What the World Sees

I’m sure by now most of the nation has heard of George Tiller’s murder in Wichita this past Sunday. In case you haven’t, Tiller was a doctor who performed late-term abortions. He was often the source of many anti-abortion protests, some of them violent. This past Sunday, Dr. Tiller was shot to death in the lobby of his church.

With his death has come many mixed feelings. I’m glad to say that most of the comments I read on facebook were uplifting, asking friends to pray for this man’s family and stating that murder isn’t the answer to stopping abortion.

I’m also sad to say that I have read other comments stating that his death was a good thing and he deserved it.

You know, as much against abortion as I am, I can’t say that George Tiller’s murder makes me feel any relief or joy. It doesn’t make me want to celebrate and cheer. It’s true that what he did every day was sick and murder in itself. But I can’t imagine that God was cheering on in heaven as this beloved child of His was gunned down. Why should we be glad over this man’s death when it pains our Heavenly Father?

CNN News was on tv at work the other day. An occasional clip would play where viewers called in and voiced their opinions. A lady from across the country added her two cents, and what she said saddened me further. I didn’t catch her statement word for word. But the core of her message was this: In church was a man who killed babies. Also in church was another man who tried to fix the problem by shooting the first man. Christians are supposed to be good, but look at all the dirty rotten people there are sitting in those pews. None of them are any better than your average person – in fact, they are worse.

This is the message of light we are sending to the lost souls around us. (I speak collectively, not specifically. I know many wonderful Christians who spread the love of Christ to all they meet.) We become so wrapped up in a few select issues and beat them to death. Yes, abortion grieves God. Yes, gay marriage is an abomination in His sight. Yes, divorce and drunkenness and pregnancy outside of marriage saddens Him more than we can imagine.

But what are we saying to the people outside of our church walls who have murdered, aborted, divorced, wasted their lives on alcohol, and raised children without a husband? Are we going to rub these sins in their faces? Clearly that’s not the way to draw them to Christ, as this particular caller pointed out.

Jesus lived a life of love. He ate lunch with cheating accountants, touched the disgusting skin of the diseased, and embraced the whores. He loved them. He didn’t point His finger at them or spear them down because their daily lives disgusted Him. He opened His heart to them. He held them closer and embraced them more intimately than He did the righteous Bible scholars who lived the “right” way.

Instead of following His example, we Christians think we know what’s best. We choose condemnation over grace. We build fences around the gospel so that the very people who need it can’t get to it because we choose to filter who we let in. In doing so, we show ourselves to be hypocritical to the very souls who look to us for the love of Christ.