In 1933, an evil and corrupt regime took control of a wonderful country. When the horror ended twelve years later, fifty million men, women and children lay dead. Germany, the birthplace of Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart, had conceived and carried out mass genocide on such a scale that even now, seventy years later, we are still numbed with shock. How did it happen?
For such evil to flourish and grow, average people like you and me were recruited. Mass murder was not the work of just a few psychopaths. It required cooperation. People allowed themselves to be deluded into believing that they possessed an inherent God given right to rule over their less worthy and somehow flawed brothers and sisters. As thousands of families trudged wearily to their deaths outside the villa gates, in the gardens ordinary people played silly childhood games with their children, the 'chosen' race.
Evil people are manipulators extraordinaire. They seize upon irrational fears, unfounded ignorance and centuries old prejudice. They accentuate differences and they isolate and separate those who are different or deemed inferior. Theirs is the politics of exclusion. Shamefully, these masters of confusion, call forth the name of Jesus Christ, the Savior of all the world, as their exemplar and justification for what they do.
Are we losing our courage to speak up and speak out? Have we forgotten how to use our most precious gift of free agency? Are we fearful when our Christian brothers and sisters question our commitment to God? Are we allowing someone else to approve who is and who is not invited to the table of Christ? When someone insists on interpreting scripture to fit a personal bias, with our silence do we tacitly approve the politics of exclusion?
Of course I'm fearful. Simply advocating for the right to dissent marks me as 'disobedient' and 'disloyal' in the minds of some. God gave us a brain for a reason. We're supposed to use it. At all times and in all things and in all places. Since the world began, 'exclusion' has been a deadly weapon savagely wielded by Satan. He can buy nations, churches, homes and individual souls by accentuating our differences and separating us from one another.
I choose inclusion. I choose acceptance. However you may be different from me, or I from you, I choose to enter eternity next to you. Excluding the heart and soul of another is not an option. When the forces of exclusionary practices and beliefs come for me, I won't be hiding. I choose the Dungeon of Dissent.
For such evil to flourish and grow, average people like you and me were recruited. Mass murder was not the work of just a few psychopaths. It required cooperation. People allowed themselves to be deluded into believing that they possessed an inherent God given right to rule over their less worthy and somehow flawed brothers and sisters. As thousands of families trudged wearily to their deaths outside the villa gates, in the gardens ordinary people played silly childhood games with their children, the 'chosen' race.
Evil people are manipulators extraordinaire. They seize upon irrational fears, unfounded ignorance and centuries old prejudice. They accentuate differences and they isolate and separate those who are different or deemed inferior. Theirs is the politics of exclusion. Shamefully, these masters of confusion, call forth the name of Jesus Christ, the Savior of all the world, as their exemplar and justification for what they do.
Are we losing our courage to speak up and speak out? Have we forgotten how to use our most precious gift of free agency? Are we fearful when our Christian brothers and sisters question our commitment to God? Are we allowing someone else to approve who is and who is not invited to the table of Christ? When someone insists on interpreting scripture to fit a personal bias, with our silence do we tacitly approve the politics of exclusion?
Of course I'm fearful. Simply advocating for the right to dissent marks me as 'disobedient' and 'disloyal' in the minds of some. God gave us a brain for a reason. We're supposed to use it. At all times and in all things and in all places. Since the world began, 'exclusion' has been a deadly weapon savagely wielded by Satan. He can buy nations, churches, homes and individual souls by accentuating our differences and separating us from one another.
I choose inclusion. I choose acceptance. However you may be different from me, or I from you, I choose to enter eternity next to you. Excluding the heart and soul of another is not an option. When the forces of exclusionary practices and beliefs come for me, I won't be hiding. I choose the Dungeon of Dissent.
