Let's get this first part out of the way so we are all on the same page.
There are bad cops. There are unethical, immoral, power hungry, abusive police officers.
There are bad religious leaders. There are unethical, immoral, power hungry, abusive religious leaders.
There are bad accountants. There are bad doctors. There are bad teachers.
If you just focus on the bad ones and assume that is the whole industry, then our entire society falls down around our ears. So, if you are going to assume that most teachers, pastors/bishops/priests, doctors, etc. are good and there are just some bad apples out there. Then why would we not assume the same for police officers??
So, the blog post is based on the assumption that most police officers are good people doing an important job and that the majority are not the bad apples.
Look at the news in recent days.
News story: An officer was shot and died from the wound during a confrontation at a mall.
News story: An officer was working conducting a traffic stop and was shot and killed.
News story: An officer was pursuing three suspects on foot. When other officers arrived on the scene he had been fatally shot.
With all of this news, do you have news of police officers quitting their jobs in mass?? I haven't heard of that. Maybe it's happening and I'm not hearing, but I don't think so. They continue to serve the same communities even after these things are done to them. They go and do what their job requires them to do.
One more for our purposes though: News story: Here is a video of 6 officers responding to a call that a man was threatening to shoot his wife and landlord. When they showed up the man shot at them twice hitting one office (uninjured thankfully). The man then came downstairs with the gun. The officers, who knew he was willing to shoot at them, still tried to talk him down. Tried to get him to put the gun down. Why? Who knows. Maybe didn't want to deal with megative charges on their record. Maybe they were self-serving and didn't want the guilty conscience of shooting someone. Maybe they don't like taking life because they see so much of it lost anyway. We don't know motives, but these men knew what a threat the man was and they still tried to talk and get him to put his gun down.
Police violence is on the rise. Wait. No. Violence against police is on the rise!! What? The men and women who give there lives (often literally as well as often giving up their lives with their spouses and children to work odd and long hours) are being attacked? They are trying to help our society function with as little violence as possible. They are the first defense against those would would betray our trust and hurt our children, yet they are the ones being targeted? Would it be any wonder if some of them seemed trigger happy in recent months? Wouldn't you?? The hate can come from anywhere at any time and from anyone.
So, what in the world does this have to do with Christians Nate?? I'm glad you asked :o)
Matthew 10:16-25 and John 15:18-21 have a similar message: The world WILL hate you. They will betray you and despise you. Why? Because they despise Jesus and in despising Him, then will despise his servants.
To clarify, remember those bad apples? I'm not talking about the all smiles and all love Jesus that bad religious leaders propose. God IS love. Absolutely. He is, however, also just (as well as many other things). So, we can't take the love and ignore the justice. So, the Jesus of the Bible is the one we are talking about here.
Luke 6:27-36 is a great passage too. It's the "love your enemies" passage that also says that loving people who love you is easy and everyone does that. Loving those who don't love you, however, is hard. Like, serving a community of people who might betray and shoot you because of your job! (Be that police officer or disciple of Jesus Christ.)
Matthew 5:43-44 is another "love your enemies" passage.In fact, a command to pray for those who persecute you.
Last one. "Faith is not belief without evidence. It is obedience without fear of consequences. It is trusting in God."
Doing your job no matter what happens. No matter who hates you. Loving the haters and praying for those who persecute. Continuing to do that job even if your friends are shot down before your eyes. Loving the unlovely.
Yes. I just described a police officer AND a Christian as the Bible describes them. Working on this, I am aware that all analogies break down somewhere. We could talk about motivations and other things...but all I really want to say is this, I have more respect for police officer NOW (especially seeing their faithfulness in harder times) and, as a Christian, I have a lot of room to grow to truly be doing my job as a disciple of Jesus Christ.
To God be the glory!!
There are bad cops. There are unethical, immoral, power hungry, abusive police officers.
There are bad religious leaders. There are unethical, immoral, power hungry, abusive religious leaders.
There are bad accountants. There are bad doctors. There are bad teachers.
If you just focus on the bad ones and assume that is the whole industry, then our entire society falls down around our ears. So, if you are going to assume that most teachers, pastors/bishops/priests, doctors, etc. are good and there are just some bad apples out there. Then why would we not assume the same for police officers??
So, the blog post is based on the assumption that most police officers are good people doing an important job and that the majority are not the bad apples.
Look at the news in recent days.
News story: An officer was shot and died from the wound during a confrontation at a mall.
News story: An officer was working conducting a traffic stop and was shot and killed.
News story: An officer was pursuing three suspects on foot. When other officers arrived on the scene he had been fatally shot.
With all of this news, do you have news of police officers quitting their jobs in mass?? I haven't heard of that. Maybe it's happening and I'm not hearing, but I don't think so. They continue to serve the same communities even after these things are done to them. They go and do what their job requires them to do.
One more for our purposes though: News story: Here is a video of 6 officers responding to a call that a man was threatening to shoot his wife and landlord. When they showed up the man shot at them twice hitting one office (uninjured thankfully). The man then came downstairs with the gun. The officers, who knew he was willing to shoot at them, still tried to talk him down. Tried to get him to put the gun down. Why? Who knows. Maybe didn't want to deal with megative charges on their record. Maybe they were self-serving and didn't want the guilty conscience of shooting someone. Maybe they don't like taking life because they see so much of it lost anyway. We don't know motives, but these men knew what a threat the man was and they still tried to talk and get him to put his gun down.
Police violence is on the rise. Wait. No. Violence against police is on the rise!! What? The men and women who give there lives (often literally as well as often giving up their lives with their spouses and children to work odd and long hours) are being attacked? They are trying to help our society function with as little violence as possible. They are the first defense against those would would betray our trust and hurt our children, yet they are the ones being targeted? Would it be any wonder if some of them seemed trigger happy in recent months? Wouldn't you?? The hate can come from anywhere at any time and from anyone.
So, what in the world does this have to do with Christians Nate?? I'm glad you asked :o)
Matthew 10:16-25 and John 15:18-21 have a similar message: The world WILL hate you. They will betray you and despise you. Why? Because they despise Jesus and in despising Him, then will despise his servants.
To clarify, remember those bad apples? I'm not talking about the all smiles and all love Jesus that bad religious leaders propose. God IS love. Absolutely. He is, however, also just (as well as many other things). So, we can't take the love and ignore the justice. So, the Jesus of the Bible is the one we are talking about here.
Luke 6:27-36 is a great passage too. It's the "love your enemies" passage that also says that loving people who love you is easy and everyone does that. Loving those who don't love you, however, is hard. Like, serving a community of people who might betray and shoot you because of your job! (Be that police officer or disciple of Jesus Christ.)
Matthew 5:43-44 is another "love your enemies" passage.In fact, a command to pray for those who persecute you.
Last one. "Faith is not belief without evidence. It is obedience without fear of consequences. It is trusting in God."
Doing your job no matter what happens. No matter who hates you. Loving the haters and praying for those who persecute. Continuing to do that job even if your friends are shot down before your eyes. Loving the unlovely.
Yes. I just described a police officer AND a Christian as the Bible describes them. Working on this, I am aware that all analogies break down somewhere. We could talk about motivations and other things...but all I really want to say is this, I have more respect for police officer NOW (especially seeing their faithfulness in harder times) and, as a Christian, I have a lot of room to grow to truly be doing my job as a disciple of Jesus Christ.
To God be the glory!!
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