Hello, everyone, and welcome to Angry Thea. Why is Angry Thea out and about today? Well, because of things like this, which I had the absolute joy of coming across today:
“If Jesus came back today he wouldn’t even talk to those who claim to follow his teachings.”
No.
No.
No.
Jesus is the Son of God, Love incarnate. He effing loves people, period. And guess what? He doesn’t require that people do all the right things in order for him to love them. He doesn’t require that their thoughts be pure. He doesn’t require that their words line up with their actions. He doesn’t even require them to love him back. He just effing loves people.
And you think he would shun the people he loves?
You’ve got another thing coming.
It’s probably easy to believe that God loves the poor, the downtrodden, the minorities, those that are down on their luck, the people no one wants around. After all, he’s so good that he offers second chances to people. He’s so caring, so kind that he welcomes and accepts into his family the people that other people have rejected.
Well, that includes those people who you say only claim to follow his teachings.
Because it’s not about how well someone does what he says.
He’s not counting our good and bad deeds in some kind of tally and saying “Oh, man, these guys keep claiming to follow me, but they don’t do these things I said for them to do. Double the negative points, then. Better avoid them until they straighten out. And if they don’t, oh well. They should have known better than to mess with my commandments.”
Screw. That.
Jesus does not keep a record of our wrongs. Not anyone’s wrongs. Not your wrongs. Not my wrongs. Not the wrongs of that guy next door that you accidentally friended on Facebook one day only to discover that he just will. Not. Shut. Up. About his super-conservative views and how everyone’s going to hell that doesn’t agree with him about every single thing.
Because guess what God sees when he looks at that guy?
Guess what God sees when he looks at you?
He sees someone he loves with all his heart, soul, strength, and might. He sees someone he considers more precious than himself. He sees someone whose mess isn’t even important when he talks about and shows how much he cares about them.
You know what happens when you look in disgust at someone and say “Well, Jesus wouldn’t talk to them if he were here right now. Just look at the kinds of things they do!”? You cast freaking judgement on them, lowering them beneath yourself. You look at yourself, saying “Oh, look at me and how good I am. Jesus would totally talk to me, a true follower of him.” Do you have any idea how self-righteous that is?
God loves.
Jesus loves.
Period.
End of statement.
And you do not get to decide any differently.
Oh, and by the way. That whole thing about Jesus not talking to people? Like, what, he doesn’t talk to them now? You know how he lives in our hearts, taking up residence when we become Christians? You know how he gives us a new heart? How he says that his sheep know his voice and all that? You know how he loves us?
God is always speaking to us. He’s always right here with us, talking, telling us how much he loves us. He’s constantly in your heart, saying “I love you so much. You are awesome. You totally make my day, and I couldn’t imagine life without you. You have so much about you that just… wow. I am in awe. You are so amazing. I love you so, so much. I love you. I love you. I love you.” Jesus is saying that to you right now. Even if he doesn’t live in your heart, he’s saying that to you.
Which means he’s saying that to all those bigoted, hypocritical, hateful, self-righteous, holier-than-thou, judgemental assholes that you dislike so much. So, not only is it absolutely ludicrous to say that if Jesus were on this earth he would totally shun those people that stick in your craw, it is also ludicrous to insinuate that he’s not speaking to anyone right now. That he’s not speaking to you. That he’s not speaking to me. That he’s not speaking to everyone.
God is literally the most accessible person ever.
And you would say that he’d separate himself from people? After he died for our sins? After the veil in the Temple that kept people out of the direct presence of God (unless they were pure enough) ripped in two and opened up the holy of holies to absolutely anyone and everyone, no matter their crap?
What the hell?
God loves you.
Jesus loves you.
God loves me.
God loves everyone.
Even those bigoted, hypocritical people you dislike so much. And it’s not in spite of their bigoted hypocriticalness. Just like he doesn’t even consider your crap when he considers you, just like how he sees you as whole and blameless like Jesus because you’re in him, just like how he gives you a big bear hug even after you’ve admitted to him that you hate him and cursed him…
…just like that…
…so he is with the people you despise. The people you look down upon. Just because they look down upon you (or you just think they look down upon you) doesn’t give you permission to look down on them, and it doesn’t mean that God will treat them differently than he does you.
And just because you treat them differently than the people you like doesn’t mean that he’s going to treat you any different, either.
So let’s stop this separation of “wishy-washy Christians,” “hateful Christians,” “so-called Christians,” or whatever adjectives you want to add to make it clear that those kinds of Christian are not your kind of Christian. Not “real” Christians, like you and your friends are.
God loves.
Full stop.
And he’s going to keep on loving, no matter what you have to say on the matter.
Might as well get with the program.
