Christian persecution and genocide is worse now than it has ever been in history. Christians in Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan, Pakistan, North Korea, Libya, Iraq, Yemen, Iran, Egypt, and many other countries, are regularly imprisoned, tortured, beaten, raped, and martyred. Their churches are destroyed. Their houses burned. They meet and worship in secret, risking their lives in the process. They live every moment in constant danger.
About 215 million Christians face what is called “extreme persecution” for their faith. It’s estimated that around a million have been slaughtered since 2005. There is no way to know exactly how many. What we do know is that Christianity has been dramatically reduced in parts of the world where it had existed for nearly 2,000 years.(1)
To remain silent on the plight of the suffering Church around the world is blasphemous.(2) Just as we (the Church) were silent for hundreds of years on slavery, as we were silent on the Holocaust unfolding in Germany, we seem to be collectively silent on the globally persecuted Church, especially when it is denominations not associated with ours.
"Anti Semitism is Anti-Christianity, and Anti-Christianity is Anti-Semitism." (3) I would venture to add to Susanna's statement that "Anti-Any Christian group" is Anti-ALL Christians."
Christians who have "siloed up" (Retreated to a defensive posture) are called to come to the spiritual awareness that we cannot do it alone, and we would be better equipped to join forces with all those who believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the only Savior of the world.
This broadens our ranks significantly, to include groups within the universal Catholic church including but not limited to all sub-groups within Protestantism, Coptics, 7th Day Adventists, the Catholic, Eastern Church, and more.
Do we agree on all issues, including baptism? Of course not.
But every issue of theological conflict is addressed by Jesus, Paul, Peter or John in the New Testament. The thief on the cross was not baptized but Jesus said he would receive him in Heaven.
When facing the point of the gun for the sake of Jesus Christ, many theological issues that divide us on Sunday mornings are no longer relevant.
Has the consciousness of the Church become a stone-cold fossil?
Is mercy and compassion gone?
Our inability to even care to be aware of the plight of brothers and sisters denied basic human rights and freedom to worship Christ says much more about our view of God and ourselves than it does about them.
To see these Christians who would rather be shot dead in the desert than renounce their faith is to see our own faith as a shabby, pitiful, hollow imitation...Christians in the East forfeit their lives rather than forfeit their souls, and we forfeit our souls even though we could quite easily retain both.(4)
Who might we become? Here are some beginning thoughts on
Characteristics of Spiritually Noble People:
1. They have moral grandeur, and are not morally cowardly. They are morally complex, understanding that very few issues are simple. Very little is "black and white." They do not give simple answers to complex problems. But even more significantly, they discern the meaning behind historical events and the future spiritual and moral implications of what is said and done today. They are able to see within the events of history from an individual, family, community, national, and global perspective. They are not xenophobic, isolationists, or overly nationalistic. Every human is loved by God and reveals His reflection in some way.
2. Richness of Inner Lives - they are increasingly integrated and whole human beings. They demonstrate the pearl of the Kingdom of Heaven reactively, naturally, even when under extreme duress (See Amy Carmichael's If: When Do I Know of Calvary Love). They can laugh at themselves, demonstrating an incredibly rich perspective of God's view of themselves and others. Most all people from all cultures are drawn to these types of people, because grace and humor exudes from every pore. They have an openness and transparency to their own brokenness and giftedness.
3. Kind - they are kind to all people, even those who are unkind and demeaning back; they are kind to those who are condescending in return. They know what "Tough Kindness" is as well.
4. Open to Mystery - Not reductionistic. Faith, piety, belief, even truth are not reduced to psychological are philosophical terms. They can hold in tension what is known and what is not possible to know, and to discern the spiritual reality operating behind the physical world and experience.
5. Empathy with God's Heart - they understand the Divine Pathos (emotion), and their relationship with God is dynamic and growing. They are open to new spiritual thoughts, and recognize their own cultural theology that is holding them back from fuller transformation in relationship with the Trinity.
6. Empathy with Others - They realize that pity and sympathy are condescending. Empathy is being able to enter into another's world, often through the use of imaginative mentalization. This includes being able to see the intentions and heart of others, even when not agreeing with everything.
6. Emotionally Complex - They can feel two opposite feelings at the same time and not be destroyed. They know what it is to feel a broad range of emotions and the meanings of those emotions.They can hold in tension two extremes, even internally.
7. Humble - They are restrained in mercy and power. They have the ability to identify and name their expectations of self, others, and God, and their own unmet expectations of self, others, and God.
(1) Christians In The East Lose Their Lives, But Christians In The West Are Losing Their Souls, Matt Walsh
(2) Paraphrasing Susanna Heschel in the forward to Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity by Abraham Heschel"
(3) Ibid, Kindle Location 208
(4) Ibid, #1, Matt Walsh
