that this space, where we make it harder for those that have not-yet-found-grace to find it — by using the righteousness of Christ to build lil’ sandcastles for our own egos…
…may just be the thing.
Matthew 7:21–23
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”
Surely there is no greater lawlessness in the Kingdom than to take the laws of its King and bend them to justify our own selfish behavior while ignoring the spirit of everything Jesus taught?
If there is I can’t picture it.
It sounds like exactly what Jesus spent His ministry in active opposition to.
You just can’t be a prick and look like Jesus at the same time.¹
(Sorry)
It just doesn’t work that way.
To do this right, and to teach others likewise, we have to act like, spend time with, and become like Jesus ourselves.²
Being like Jesus means speaking up. Loving people enough to say something. After all… how can we claim we love them if we do not?
And if we all do this together, we’ll have a whole lot of extra cheeks to turn if the ones we’re trying to serve decide to start throwing stones all at once from every direction.
Access to grace… is a pretty incredible thing.
I heard once that a man died to ensure we would always have that, forever more. …might be worth looking into that and doing what we can to be a part of that.
Rip down the barriers if we find them, and invite as many as we can to the party.
And again, as for grace, if I need some… please.
Practice on me.
All scripture referenced is NLT unless otherwise noted. I prefer NLT for postural discussion as it is both reasonably rigorous while retaining a conversational tone.
For study I strongly encourage the use of original language tools, multiple translations, and rigorous critical thought.
Please remember that when you read the Bible in English you are always reading someone else’s theological interpretation of the text.
Footnotes:
1. For fun, here’s a quick look at the work ‘prick’ from our friends at Merriam-Webster's… please note that the slang term I use (5) and the more vulgar reference to male anatomy (4) are in fact entirely separate definitions… even if maybe they started as the same thing long ago.
1: a mark or shallow hole made by a pointed instrument
2a: a pointed instrument or weapon
2b: a sharp projecting organ or part
3a: an instance of pricking or the sensation of being pricked: such as a nagging or sharp feeling of remorse, regret, or sorrow
3b: a slight sharply localized discomfort
4 (vulgar): Penis
5 (slang, vulgar ): a spiteful or contemptible man often having some authority
2. Thank you John Mark!
