And Christians Cheered the Way
Actions have consequences, sure. Reparations must be made.
But our imagination is weak if we can think of no restorative forms of justice. Our love is weak if it must rely on vengeance to make things right. Our forgiveness is weak if it only takes place in witnessing the destruction of others.
I wonder what our views about love and forgiveness teach us about how we think about God?
I'm watching The Handmaid's Tale right now and I love it. It's brutal and dark and in many ways obviously unrealistic. But as a cautionary parable or metaphor, it shows us how easily religious doctrine can be distorted and misinterpreted in terrible ways that cause great pain to a lot of people. And if such errors can happen in this world, who's to say that we can't make similar mistakes in ours?
Just like Darren Aronofsky's controversial Noah film, I'm fascinated by the way the storytellers present us an account that forces us to ask questions and examine our own thoughts, our own beliefs, our own methods; to determine who we are and what we think God wants.
And in the episode I watched tonight, I was struck by how their twisted understanding of God paves the way for a whole slew of bad things. We shape our God, and in turn, our God shapes us. In Gilead, the patriarchs have a very strict and limited understanding of God, and in turn, that dictates how they interact with their world. Their God is a vindictive and punishing sort, and so they have no qualms about whipping a disobedient wife. Even though as viewers, everyone (should, I hope!) find such a thing abhorrent.
But I think it underscores the discrepancies in their beliefs and actions. It demonstrates exactly how far their religion is from the heart of God. They may be technically following the letter of the law (in their own twisted way), but much like He was with the Pharisees, Jesus would be appalled by the system they've created; they are utterly devoid of love.
Truthfully, I think Jesus would be utterly appalled at most of us American Christians for the same reason. Right now at our borders, there are children being ripped apart from their families and thrown into cages like animals while Christians cheer. There are LGBT teens committing suicide because there are no safe places for them to talk about a very confusing and frustrating inner war they fight every day. There are young adults who are kicked out of religious gatherings because they ask too many questions or they think science is actually valuable or because they just don't believe the Bible in the same way the adults want them to. There are single moms who receive judgment and scorn rather than pity or compassion. There are black men and women literally being killed because of white people's fear and fragility. (And if they're not killed, they're carted off to prison at much higher rates than any other population.) There are adults with disabilities who are ignored; homeless veterans who are bypassed; starving families in inner city food deserts.
There are still guns in schools.
And Christians are cheering the way.
But what good is it if we have the "right" beliefs but don't love people? What good is it to have the "right" theology if we don't put it into practice in a way that serves and encourages others?
And what kind of beliefs do we really have if this is the way we're acting? What kind of God have we created when 80% of Evangelical Christians who voted, voted for a man like Donald Trump?
(Yeah. I freaking went there.)
Jesus said we would be known by our fruit; and in the same way, I think we can discover the sort of God we believe in by the way we practice those beliefs in the world. So perhaps the more interesting question is: What kind of people is our understanding of God shaping us into?
Look, I didn't mean to make this post political. My point is that it shouldn't be. (What comes first, anyway; our allegiance to God, or our allegiance to a political party?) This whole list of what most good ol' Republican Christians take for "the liberal agenda bullshit" are actually just instances where love and grace (and just generally being a good person) are needed. And if Christians can't meet that need -- if we can't muster up the compassion, the empathy, the all-encompassing love these circumstances require -- then how the hell can we call ourselves followers of Jesus? Just what kind of fruit is it we think we are supposed to be bearing, anyway?
It's possible to miss God even when you've been studying/serving Him your whole life. After all, it was the good, religious, pious, faithful, "right", God-honoring people who ended up killing Jesus. Maybe we're not so different today as we might think; maybe we're just the new Pharisees. And we're finding lots of new Jesuses to trample underfoot.
Are we becoming a light to lead the world toward beauty, grace, and love? Or is our God-concept setting us on a path of fear and destruction instead?
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This blog post could have gone a lot of ways, and I feel like I've only scratched the surface. Who are we? What is God like? Who are we becoming? What is the purpose/goal/point of our faith? Does this world matter? Do other people matter, especially if they don't believe the same things we do? Forgiveness as the free removal of debt; like blood on the doorposts of the universe. Love, grace, and who deserves it. All of the ways our religious views shape us. Atonement theories. There are so many things I wanted to unpack and explore. Drop a comment below if you have thoughts you want to share!
*Also, a note on The Handmaid's Tale: definitely a show for mature audiences, as there are scenes of rape, nudity, violence, strong language, adult themes, etc. It is bleak, dark, and a bit overwhelming/depressing. However: it is the brightly shining, unwavering strand of hope threaded into the very fabric of the show that I find so beautiful and so compelling. I highly recommend it to the discerning viewer as long as you know what you're getting into.
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