If there is equality it is in His love, not in us.  CS Lewis

You know people are funny.  Not so much in the ha-ha, belly laugh way … but from my experience, more so in a quirky, ironic way.   People, humans in general, love to be right about something.  Some are even driven to be right at all costs.  Which seems odd to me, because most people focus only on one side of the coin … the side that promotes their cause, their reason, their belief, their logic.

As we sit here in the 21^st century people often wonder, how in the world Adolf Hitler successfully killed millions of people, and millions more sat by and did nothing.  The truth is frighteningly simple.  Knowing the Bible is the most revered book in most cultures, he became familiar with the Bible.  He held his Bible close to his chest and spouted verses that promoted his cause and ideology.  It mattered not to him if the verses where in context or not.  It matter not to him if he got to know the author of the Bible.  It mattered not to him if he was wrongly interpreting the Bible.  He was not seeking a relationship; his primary goal was to be right at all costs.  In essence, he wrapped a lie in the dressing of the Bible and people believed it. After all who can argue with God?

… people often wonder how men ever justified owning another human being.  The truth is frighteningly simple.  They found support for their belief between the covers of their Bibles.  They held their Bible close to their chests and spouted verses that promoted their position.  It mattered not to them if the verses where in context or not. In essence they wrapped a lie in the dressing of the Bible and people believed it.  After all who can argue with God?

… people often wonder how males ever believed and treated females as second class citizens.  How females were no more than property for many years.  Of course they were more “valuable” property than slaves, but property nonetheless. The truth is frighteningly simple.  They found support for their belief between the covers of their Bibles.  They held their Bible close to their chests and spouted verses that promoted their position.  It mattered not to them if the verses where in context or not. In essence they wrapped a lie in the dressing of the Bible and people believed it.  After all who can argue with God?

… people often wonder how in the world we could have ever believed that one race was superior to another.  How could white people believe and promote they are superior to other races? The truth is frighteningly simple.  They found support for their belief between the covers of their Bibles.  They held their Bible close to their chests and spouted verses that promoted their position.  It mattered not to them if the verses where in context or not. In essence they wrapped a lie in the dressing of the Bible and people believed it.  After all who can argue with God?

This list is endless.  Which poses a critical question.  What is it now, this very day, in your individual life, or our churches collective lives that we are promoting, protesting or betting our lives and the lives of others that we are right about?  What is it we are pointing a finger to in the scripture as an absolute truth, which we could be interpreting incorrectly, thus creating a lie in the dressing of the Bible?  What topic, issue, belief is it that we could, through interpretation which is not clear, be putting words in God’s mouth?

Christians and the church need to remember that following Christ is not about being RIGHT … The Word of God is not something which to brow beat an individual or group of individuals.  The Word of God is a love story of how God loves us so much Christ died for us.  The church, as well as individual Christians, need to learn to error on the side of mercy and love.  Christ has called us to be the BIGGER people … the more LOVING people.  We cannot go after groups of people aggressively and be surprised when they are not cordial and loving back.  It is the GOODNESS of God that leads mankind to repentance, not the hostile, sign holding, protesting, yelling group of self-righteous so called Christians.

Am I saying when there is injustice or wrongs being committed we need to become a door mat.  ABSOLUTELY. NOT.  What I am saying is we need to temper our moves and behaviors with love, mercy and grace; which is exactly what Christ did for every single person ever born or ever to be born.  By doing so He led by example and set the standard of how we should interact with His children.

As we sit here in the 21^st century, it is time we began following His example … and by doing so lives will be revolutionized forever.