Mark Twain
described his mother as a genuinely good person, whose soft heart pitied even
Satan, but who had no doubt about the legitimacy of slavery, because in years
of living in antebellum Missouri, she had never heard any sermon opposing
slavery, but only countless sermons preaching that slavery was God's will. With
or without religion, good people can behave well, and bad people can do evil;
but for good people to do evil — that takes religion.
Steven
Weinburg
_________________________
Some people ooze hate and vitriol.
Some people are divisive and violent
Some people live their fear and anger, their racism
As naturally as they breathe
You can see the enmity in their eyes
Arrogance, like a foul fog, rolls off of them
Their values, beliefs, words, and actions
Are a symphony of malice
Jesus had the affrontery to look down from the cross
At his tormentors and murders
And say
Forgive them
Yet people like Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump,
People like Elon Musk and the rest of the oligarchs
Aren't people I can easily forgive
I struggle to “wish them well.”
Honestly, that bothers me only a little
(perhaps it should bother me more)
These people are doing such harm to so many
They are abusing the kind of people on whom Jesus
lavished his love
Let the little ones come to me
Welcome the stranger
Feed the hungry
I see such souls, and I am angry
My anger is not for myself as much as for others
And Jesus (I think) got angry FOR others
Angry at the vulnerable being neglected
The little one’s being harmed
The people I really struggle with are the basically good
people
(yes, they are good)
The people who would, in fact, help their neighbor, give
to the food bank
And be kind and compassionate
Who have chosen to support people who are hateful and
destructive
Who somehow have no problem voting for a serial adulterer
A person who has committed fraud
A person who is racist
A genuinely bad person
Who are willing to embrace leaders, and a movement
Whose values violate their own values
WTH?
Does charisma blind them?
(Halo effect)
Are they myopic?
Putting so much weight on one issue (like abortion) that they can’t see
anything else?
Are they programmed into toxic patriotism (my country
right or wrong)
Is it bad theology that allows them to be manipulated and
used?
But these people are my greatest challenge.
How to work with them?
Talk to them?
How does one embrace what is good about them
and not support what seems so very” off”?
Most of the time, I try to listen and seek to understand
Sometimes I have to embrace silence
Sometimes I try to correct misinformation or add
information
I always try to return
To the perspective of the cross
Everything looks different from the cross!
It is a conundrum
I am not comfortable being silent, which feels like
acceptance.
But I want to reconcile and change, not condemn and repel
(some WILL feel judged, and will balk at the attempt to
“change their mind”)
I want to stay in community with them
I want to radiate the love of Christ
I want to be a good teacher
I want to help people embrace the way of Jesus
What do I do with the good people who right now,
Are embracing what (I believe) are bad things?
For me, this is the challenge of these times.
