A Letter to THE Church: Let's Stop The Bullying

Dear Church,

You are dearly loved.  You are precious.  You hold a special place in the plan of God.  For two thousand years you have faithfully shared the faith, passing it down from father to son and mother to daughter.

You are truly awesome.

Yet I write today because I am concerned with where you are headed.  I am concerned with what you are doing to yourself.  The self-inflicting wounds are hurting you; the lifeblood of the church is draining, and you did this to yourself.

And so I write with a simple message to the church:  It is time to stop the bullying.

When did the church decide it was our job to belittle those who differ in opinion?  When did Jesus grant us the authority to degrade others, question their intelligence, and dehumanize all who are opposed to us?

It is time you realize, that I realize, that the enemy is not the progressives (who show us that the gospel matters in this generation) or the fundamentalists (who remind us that there are fundamental convictions of our faith).

Our enemy is not the liberal, who reminds us that it is for freedom we have been set free from the law.

Our enemy is not the conservative, who reminds us that not everything old or traditional is bad.

No, our enemy is not church's political opinion--we need each other.

Our enemy isn't the non-Christians--they remind us that we still have a mission from Jesus to make disciples in his name and authority.

Our enemy isn't the homosexual--they provide an avenue for us to demonstrate grace.

Our enemy isn't the Westboro Baptists--they provide an avenue for us to demonstrate grace.

Our enemy isn't the black church, the white church, the rich church or the poor church.

Our enemy is not any part of the church.

Our enemy isn't even any person.

Our enemy is the dominion of darkness, sin, death, and condemnation that rules in this world.

And we need every group of Christians, with all of our oddities, to unite against it.

So please, dear Church, stop.

Stop trying to take out the Calvinists.

Stop beating up the Baptists.

Stop pitting us against one another.

Let us be the Church.  One Church.

Sincerely,

A concerned member of the Body