Fear and Pigs

I don’t think the person who sent me this email reads this blog. But in case you do, please do not take my opinion of this forward personally; thank you for the inspiration.

I recently read an email suggesting if “we” (Americans) bury a pig where a mosque is to be constructed, then the soil would be contaminated thereby thwarting the evil construction plans. I have a few problems with this.

Problem 1:

Animal Rights activists would have a field day all over you for killing a pig for the purpose of annoying another religion. They are hardcore. Let’s just say the rest of the world would be highly entertained for what PETA would consider justice done to you for hurting an animal.

Problem 2:

I am a Christian. I believe Jesus left us examples to follow of how he would have handled situations. The common denominator seems to be love. As far as I can tell, Jesus never tried to make anyone look stupid so he would look smarter. He never protested other religions to prove he was the answer. Jesus spent time with people so they would KNOW him.

I often fail, but I try to filter my motivations by love. If love is not the reason for my choice, then perhaps I need to rethink this.

Erin Edwards, a good friend from college, used to always remind us, “God’s bigger”. She is so right. God is bigger than me, than America, than anything I think I can protect God from.
I do not need to burn a Koran to protect the Bible.
I do not need to protest a mosque to protect the Church.
I do not need to curse Islam to protect Christianity.
God is bigger!
None of these actions would even make it through the filter; there is no love in the background! There is fear. If I believe God is bigger, I do not need to fear. I have not been given a spirit of fear. I will not act on a spirit of fear.

Problem 3:

The most troubling line of the afore-referenced email is, “Americans, put on your thinking caps and let’s find a solution to this problem of a spreading menace to the American way of life!”

The “menace” mentioned is Islam.

Due to the apparent rallying of Americans, I have a feeling that the same person who wrote this email also says they believe in the constitution. If that is true, then they must honor freedom of religion.

What if…

(Insert any voice that disagrees with me for the italicized portion.)All those Muslims should just stay in their own country and stop interfering with our American ways and leave my Christianity alone. (This was the gist of the inspirational email.)

This fearful person has missed something. Unless this person is in missionary training to go into Muslim countries with the gospel… do you see where this is going? This person claims to be a Christian, but instead of furthering the gospel, they are misrepresenting it. The incredibly small percentage of foreign missionaries will statistically allow me to guess that our email writer is not in missionary training. I’m not attacking them for that, I am suggesting they use a different lens.

What if…

Instead of running in fear from other religions, we lived out our faith. What a blessing to have America integrated with so many world cultures to celebrate! Dear email writer, do you realize that if you were living like a loving Christian rather than a hateful one, perhaps this fictitious enemy may recognize your “love filter”? Not your “duty filter” where you only go to church because you have to, but your love filter; the motivation by which you live your life and open your mouth to speak or compose your emails.

Do you realize that you don’t have to travel abroad to represent Christ world-wide? By living like a Christian in America, we are globally spreading the gospel. Or globally making the world hate Christians. I could disassociate myself from Christians and Americans alike by calling myself a North Central Western Hemisphere Christ Follower. But what would creating another term solve?

In Conclusion, LOVE.