John - I greatly appreciate your writing and thoughts. I sometimes read your work and have to ponder things like - what does it mean to be a Christian (and not the GQP kind)? Is it OK to call people out? To be angry? To give up on people? Depending on the time of day, I read your stuff and think "he shouldn't be saying that" and then lit…
John - I greatly appreciate your writing and thoughts. I sometimes read your work and have to ponder things like - what does it mean to be a Christian (and not the GQP kind)? Is it OK to call people out? To be angry? To give up on people? Depending on the time of day, I read your stuff and think "he shouldn't be saying that" and then literally minutes later, I re-read and think "Preach, man - tell it like it is!" All this to say, I'm still trying to learn my way with how/if/when to express my outrage at injustice. Thanks for the example you set.
Hi Igor! I write about this quite a bit. I devoted a chapter to it in my book 'If God is Love, Don't Be a Jerk.'
I am perfectly comfortable with anger, at least as an initial prompt. That is how all activism and social change is born. Seeing the human rights atrocities and the waste of so many lives, we SHOULD be angry. The challenge is to transform that anger into something else: into action that brings change or helps someone or fights injustice. Much of Jesus' work was a response to what I call his "ferocity for humanity." When he turns over the temple tables or calls out the religious/political leaders or speaks about the angers of greed and wealth, he is doing so in defense of other human beings being abused and injured. His motives were never to harm the oppressors but to defend the oppressed. If we can make compassion for hurting people our priority, we can channel our natural anger into something useful.
John - I greatly appreciate your writing and thoughts. I sometimes read your work and have to ponder things like - what does it mean to be a Christian (and not the GQP kind)? Is it OK to call people out? To be angry? To give up on people? Depending on the time of day, I read your stuff and think "he shouldn't be saying that" and then literally minutes later, I re-read and think "Preach, man - tell it like it is!" All this to say, I'm still trying to learn my way with how/if/when to express my outrage at injustice. Thanks for the example you set.
Hi Igor! I write about this quite a bit. I devoted a chapter to it in my book 'If God is Love, Don't Be a Jerk.'
I am perfectly comfortable with anger, at least as an initial prompt. That is how all activism and social change is born. Seeing the human rights atrocities and the waste of so many lives, we SHOULD be angry. The challenge is to transform that anger into something else: into action that brings change or helps someone or fights injustice. Much of Jesus' work was a response to what I call his "ferocity for humanity." When he turns over the temple tables or calls out the religious/political leaders or speaks about the angers of greed and wealth, he is doing so in defense of other human beings being abused and injured. His motives were never to harm the oppressors but to defend the oppressed. If we can make compassion for hurting people our priority, we can channel our natural anger into something useful.
"His motives were never to harm the oppressors but to defend the oppressed."
John, you just deepened my understanding of the passage. Thank you.