Monday, January 28, 2008

it breaks my heart.

on the one hand, i'm glad i couldn't link you to the picture. it was in an msn slideshow this morning about the sag awards last night, the last picture of the bunch. it shows a young woman holding up two very large signs. the first, along with a photograph says, "Heath is in Hell", and the second says, "God hates the world". Then, just off to the side is a man with a small sign that said, "I'm sorry for them. RIP Heath." let me just be clear that this isn't about heath ledger to me, tho his death was an unwarranted tragedy. this is about people, claiming to be christians - Jesus followers - who are so completely wrongheaded about what that means. who is being more like Jesus? the girl announcing God's hatred for the world, or the man seeking forgiveness on her behalf? i would hope that he's from a different church, but he's probably not. but i will tell you this - i believe nothing breaks God's heart more than his "followers" proclaiming his hate & hell to a broken world. God is love - unfailing, unchanging, unassailable love. "For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." (john 3:17) john also says, we have not seen God, but the son - that would be Jesus - who is himself God reveals him to us. so pick a one of the stories of Jesus. any story. show me where he shows us how God is hate. show me. show me where he wounds the broken, refuses the lonely, praises the powerful, treats a sinner harshly. show me. show me where it says that God hates the world.

God help us.

2 comments:

kristine said...

my heart is broken with you. as and aside i went to a movie yesterday and they had a poster with heath on it as the joker for the new movie out and it just stopped my breath for a moment of greif. so sad.

Anonymous said...

when i see and hear the things some people actually think, it makes me wonder what kind of world we are raising our kids in.