Are we #1?

After reading about the World Vision scandal and the whole General Conference conference on sexuality , I’ve been wondering why Christians hate others that are different than them.  

It was a problem noted throughout the Bible.  The Jews of Jesus time did not want to accept Gentiles as part of their Christian faith.  The Jews didn’t even like Jesus during his time in ministry (he was different than what the Pharisees had expected).  The Jews of the Old Testament did not like the “pagans” that were in “their” land when they came to Israel.  We even see examples of pagan women taking down the “hero” in the story (i.e. Samson).  Did God start that battle with his commands in the Old Testament (see 1 Samuel 15*) or did the battle start even earlier, when Satan started the original war in heaven?

Although it’s easy to make the assumption that Christians are hateful to others.  I tried to take the issue outside of my Judeo-Christian paradigm.  Is hatred or fear of people who are different a part of Christianity or is it a part of the human experience?   In the United States – people of minority faiths like to cast the blame on Christians.  We’re the majority here.  But in other parts of the world, Muslims hate others that are different than them. We’ve seen that in the many acts of terrorism in my lifetime.  (I’m not picking on Muslims, Christianity had years of extreme terrorism, and if Jesus doesn’t come soon, maybe Jews, Hindus and Buddhists will have their chance to kill others in the name of religion too).  On a more everyday level, many cultural groups (Jews, blacks, Asians) frown upon marrying outside their race, upholding the idea of classism and superiority. 

Humans hate others who are different than them.  Why?

 Is that the only way to believe that we are doing the RIGHT THING?  Is there one Right Thing for everyone? Scientists have studied the American obsession with winning for year.  We wave our “We’re #1” banners (figuratively and literally), in our churches,  sports arenas, and on out TV shows (Why else would anyone watch or compete on silly shows like The Bachelor?).  This preoccupation with the outcome, rather than the journey, takes away from the good that we can gain in our human experience.  As Christians, spending all of our time preparing for heaven, we may neglect our families, our neighbors, our talents and our environment here on earth.  I don’t presume to know every culture take on this issue. Here in Canada there is very little obsession with winning, but many other countries (Russia, China, Spain, Great Britain…) have or have had a nationalistic preoccupation with conquering others with their “truth.” 

As our world become smaller (through the amazing gains in transportation and communication technology), it will be interesting if we all have to take a step back and respect and accept others in all of their differences, rather than beat them.

*On closer inspection of the Old Testament texts of God speaking to the Israelites before their battles, to me, it doesn’t look like God hates people who are different than his followers.  In Joshua 6, He was/is more than willing to save Rahab and her family in Jericho when she helped the Israelites and later joined them.  In I Samuel its says that Samuel said to Saul “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has declared: I have decided to settle accounts with the nation of Amalek for opposing Israel when they came from Egypt. 3 Now go and completely destroy the entire Amalekite nation—men, women, children, babies, cattle, sheep, goats, camels, and donkeys.”   How much of that statement was directly from God and how much was shaded my Samuel’s perceptions of how God was going to work in this battle? I guess it depends on where you stand from a denominational standpoint on the literality of Scripture.  Hmmmnn - Great sermon topic – Kumar?