Have you ever wondered what it would be like if Jesus were born and lived among us today? Joseph Girzone wrote a book a few years ago entitled Joshua that explored that very question. That book spawned a series of books about Joshua (which, by the way, is the Hebrew equivalent to the Greek name Jesus). I read a couple of them…I’m not sure how I feel about them to be honest with you…but one valuable insight that I gained was how unprepared we (not just we as individuals but we as a society) would be to respond to Jesus if He showed up in our town…because we have our preconceptions much like the Jews had theirs.
I suppose this journey into the hypothetical could go in a lot of directions, but one thought I have is how politically incorrect Jesus would be today if He showed up in most any American city. In our current climate of so-called “hate speech” and “hate crimes,” political correctness has gone crazy! Now, just in case you’ve been away on a trip to another planet for the last 20 years or so, political correctness is the belief that any thought, word, or action that could be deemed offensive should be eliminated and, equally, only the so-called politically correct viewpoints should be tolerated and allowed to prevail.
In today's politically correct environment where you have to be so careful to keep from offending anyone, we might all have to give reports like this fourth grader who reported on the origins of the Thanksgiving holiday. “The pilgrims came here seeking freedom of you know what. When they landed, they gave thanks to you know who. Because of them, we can worship each Sunday, you know where.”
I suppose this journey into the hypothetical could go in a lot of directions, but one thought I have is how politically incorrect Jesus would be today if He showed up in most any American city. In our current climate of so-called “hate speech” and “hate crimes,” political correctness has gone crazy! Now, just in case you’ve been away on a trip to another planet for the last 20 years or so, political correctness is the belief that any thought, word, or action that could be deemed offensive should be eliminated and, equally, only the so-called politically correct viewpoints should be tolerated and allowed to prevail.
In today's politically correct environment where you have to be so careful to keep from offending anyone, we might all have to give reports like this fourth grader who reported on the origins of the Thanksgiving holiday. “The pilgrims came here seeking freedom of you know what. When they landed, they gave thanks to you know who. Because of them, we can worship each Sunday, you know where.”
The reason I mention how politically incorrect Jesus would be today if He showed up in most any American city is how politically incorrect Jesus was when He showed up on the scene almost 2,000 years ago. The Jewish leaders wanted desperately to assassinate Jesus for what they would have called “hate speech” if they had known our terminology. He came speaking words and espousing ideas that flew in the face of what Judaism had become, and the Jewish leaders were determined to stop it.
The apostle Paul asked the Galatian believers, “Have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?" (Galatians 4:16). Jesus became an enemy of the Jewish population because He dared to demonstrate and declare the truth of God.
The erosion of truth in today’s American culture should terrify us. Truth has become an endangered species…but do you know the difference between truth and the endangered Ozark big-eared bat or the endangered gray wolf? It’s open hunting season on truth! Our culture is so confused that up is down/down is up, black is white/white is black, good is bad/bad is good, right is wrong/wrong is right!
At the heart of my thoughts today is this: a fundamental question that every non-believer must ask himself or herself is: “Am I looking for reasons to believe or am I looking for reasons not to believe?” The answer is not a trivial issue! Thomas Aquinas put it well: “To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.”
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