Us vs. Them

It is 2012, another election year.  Time for all of the political discussion (arguments) and the not-so-sweet TV advertisements to come rolling across the screen with the little tagline at the end "this was a paid advertisement by the so-and-so campaign." In an election year, like one we have this year, it is easy to see how polarizing our nation can be.  Not only our nation, but our entire world community can take sides, perhaps not always politically, but we as a human race can become polarizing over certain issues nonetheless.  This is a very dangerous place to be.  We align ourselves with a certain group, or a certain party, or a certain person and before long we find ourselves in a me vs. you stance or us vs. them, red vs. blue, android vs. apple, republican vs. democrat, Marvel vs. DC, Christians vs. non-Christians.  The questions I ask myself are: how healthy is this?  Are we accomplishing anything? Can we accomplish more another way?

Oftentimes I think the Christian community, who has great intentions, gets wrapped up in this me vs. you way of life as well.  We are taught that this is the way we settle things verbally and peacefully (sometimes not so peacefully, like the Crusades--sorry).  I present my case, you present your case, we challenge one another's views, and walk away with nobody being swayed and everyone being angry.  Some people just love a good debate.  This week is the first presidential debate of the 2012 elections.  I will certainly be paying attention, not because I think either of the political leaders will dramatically sway my opinion with their carefully crafted debate skills, or their attacks and counter-attacks against the other party/leader.  But I will take note of the character presented by each of the candidates.

There will certainly be many things to discuss and there will be much politicking taking place, but let me get back to my original thought.  We, as Christians, often see ourselves in the arena of me vs. those who oppose me.  We take a stand on the words of Christ from Mark 9:40 "whoever is not against us is for us" and assume that the opposite is true: "whoever is not for us is against us."  Our Christian stances hold our line on several hot button issues and lump together those who deviate from our opinion.  I use the term "our" because I fall into this category often without meaning to.  But, what may be more beneficial is to remind ourselves that the other political party (whichever that may be for you), the opposing viewpoint, the anti-my-way-of-thinking, is not our enemy.  No matter how anti-Christian that person may seem.  They are not the enemy.  Unless they are the physical embodiment of evil they are not the enemy.

How can that be?  Am I just some passive Christian who has been brainwashed by the liberal media to affirm that there is no moral absolute or that all truth is relative? No.  I am trying to remind us as Christians that our battle is not against flesh and blood. "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." -Eph 6:12.

Although I quiver at the thought of how downright evil some people's actions can be, and how much insanity there is in the world, we are all sinners and even the scariest human is only one step away from the grace of God (yes all, even the most extreme cases).  If we change our outlook, we should never see our struggle as a we vs. they mentality.  The ones we consider "they" in this sentence are people just like anyone included in the "we" category, and the act of the cross, Jesus Christ's death, burial, and resurrection is for every person.  We are on level ground with everyone.  People who are not yet believers don't need to hear our condemnation or theological reasons for how Christians perceive "them." What they need to hear is how a loving Christ came to establish a relationship with all of humanity and how "us" flawed humans who call ourselves the Church want to reach out to the hurting, poor, lonely, destitute, helpless, and hungry with that love.  Ivory tower arguments hardly convince anyone into the Kingdom of Heaven, but Love is different, Love is where it all began.

Let us reframe the us vs. them mentality to a we-all-together-need-Christ's-love mentality.  Let me show you by my actions, even if we never believe the same.  People get turned away from those who tend to say their view is wrong.  I know what many Christians will say next: "Christ is the only way, and yes to deny that is to be wrong."  I am not trying to refute what Christ says about himself, I am trying to encourage those who believe to embody Christ's attitude of humility and not to put ourselves in the place of the Holy Spirit.  God is big enough to convict others of their sin, He's big enough to convict us of our own.

If I muddied this up, please feel free to sit down at the table and have a cup of coffee with me, and we can talk.  If you want some more from this perspective try reading Finding Common Ground by Timothy Downs who does a much better job than I have about laying these kinds of foundations.