Us Vs. Them, Heavyweight Title of the World Match

One of the things I took solace in early on in my faith was that I knew I was included because I had accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I remember looking at others that I thought were lost and seeing hollowed out skeletons with a flickering flame deep within the empty sockets of their eyes. I remember being fearful for others, angry that they just wouldn’t accept Jesus. Probably not unlike John Calvin when he came up with his theology of double predestination. I won’t get deep in the weeds with Calvin, because I believe he was a good boy trapped in a wicked theology.

So to establish one of the greatest things that changed for me when I met Jesus in August of 2017, I began to see Jesus even in the most despicable of people. I know this is a radical thought, but I genuinely began seeing Jesus in other people and realizing that Jesus sold everything to obtain them… too.

I began sondering and placing myself into the lives of others, I can see why they made certain moves, why they chose certain things, what was their driving force in decisions. I began to see Jesus on the Cross crying out to Papa, “Forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” and then hearing Father say, “I did.”

Knowing that we are all doing the absolute best we know to do, and even in that knowledge we still fall short of His everlasting Glory. We fall short in our own understanding and our own actions daily. There are no evil people, just people who do evil. That evil does not define them, Jesus and Him crucified does. Now I know that is a spin on the classic verse that evangelicals like to throw around that none are good, but just like there none that are good there are none that are evil. We exist completely outside of that dualism, but we can choose actions that fall in line with that dualism.

I can choose to do good, or I can choose to do evil, or I can choose to rest and trust in God’s goodness.

Evangelicalism has been a poison to the faith of Christianity, inasmuch as Liberalism is a poison as well. They both teach an us versus them narrative that is hard for us to escape. On one side the evangelicals choose the titles lost and saved. The liberal folks just choose to overlook aspects of the faith they deem uncomfortable and act like it doesn’t exist all while shaming those people who believe the aspects they choose to overlook.

None are lost, at least in the perspective of the cross, because Jesus would leave the 99 to find the 1. I once was the one, and that parable has been a life sustaining word for me. There are a lot of 1’s out there, and Jesus regularly slips away from the crowd to bring them home. Not to the same ideology, although some do fall prey to that line of thinking.

It is interesting that Evangelicals can generally be lumped in with Republicans and the Liberal side of theology can be lumped in with the Progressive side of the political narrative. They both argue that Jesus is “on their side,” but there are no sides with Jesus. He is one with every single member of humanity, whether we realize it or not. Both sides seek to shame the other side, all while Jesus says quietly, “come, there is no shame in me.”

Us versus them seeks to shame the other side by hurling ridiculous claims at the other, it shames people for their choices in political candidate, it shames them for their choices in the people they choose to hang around. This is the battle that has been waged since the beginning of time, who is in and who is out. We pretend to know God’s mind about who or what is acceptable all while behind closed doors we are the same thing we shame.

There is no us versus them, we are one.

We are one with the Father of Jesus in Jesus forever and ever, and we don’t have a choice in the matter. But we do have a choice in how we respond. Do we cautiously let people in not knowing their allegiances, or do we simply look at them knowing we are all on the same team?

These are the kinds of things that knock around in my head, and I am fully aware that my views are certainly in the minority… but what if they weren’t?