Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Finding Jesus in Charlottesville [Charlottesville]



        I have prayed about how to address what has taken place in Charlottesville more than once now. In the most important way it is easy to address the tragedy that took taken place there.
        For days I spent hours looking at unfiltered raw video and pictures of what took place in Charlottesville that was posted by those who were there on the streets. To say the least it’s disturbing and upsetting. The least. And it’s graphic. This isn’t edited media news or video, suitable for Evening News viewing. It’s incredibly sad to see Nazi and Confederate flags (emphasis on the plural) side by side both then and now.
        Yes, the evil of Nazis and Confederates and what they stood for walks our streets once again and not just in Charlottesville. They’re proud of their actions and their beliefs. We fought wars against both of them and they were soundly defeated. They need to be defeated again.
        Nazis and Confederates weren’t allowed to parade around afterwards, hold rallies and defend their “heritage” of violence, racism, bigotry, oppression, slavery, segregation and inhumanity to mankind. This is a heritage that we definitely need to remember but never honor in any way.
        Now, the Nazis and Confederates have joined forces, along with those who promote the same agenda:  White Nationalists, White Supremacists, Alt-Right, etc. They are together. They share and defend the same ideology. They are all Nazis. They named themselves the “Alt Right” and now have made up a non-existent “Alt Left” to further divide a fractured nation. They are completely to blame. There is no other group in America that is even close to the evil they embrace and represent. I can’t think of a way to adequately describe the gulf that exists between these people and decent human beings.
        If an Islamic radical drives through a crowd of people they’re called a terrorist. White people shouldn’t get a pass because they’re white.
        Some of these terrorists thanked our President for not condemning them by name initially. (48 hours later he finally called them out by name.) He is recognized as their enabler with his words, deeds and history. The terrorists are already coming out with their truly “fake” news in justifying their actions. Like the Vichy French of WW II they have their apologists and sympathizers.
        Initially the President of the United States of America stepped forward to their defense. Unfortunately for our nation a large portion of these terrorists have used our political system to support a man who suits their needs. They are part of the base of support for our President and he’s providing them as much cover as he can under the circumstances. The terrorists are blaming the police. But the police weren’t the ones carrying Nazi and Confederate flags and giving stiff armed salutes. They thanked the President for blaming the “Alt Left” for starting it.
        If any of you on facebook find these words offensive to your beliefs I encourage you to unfriend me now. I don’t post this to start an argument or even a discourse. The time for dialogue is past. This is a time for recognition and action. We don’t need to decide again if Nazis and Confederates are bad any more than we need to decide if ISIS is bad. I don’t care to hear any of them defended. I don’t care to hear evil defended. I don’t care to hear hypocrisy defended. We have been there and done that already. Millions died. We shouldn’t have to fight these battles again but here we are. It’s soul sickening.
        Nazis and Confederates understand violence and superiority. So, yes, there will be more violence. It took violence to defeat their misery before and it appears that it will take violence to stop them again.
        So, where is Jesus in all this? Was Jesus with the driver of the car that drove into human beings? Was Jesus with the injured? Is he in the pulpits? Is he, like the evangelists tell us, with the President, because God grants all authority? (Many of those telling us that we should get behind our President weren’t telling us to get behind the President when his last name was Obama, and he was black.)
        Is Jesus with the President while he’s making one hateful tweet after another? Is Jesus with his campaign ad attacking Democrats, media and anyone that disagrees with him?  Is Jesus just more fake news to him? Does Jesus want us to believe that ALL the major news outlets, with the exception of a couple of Fox news programs, of this nation and the tens of thousands of working class Americans along with ALL the rest of the world news outlets are in a conspiracy against President Trump? Does Jesus want us to believe all the charlatans who say we should break up families and build walls along our borders? Does Jesus want us to deny those seeking refuge? Does he support the gross agenda of Nazis, Confederates and all the aforementioned sympathizers? Does Jesus support the trolls of the internet?
        Where is Jesus in all of this?
        Jesus is with believers and we have free will. This mess is ours. He is to provide comfort and strength in this ongoing storm.
        How do we find Jesus in Charlottesville? We recognize evil. We call it out. We look in our own hearts and decide whether or not we’re going to practice our beliefs. Jesus is already there. He is with the broken, grief stricken and He is sad.