Wednesday, March 18, 2009

What Would Jesus Do and Say?

I've read two blogs in the last two days that interest and bother me.

Westover Baptist Church is in Tulsa (they don't have a church in that town) picketing a Billy Joel-Elton John concert with signs saying "God hates fags." That makes me sick. I don't claim to know what God is thinking, but I do not believe this is something God would say. If I'm not mistaken, Jesus said to love your enemies. That isn't to say Billy and Elton are his enemies, but Westover must think they are.

I'm the kind of person (unfortunately) who steps into the fray when I probably shouldn't. If I was there, believe me, I'd be talking to those people. On the other side, if they're supposed to love their enemies, so am I. So, instead of "talking to" them, I should be praying for their eyes to be open to see just how much God loves them. Nobody who knows God's love can withhold love from anyone else. That's what Jesus was talking about.

The other blog was about a mom in the park who was teaching teens and younger girls how to walk seductively--as in modeling. The blogger pulled her 6 year old away from the scene, which was the smartest thing she could do. What upset her was the way the modeling mom twisted her words, "This isn't appropriate" that she spoke quietly in explanation to her daughter, into something ugly.

Twisting words is what the Pharisees did with what Jesus said. Isn't that why He was crucified? They managed to turn everything He did into how He was breaking their law.

I see Westover doing that, and modeling mom doing the same thing. I could leave it at "This world is messed up" but I won't. What I'll say instead is, thank God for people who take stands for what is good and decent and how God would do it. I'm going to take a stab at what Jesus would do at the Joel-John concert. He'd go see them after the show, tell them how great their performance was and then He would put His arms around them and tell them How much He and God love them. I think He'd do the same thing with modeling mom. He'd put his arms around her and say something like, "I spoke through my servant when she took her daughter away. Hear her."

What do you think?

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