I write about people who call for absolutely abhorrent things and claim such actions would be the Christian thing to do, up to and including “bloodshed, violence, aggression, brutality on mass scale.” In stark contrast, what makes for “authentic Christianity,” what separates me from my enemy, is that, if I were in the same room as them, and someone, incensed by their words and overcome by evil intent, tried to do to them the physical harm they advocate be done to others (and, on occasion, to me personally), I would give my life to protect my enemy. This is not some altruistic exhibition, it is the duty of every Christian, as required by the Sixth Commandment. As the Westminster Larger Catechism (question 135) puts it:
The duties required in the sixth commandment are, all careful studies, and lawful endeavors, to preserve the life of ourselves and others by resisting all thoughts and purposes, subduing all passions, and avoiding all occasions, temptations, and practices, which tend to the unjust taking away the life of any; by just defense thereof against violence, patient bearing of the hand of God, quietness of mind, cheerfulness of spirit; a sober use of meat, drink, physic, sleep, labor, and recreation; by charitable thoughts, love, compassion, meekness, gentleness, kindness; peaceable, mild, and courteous speeches and behavior: forbearance, readiness to be reconciled, patient bearing and forgiving of injuries, and requiting good for evil; comforting and succoring the distressed, and protecting and defending the innocent.
Words are not violence, only violence is violence. I have dedicated the last three years of my writing to countering those who, in one way or another, have advocated that harm be done to people who say things that they disagree with, most arguing for state violence towards those who profess beliefs contrary to their interpretation of Scripture, some for outright vigilantism. I now watch as their polar opposite on the horseshoed political spectrum cheer the murder of a professing brother in Christ whom I vigorously disagreed with on multiple issues, but who never committed violence against his opponents.
Both of these phenomena are a sickness caused by experiencing the world through screens, and I think it has escalated to such a degree in our nation that one can no longer truthfully write about that sickness without, in some way, contributing to it. I could have dedicated a whole post to how the Christian Nationalist figures I’ve previously detailed are now calling “the left,” a nebulous term that could be anywhere up to half of their neighbors, “an existential threat.” Yet, I think continuing to document such things, at this point, will only feed the online madness that I desperately wish had not infiltrated the American church.
I think Christ would rather have me turn off the devices and give my whole being to showing His love to those whom He’s given me a heart for, people whom the church in our place and time tends to overlook. I want to find “the least of these” and give them real, tangible comfort in a world that would rather rage on. I pray that the Spirit similarly moves you.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
—Matthew 5:9