I don’t know, but I think this kind of stuff just makes God sad…

Can I just make a heartfelt confession? Sometimes I find it very difficult to unconditionally love my brother in Christ the (unfortunately often quoted) Reverend Jerry Falwell. Especially when the media quotes him saying things like this:

"The fact is," he told ABC News, "we’ve gone on the offense now. We’ve put them on the defense. We’re kicking their butts, and they’re unhappy."

In case you didn’t read the article or missed the context of the story (which is doubtful knowing how our American media functions) the "them" he’s referring to are those corporations/institutions/individuals who don’t say "Merry Christmas" but instead say "Happy Holidays". According to this article he’s started a war (i.e. "Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign") on those Grinches who are out to destroy our Christian "holy" day.

And his reaction, well that’s exactly what we as Christians are supposed to be doing isn’t it? Putting people "on the defense," "kicking their butts," and making them "unhappy." I’m pretty sure that must have been footnoted in Christ’ Great Commission…the rest of us just missed it.

I know the issues are probably very complex and I’m oversimplifying it by criticizing him, but I just don’t think our battle is against "flesh and blood" and fighting it out in the courts and in the shopping malls and with real individuals (whom God deeply cares about) who likely have no malicious intent and don’t understand what this "war" is really all about just seems like a very bad strategy. And it seems devoid of love (which we know Christ would not be happy about.)

Or here’s another crazy thought: maybe if we stopped calling people who don’t agree with us our "foes" we might be able to love them the way Christ did and they might actually want to listen to the message (i.e. the good news) about Him and His kingdom. But even if they never want to listen (or say Merry Christmas) our job is the same. It’s centered around love not lawsuits.