Love

So today, again in our bible class, we had a freakin' sweet discussion. As a follow up to a video we watched in class, The Story of Stuff, I had the students write an essay. In the essay, there were to answer the question... "Do we (as Christians... as Humans...) have a responsibility toward humanity?"

They were extremely intelligible in their responses. Some students said we definitely should because God created all people equal - therefore we should defend them and stand up for them when they are wronged. Some said that God has given us dominion over Creation, and we are to be responsible stewards. They said we have a responsibility toward human to bring salvation to all people. This was a great point and I'm glad they brought it up. It sparked an awesome conversation.

The students came to the conclusion that we have a responsibility because we are supposed to love them, because we were loved first by God. And as a result we should seek salvation for all mankind. When they said this, they said we need to bring salvation for people when they die. This was a fantastic teaching moment.

Shelli and I were just talking about this last night - that we should love people to bring them salvation.

But why is the Church so satisfied with getting people to heaven when they die, but leaving them in the hell that they are in? At times, life just sucks. And what do we tell the poor? I mean the actual poor and oppressed - the kids that have swollen bellies because they haven't had food in days... the widows who were thrown out on the street because they are no longer seen as worth anything. Do we preach the Gospel... aka Good News... just to leave people in their current state of misery? That is a sad, sad reality, and doesn't sound like Good News to me.


Christ preached peace, and freedom, and salvation, for now - not just when we die. Yeah, heaven's going to be great! But lets live in the moment. And in this moment, people are hurting, they are suffering, they are in pain - not just those in 3rd world countries.

So let us ask ourselves, do we have a responsibility toward our neighbor? Should our responsibility be to all people... regardless of race, nationality, religion, color? Does God have something to say about this?

May we learn to see people through a different lens, one that is blind to differences. And may we learn to love...

just love...

for love's sake...

without an agenda.