Most of us believe that we are all brothers and sisters. That before God we all stand the same for he is no respecter of persons. But we have a tendency to ascribe people by labels and categorize them so that it is easier to deal with those we wish to ignore or dismiss. We would never consider torturing our neighbor or our children, but if we label a man or woman a terrorist, then we feel justified in torturing them. We label someone a conspiracy theorist and then we are justified in calling them a fool or and idiot, or we label them an apostate so we can shun them and dismiss them. Labels allow us to remove the title of brother or sister and substitute in a construct that allows us to justify our behavior towards those we shun. Over the past few years, I have come to see the hypocrisy in the lives of many of us, more especially among those who profess to follow Christ. As I have pointed out these contradictions, more and more people have labeled me and put me into one group or another. I have been shocked at the rumors that have gone around based on labels and assumptions. Lets just assume for a moment that enough of the rumors are true and that I have fallen away from the right path, lets just assume I am now a lost sheep. Those who follow Christ and his example know what they are to do concerning lost sheep. We are to love them and reach out to help them. How do we show our love? By not putting them into categories and labeling them, but finding out, with Gods help, just who they are and what they need. So after all the rumors and strange accusations, I have had, of all my friends and family, ONE person reach out and try to understand where I am at and if they can help in any way. I am not saying I need or dont need help, I am saying that my claims that we dont follow Christ as we should, are demonstrated each day by how much we put others into categories with labels on them and use that as an excuse to ignore or dismiss a person as a brother or sister.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Dec 2014 16:42:32 +0000
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