Ninety-Nine isn't One Hundred

Sometimes, it really bums me out to be a sociologist.

Not because of the insane amount of paper writing, or boring lectures. But because I see things in a way that people don't.

I see blatant racism where people say there is none. I see gender stratification where people see equality. I see homophobia where people see 'freaks'.

But the thing that gets me more than anything else, is that I seek out to find great acts of pain, hurt, sin, discrimination, inequality, and suffering, when most other people turn a blind eye.

It's not "relevant" to them.

For one of my classes, I had to go around and interview people on what they new about the riots and protests in North Africa and the Middle East. Long story short, no one really knew anything. I simply don't understand how people can live there lives in purposeful ignorance. It baffles me. This world is in so much pain. And people seem content to stay in their little bubble and be ok with that. I simply do not get it. So few people care about the Jardim Gramacho trash pickers outside of Rio, and the horrible conditions they live in. No one knows about Africa's deadliest war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the children being sent to die on the front lines. Closer to home, no one cares about the sex trafficking that happens right here in Baltimore.

As Christians, aren't we supposed to love people? Everybody?

What about these people? They need our love too. So where are we?

A lot of people say they cannot make a difference. This is simply a false statement. I recently learned about those trash pickers outside of Rio in a documentary called 'Waste Land'. Take two hours and go see it. It is incredible.

Anyway, one of the pickers, named Valter, was talking about the importance of everybody doing their part. This is a direct quote:

"People sometimes say "But one single can?" One single can is of great importance. Because 99 is not 100, and that single one will make the difference." 

Every. Person. Counts.

I leave you with a quote that my brother told me years ago, that I will carry until the day I die.

"Every man is guilty of the good he did not do."

If you can sleep well at night knowing you aren't doing a thing to make a difference, go for it. But know there out lives out there wishing that you had.

Stones

You are standing in a used car lot when you are approached by a salesman. He looks like he is hiding something; possibly plotting something, but he talks nice enough. He goes around and shows you all the cars for sale, guaranteeing that these are the best cars out there, and are a better deal than anything that you could ever buy, even fast and luxurious cars. He talks a good game, and the things he says makes sense, but you cannot seem to trust him. Everyone knows that car salesmen are greasy, and will swindle you six ways from Sunday if you aren't careful. He seems like a nice guy, but it looks like it is almost an act just to sell you a car. You can't see any reason to NOT trust him, but either way, regardless on how good the deals are, you can't bring yourself to trust him.

To anyone who pays attention to life, this should sound familiar. This is what people see when they think of Christians.

A few weeks ago, I had the displeasure to see what people really thought of Christians. I was in my theory class, and in this class we discuss and dissect a large number of readings. There was a reading on war through the eyes of Christianity, and it didn't take people long to show their mind towards us Christians.

I was mortified. Not because I was a Christian, but because us Christians have done such a terrible assignment of showing the Love of Christ. Absolutely awful. These classmates tore apart Christianity like a kid tears open presents on Christmas morning. I was the only Christian in the class, and when people saw this, they pointed their hostility towards me. It didn't take long for the professor to interject and change topics, but I still saw the face of how people see us. It makes me cringe.

In light of it all, our job as followers of Christ is a simple one: spread the Love of God. When it comes down to it, the bible is the greatest love story ever told, and we need to tell everybody about the wonderful truth that we know.

At what point did things go horribly, horribly wrong?

Yesterday, I watched 'Kingdom of Heaven' with my roommate. Great movie. It's about the crusades. I've always been interested in the crusades, so it was up my alley. The movie really focuses on the religion aspect of Islam and Christianity, and the flawed-ness of them both, because of the contradiction. While told to love, and to show love, we respond with war.

Some may say that this is a thing of the past, but I would disagree wholeheartedly. There is this air about us Christians that we put off that makes us say, "We are better than you". Part of this is socially constructed, but a lot is because we follow the stereotype so perfectly. We are told to show love, but we condemn others for their actions. I will show a certain example.

I know a lot of people who say they live to show the love of God. But the moment a homosexual enters the conversation, they change into this 'holier than thou' mentality, and condemn. They disregard the fact that God loves the homosexual as much as he loves them. But this fact is blindly obscured because the Christian isn't as bad as the homosexual. Their sin isn't quite as bad.

Now, I will say that homosexuality is a sin. Bible says so. BUT, that being said, I know very few people, if anybody at all, who do not struggle with sexual morality to some degree or another. I'm guilty of this too. But regardless of this, they cast stones, even though they suffer with the same category of sin: sexual immorality.

Matthew 7:3-5.

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?  How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?  You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

So again I ask, how can we cast stones?

As I thought about the situation in the classroom, I wasn't surprised. We have done this to ourselves. We only have ourselves to blame for the way that Christianity is viewed. We need to love. We have to. There is enough hate in this world. There is enough violence, judgement, lies, and destruction. There is far to little love going around. Why would we want to hide what we know?

Our job is simple. The message is simple. So, I would say, let's simply do our job.