January 30, 2009 8:50 PM
Christians, Catholics: Are you willing to be hated?
The other day I wrote about clashing with Catholics whose attachment to getting along with everyone made them upset with me for expressing opposition to the gay political agenda and Tripp for expressing his mistrust of Islamofascism. These Catholics took great pride in their "wide range" of friends, assuming/presuming that Tripp and I somehow did not have something similar and were therefore spiritually inferior.The same day I wrote my own piece on Catholics aspiring to be "nice," Randy Alcorn - a man who I admire immensely for giving all he had in sacrifice to the pro-life movement - wrote:
I am all for graciousness, kindness and servant-hearted love as we speak the truth. I seek to practice this with the nonchristians I'm around. But at some point the greatest kindness we can offer them, coming out of a life of humility and faithfulness to Christ, is the good news about Jesus. (That good news actually involves some very bad news about human sinfulness, which is what makes the cross an offense, meaning that it ticks people off).This is just the part that sounds sympatico with what I wrote about "niceness." You can read the entire piece Are You Willing to Be Hated for Speaking the Gospel Truth? at Randy's Eternal Perspectives blog.
The danger comes when we live in such fear of being mislabeled that we don't step forward as unapologetic and unashamed all-out followers of Jesus. They can call us Jesus freaks or ignorant or uncool or intolerant or anything they want, that's fine. We should do what we believe pleases our Lord, regardless of how it pans out in opinion polls. That includes loving others and giving radically and ministering to the down and out and addressing addictions and saying we think it's wrong to kill children of all ages and helping people find alternatives. We do such things not seeking the approval of our culture, but of our King.If we seek our culture's approval, we'll either never get it or get it only at the expense of failing to represent Christ. We are promised, that if we "live godly lives in Christ Jesus" we "will suffer persecution." If we're not suffering persecution, at some level, then what does that suggest?
We should certainly be nice, and it's sad when Christians aren't. But it's also sad when we imagine "niceness" has greater impact than it really does. Niceness is not the gospel. Some modern concepts of evangelism are little more than being nice to your neighbor and loaning him your hedge clipper and hoping that somehow he will come to Christ without you actually having to say the WORDS of the gospel which would run the risk of him thinking you're weird. Our good example is important, but it's not sufficient. There are actual truths that must be grappled with in surrendering to Jesus (1 Cor 15:1-6). And these truths are expressed in words.
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Comments
Barbara,
I have thought on the willingness to be hated as a Catholic long and hard and not only am I willing to be hated, suffer and die if necessary for my faith, but in modern measure it is a real reflection of the measure of our ability as Christians to hold true to our faith (Psychopathic/Psychotic behavior excepted of course).
For 29 years I've told my children that you should always speak the truth no matter what. When they were old enough to ask "What if the truth hurts someone?" I explained the truth only hurts those that fail to believe it, but the purpose of the truth should never be to hurt, but to call for conversion of sinners. Realizing how far one is/was from God may be painful but that pain is nothing compared to and completely negated by the joy of finally receiving Him into your life! My wonderful wife expanded on that with "Speak the truth with Love" and for that I am forever grateful.
The fact is that the Truth about God, Jesus and His good news only hurts those who fail to believe it and His Good News is most specifically meant for those sinners whom He came to save.
All well and good, but the problem today is that while so many today believe they are sinners and that they have fallen from grace, nobody believes they have to act on that and repent anymore. That is the task that we as Catholics and Christians must embrace and practice Christ's example of converting sinners. Not by in-your-face calls to repent, but through unconditional Love. If we are met with indifference or hatred then we must not only realize but embrace the fact that we cannot as humans suffer more than Christ did for us! If those that do not believe reject that and cause us to suffer here on earth, how much less is our suffering for Christ than Christ's suffering for us and much more will our joy be in heaven?
Just tonight I saw a framed piece of stitch work that said it all for me. It summed it up so simply and beautifully and said:
"Be the Bible for those that don't read it"
God Bless you all!
Bob Cavalcante
http://catholicconservativeamerican.blogspot.com/
Posted by: Bob Cavalcante | January 31, 2009 1:06 AM
Not just your posts on this subject but several other things in my life have seem to indicate that God wants me to grow some ovaries and speak the truth even when it is hard.
I am the typical "peace keeper" personality. I generally avoid conflict because I am used to seeing people react poorly when they are upset (I have a lot of histrionic people in my family) and so disagreeing with someone has an element of fear. Will I be screamed at? Will I be hit? What will there anger/sadness lead them to do?
But it is all my own self-interest talking here. I know I need to be fully committed to the Cross.
Posted by: paigeu | January 31, 2009 9:35 AM
Thank you for the reminder and challenge. The days are getting short, with lives in the balance. What am I doing, too often just being "nice" at best??
This reminds me of two things our pastor has said on many occasions.
One is simply that we cannot possibly be more compassionate and loving than God! That should be obvious, and yet we go beyond gentleness and godly love to try to soften things-- as if God needs our spin on His truth. No one spoke more of hell than Jesus! And that is because of His perfect love. (Hell itself, in fact, is an expression of His perfect love. A loving God would not allow evil to roam and decimate uncontained forever, with justice never coming, nor would He drag into His presence for eternity those who desire to run from Him.)
The second is a simple analogy between sin and cancer. A compassionate, good physician does not avoid dealing with her patient's cancer because it is unpleasant, nor does she just throw vitamins and feel-good therapies at it. She does whatever she can to remove what is killing her patient and, if necessary, performs painful and dangerous surgery to CUT IT OUT.
Posted by: marian | January 31, 2009 11:56 PM
As Chrisitians we are not called to be nice. We are called to be good, holy. Nowhere in the Gospel are we called to be nice.
In a world of moral relativism and political correctness it is vital to speak the truth with love. I often see in the public schools the idea that every idea should be validated or given the same weight. I try to point our to my children that we are to seek truth. Not all ideas are equal and to point this out is not mean or unkind.
In speaking the truth with love, the love part is not niceness. It means treating a person with dignity and respecting them as an equal. all ideas are not equal. But all people are.
Posted by: Jane | February 2, 2009 2:20 AM
