Overwhelming the Haters with Love

"For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." --Sir Isaac Newton

“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” --Mohandas Ghandi

The recent news involving the Westboro Baptist Church and its hate activities should be instructional for us all. Though I find what they are doing extremely disturbing, ever the optimist I also find that their activities are highly educational. 

So far the best thing that has come about as a result of their hate activity is the "Love-In" organized by students of Gunn High School in the Bay Area. Mother Theresa once said, "I was once asked why I don't participate in anti-war demonstrations. I said that I will never do that, but as soon as you have a pro-peace rally, I'll be there." Throwing more "anti" and "against" at something that's wrong just exponentially escalates the "wrong factor," and generates more angry energy, which has never once brought about peace. 

Mohandas Gandhi led an entire country, who had been colonized against their will for over a hundred years, to justice through "peaceful non cooperation." Dr. Martin Luther King, a Baptist preacher, followed the example set by Gandhi (a Hindu) because he found it to be consistent with Jesus' directive to "turn the other cheek." In doing so, Dr. King led an entire nation of African-Americans to justice, who had been first enslaved, then badly mistreated upon emancipation for another hundred years. He used what he called "the Gandhi method" of peaceful non-cooperation, and changed the world. 

And now the students of Gunn High School have done the same in response to a wave of hate that is sweeping the nation in the name of God. 

The 3rd of the ten commandments says that "You shall not take the name of God in vain, for God shall not hold guiltless the one who takes his name in vain." (Exodus 20:7, BHTL Version) For my entire life I've heard this verse interpreted as a directive to avoid cussing which includes the name of God or Jesus; but this has never made sense to me. What does make sense to me is this: to take the name of God in vain is to say "I am a Christian" and then behave in a manner completely inconsistent with the teachings of Jesus. 

When asked what was the greatest of the commandments, Jesus said, "Love God with all your heart, mind, and soul. This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is to love your neighbor as yourself. All of the teachings of the prophets hang on these two commands." (Matthew 22:37-40, BHTL Version) 

The students of Gunn High School may or may not call themselves Christians, but they were the best examples of what Christianity is supposed to be all about, according to Jesus, when they decided to overwhelm the haters with love. 

Unfortunately, so many Christians in America choose to boldly declare all the things that they "hate" in the name of Jesus; not as extremely as the folks of the Westboro Baptist Church have been doing, but bad enough. Jesus taught us we are to love our neighbors as ourselves, to be the light that shines on a hill, to spread the good news to every creature. He told us that others would know that we are Christians by our love for one another, not by our angry so-called righteous indignation. 

I hope that all of the people in America who call themselves Christians, especially those who call themselves "fundamentalists," will take a leaf out of the Gunn High School students' book, and get back to the basics of what Jesus taught us: pure love trumps hate every time; he taught us to overwhelm the world with the former, and to have no part in the latter. 

With all of the plethora of Christian denominations and non-denominations in America, I say that the purest and most righteous Christians in the entire country right now are students at Gunn High School, whether they call themselves that or not. They overwhelmed the haters with love, and were a light on a hill. My prayer is that their light will shine far and wide across this entire country, spreading the good news.

So I don't worry about the "haters." I'm beholding the beautiful lilies of Gunn High School. Life is good, and I am grateful.