A lesson from those who are radical...

As I have been reading more and more about the radical Islamic protests which were spurred by an anti Islamic christian's video, I have really had to think about my position regarding radical christians as well... because I don't think there is much of a difference in the man that made this video and the people who killed our Ambassador to Libya. The reason I believe they are similar, is because I actually watched the 13 minute video that has caused riots throughout the Middle East and was disgusted by it. I understand the outrage it caused... not to the extend of murder... but if the subject of that video was Jesus and not Mohammed I'd be pretty pissed off too.

So... what's my position here... well, I think the best way to describe it is this: 

I'm not anti - Islam... 

... and I'm not anti-Hindu. 

Nor am I anti - Buddha or anti -Taoism... 

or even anti - Scientology or anti - Krishna.

I'm Pro-Jesus.

that.is.all.

Because here's the deal - we were told to spread the Gospel... and Jesus is the Gospel. Why do we tend to tell people why what they believe is wrong when we should be telling them, and focusing on, why what we believe is RIGHT! Jesus sells himself in His Word... and we should show Him in our actions.

The Gospel is faith, love, hope, forgiveness, service... and so many other things. The one word that does not fall anywhere close to the Gospel though is Hate... and Hate is what feeds these radical religious extremists. 

But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness 

and walks in the darkness, 

and does not know where he is going, 

because the darkness has blinded his eyes. 

1 John 2:11

These radicals who hate... regardless of the G/god they follow are in the dark. And as for me, well...

"Again Jesus spoke to them, saying,  

“I am the light of the world. 

Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness,

 but will have the light of life.” 

John 8:12

love y'all - KC

It hurts me more than it hurts you...

When I was a kid, every time I got a spanking (and I'll be honest, they were frequent) my dad would always say, "this hurts me more than it hurts you." Now as a kid I always wanted to talk back and say, "well then why don't you let me do this to you..." but well, that would have just gotten me a few more licks. However, as I've matured I now understand that statement. The amount of love that my parents had for me made it difficult for them to put me through discomfort or pain. But I get it... and I learned from them. I don't know that I ever got a spanking for doing the same thing twice... well, maybe talking back...

Since it is a week until Easter the sermon in church today was on Crucifixion (John 19: 16-28). Our Sunday school lesson was not specifically on the Crucifixion and the death of Christ... but as we were reading through Psalm 103, this concept of It hurts me more than it hurts you really spoke to me from a different perspective. Here are few of the verses...

8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.
9 He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever;
10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;

Think about these two verses in bold... because I think they go together so much. The reason that God does not treat us as our sins deserves is because of the compassion He showed us through the forgiveness of our sins via the Crucifixion on the cross.

Now, let's consider the Crucifixion and the title of the blog tonight. I cannot fathom how true this statement was for God when He had to turn his back on Christ as he took on our sins on the cross. If it hurt my mom and daddy to spank me, can you imagine the pain God felt in that single moment. It makes me want to hug him, and comfort him... but the irony is that He had to hurt his Son so that I could be His daughter.

Think on that... it still blows my mind as I sit here and think about it.