LOVE REQUIRES US TO RAISE OUR VOICE EVEN IN THE PUBLIC ARENA

A friend and committed Christian accused me of stirring up religious conflict because I repost articles about how Islam is ravaging its way across Europe in its quest for world domination:

• We, with Jesus, refuse to be drawn into Satan's web of partisan politics of worldly religions and instead under the guidance of the Holy Spirit worship the Prince of Peace whose God is the God of Love.  By the articles you repost you seem to think stirring the pot of religious conflict and taking sides in the sordid affairs of Satan's minions, who lead the Nations, is what we are called to.  How do you Scripturally defend that calling?

I take very seriously the teachings to love our neighbors and try to model Jesus, who did a lot to stir the pot of religious tensions as He sought to love even His oppressors:

• “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” ‭‭(Matthew‬ ‭23:25-28)

Jesus' teachings highlight the fact that love takes various forms. Love should warn against false teachers and expose their teachings.

Consequently, it is not enough to love my neighbor by bringing her a meal. I also must love her by warning her away from false salesmen who seek to devour her savings or from death-cults, which seek to devour her life.

I must also love her through the government and criminal justice system our Lord has ordained (Romans 13:1-4). If I see a burglar trying to break in, I must love my neighbor by calling the police. I cannot say to myself, "I cannot call them because this is the realm of Satan, and I have been called to love all people, even the burglar and the rapist. Therefore, I cannot report them to the police."

Besides, if I cannot call the police because this is Satan's realm, I also cannot assist my neighbor because the whole world lies under the control of Satan (1 John 5:19), including my neighbor.

Likewise, if I love my neighbor, I have an obligation to not vote for a Hitler but to raise my voice against someone who would lead us to war and exterminate my Jewish neighbor. To not do so is to not love.

The Church has sadly earned the rebukes of its neighbors for failing to resist Hitler. The Church had wrongly believed that their faith had no place in the political arena. It had also believed, to its shame, that it wasn't their duty to oppose segregation. Now, it is again turning itself away from the cries of its brethren facing genocide in many Islamic nations. Is this love? 

Is the Church correct in removing its voice from the public arena? Had my friend instead charged, "We first have to spend our efforts closer to home, where our efforts will have the greater impact," I would not be writing this response. However, he charged that Christians must entirely abandon the political arena.

However, I am proud of the fact that William Wilberforce did not think this way. Instead, he and his fellow Christians campaigned against slavery in the British Parliament for 30 years until slavery was finally made illegal.

Did the Church have a responsibility to oppose Hitler? Certainly! Love required it! Do we have a responsibility to raise our voice against similar threats? Certainly! This is why I continue to re-post articles reporting on Islamic violence against the innocent non-Muslim, simply because they are fair-game for the Muslim. Love requires this too!