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I have witnessed, during my christian walk, many things that caused me to question the sincerity of christians. I have seen people hurt others. I have seen christians gather together to oppose people, organizations, movies, and books that they know little to nothing about. Most of these actions that I see that would cause someone to say the church is ineffectual or hypocritical have been actions based in fear. But if what you believe is the truth I would think that you would not fear anything that questions said truth. Truth has no need to defend itself. If we look at the example of Jesus, he never defended himself when other were trying to condemn him to death. He knew his truth and did not feel the need to defend it. He lived it, loved others, and let that speak for itself. So when non-believers and other faiths have something to say we can listen to them without fear and judgement. We may even find that we agree with what they have to say.

As Christians and humans in general we have focused on our differences. The mere fact that I say we Christians shows that I have labeled me and them.  I do not want to give myself a label that will separate me from you. It is sufficient to say I follow in the footsteps of Christ to the best of my ability. Christians have created an art form of focusing on differences. Just look at the number of different denominations. Obviously, this is not exclusive to Christianity, they just happen to be the ones I know the most about. But we do focus on seemingly insignificant things such as hair length, gender appropriate dressing, whether we dance, etc. Instead of seeing the spirit of God in everyone and caring for them no matter what they look like or how they behave. Loving and caring is not condoning. But let’s face it, when someone shows true loving kindness in the face of torture and death. That kind of love changes even the most evil of perpetrators and even beyond. Jesus’ love in the face of his death and torture started a new religion and changed the world. That has happened on a smaller scale with others all over the world. To face pain and death with love in our eyes and not fear will change the world. But to do that we must see our enemy as us, as our brother, as our family.

There are people on this earth that have a desire to kill us. But they want to do this because they see us as separate from themselves. We have strengthened that vision by making them enemies. All of us have the same desires to bond with others. But we are trying to bond on a superficial level, this level of material things. But we are not material and neither are they. We are all made from the same stuff and have the same desires. We just need to stop bonding from our heads and bond from our hearts. Unselfish love is what changes the world. Nothing else.

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