The Omnibus

Issue date: 11/4/04 Section: The Forum

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Modern Christianity is heading towards a dangerous trend. The church has set itself up as the dispenser of God's love; unfortunately, it uses its own criteria to determine who is worthy of God's love.

Recently, religious right leader Jerry Falwell appeared on CNN's Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer. During the show he stated, "But you've got to kill the terrorists before the killing stops. And I'm for the president to chase them all over the world. If it takes 10 years, blow them all away in the name of the Lord."

Falwell's language is very harsh. It seems to imply that those our country is fighting against are not worthy of God's love.

Certainly we should not support terrorism. Our government has declared a war in order to rid the world of such an evil. Whether or not a person believes the war to be "just" or "Christian" is irrelevant to how we treat those the country is fighting against.

However, it is not only our literal enemy we find difficult to love. The recent political election season taught us how hard it can be to love others with different views. There was little love displayed as we watched candidates vying for all levels of office attack not only policy, but individuals.

It is also difficult to love the "sinners," those who are not as righteous as we. These individuals may have titles such as "homosexual" or "Muslim," or may merely be the next door neighbor who plays loud music late at night.

Scripture teaches that we are all sinners. The beauty of Scripture (and the message Christians profess) is that God loves sinners.

So why is it so hard for Christians to show God's love?

Former Franciscan priest and best-selling author Brennan Manning believes our image of God may be partially to blame. In his book "The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus," he writes, "It is always true to some extent that we make our images of God. It is even truer that our image of God makes us. Eventually we become like the God we image."

Until we can grasp the boundless love God has for us, how can we hope to love others? We are good at thinking God loves us as we should be, but we often struggle to believe God loves us as we are.

The love God offers is beyond comprehension. It is a love of which we know we are not worthy, yet we find it continually bestowed. In God's love we can find our identity and security.

Manning suggests the most important part of prayer is "letting ourselves be loved by God." As we allow ourselves to be loved as we are, we can begin to extend that love to others.

Can you imagine the influence Christianity would have if followers of Christ began loving with the all-encompassing love of God?

May we all learn to be loved.

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