Enemy-Inspired Media

Posted by Scott McClellan on June 18th, 2008 at 8:11 am

Remember when Jesus said to love our enemies (Matthew 5, Luke 6)? Growing up I always assumed he meant I should love the kids who made fun of me in high school. Last week I was thinking about that passage and realized that the audience Jesus spoke those words to knew a lot more about enemies than I do as a comfortable, affluent American Christian. As it turns out, Jesus’ audience of 1st-century Jews were condemned by the Pharisees, exploited by tax collectors, and violently oppressed by the Roman Empire. What a radical, scandalous instruction Jesus gave them when he said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” I’m sure many in the crowd that day thought, “Love the Pharisees? They treat me like garbage! And pray for Rome? They are barbaric pagans who’ve practically enslaved God’s chosen people!” Nevertheless,  the simple (but difficult) message of Jesus was for those who follow him to love their enemies. “Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them,” he said.

The reason for this post is that a couple of people have used media and the Web to give this message some 21st-century context. The first example I heard about was the guys at The Plow. Back in February, they posted a couple of shocking images that forced viewers to consider how far they were willing to take the whole “love your enemies” thing. For example, what reaction does this image stir in you?

Does it bother you? It sure bothers me.

Next, I read about an Army Reserve Chaplain who started a website called Adopt A Terrorist For Prayer (via Ben Simpson). Praying specifically for an individual terrorist? That’s pretty radical, and quite scandalous.

What do you think? Are you encouraged and challenged, or have these folks taken Jesus’ command too far?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 18th, 2008 at 8:11 am and is filed under General, The Web, Visual. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

14 Responses to “Enemy-Inspired Media”

Wow. Definitely throwing down the gauntlet to suburban American Christians. The image and the “Adopt a Terrorist” sure do challenge me. My first, visceral reaction is “No way!” but re-reading Matthew it clearly tells us this is what we are supposed to do.

I firmly believe that you can love and pray for someone without advocating their behavior or beliefs. The ability to do this becomes exponentially harder the more that this someone a) holds different moral values and b) wants to kill you and destroy your way of life.

Quite a challenge.

posted at 8:40 am on June 18th, 2008 by Bubba

Thanks for bringing this art back to life. That project really challenged Mike and I. While working on it, what I realized is that to God I am no better then these “horrible” people. Without the blood of Christ I am condemned. I was an enemy to God, but he first loved me, and I should do the same. Just look at Paul. He was persecuting the early church, but God used him in such and amazing way for His glory.

posted at 8:54 am on June 18th, 2008 by Corey

Reminds me a little bit of this great post in the CFCC Church Marketing Lab: http://flickr.com/photos/jimmysizemore/2550315746/in/pool-cfcc
Which is another “love your enemies” example, but instead of giving it a face, the piece insinuates the thought of praying for people in “those” countries in the Middle East, even if we (we being the stereotypical US-American public) generally might harbor feelings of resentment for that part of the world.. They sort of take it in a different direction from the one posted above. Focusing on terrorists and other is a little different than praying for those in one of our “enemy” countries. Still a challenge, just not as extreme.. But then, I personally would have to start with the baby steps - maybe with the ultimate goal of opening my heart to the bigger challenge of praying for terrorists?

posted at 9:12 am on June 18th, 2008 by Shannon

Oops, typo - mean to say “focusing on terrorists and other extremely controversial individuals…” Sorry!

posted at 9:14 am on June 18th, 2008 by Shannon

It really is fascinating how unsettling this can be… perhaps Jesus knew what buttons to push. About four years ago, I received an e-mail requesting prayer for a politician who “has a difficult job, is misunderstood, etc.” This politician is a “friend” of the person who sent it. It made me think… do we pray for those politicians with whom we disagree? I altered the e-mail, changed the picture and some details and sent it back, asking for prayer for a political opponent. The original sender was indignant that I would do such a thing. So maybe, in addition to praying for terrorists and militants abroad, we should learn to pray for our political enemies here, rather than vilifying them.

posted at 10:01 am on June 18th, 2008 by LM

Love the images! Very valuable and important for the Church to get a hold of!!!!!!

posted at 10:37 am on June 18th, 2008 by Jesse Phillips

I really appreciate these messages. God can change your heart towards someone when you pray for them.

posted at 1:14 pm on June 18th, 2008 by Chris

Great post. My mom always said, as do many other people, “Love the sinner, not the sin.” It’s so cliche, but true.

After all, Christ said as he hung on the cross, “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.” That’s a pretty loving statement and still applicable today.

posted at 1:40 pm on June 18th, 2008 by Joel Smith

It’s absurd, but it sends a positive message about us as people. Better than KILL ME AND I KILL YOU BACK. ROAR!

posted at 1:52 pm on June 18th, 2008 by Amanda

Jesus, hanging on the cross, said “Father, forgive them…” And they were the people who not only PUT him there, but who gambled for his clothes WHILE He hung there. His forgiveness knew no bounds, neither should mine.

posted at 5:56 pm on June 18th, 2008 by HEATHER

None of us are worthy of God and the Grace, Mercy and Love of Christ. Therefore, aren’t we ALL worthy then of these things?! Huh?

Simply, if I am not worthy of the Salvation, the Mercy, the Grace and the Love that Christ offered but gave to me ANYWAY, then shouldn’t EVERYONE be considered valuable and important enough to receive the same as Christ has given to us as Christians. We aren’t born Christians. All of us have walked down that road to Hell before we were pointed to Christ and given the chance to receive that Gift that Christ died to give us. If we pray for, forgive and show love and mercy on our enemies, then one day our greatest enemies could become our greatest allies, our greatest brothers or sisters in Christ, fighting side-by-side us in this spiritual battle that is being waged everyday for the lost of this earth.

posted at 10:39 am on June 19th, 2008 by Patrick L.

Running the risk of committing hermeneutical errors, I do not think that “loving our enemies” is synonymous with passivity. The greater point is not to hate. Not hating is a difficult thing. I struggled with the images because of the age of some of the participants. It is impossible to put context around things when your 6 - 10 years old. That being said, mercy and grace is not an issue when considering the terrorist. The impersonal entity that is “the terrorist” is difficult to extend grace and mercy to. The muslim neighbor next door that you might befriend and learn to love and pray for, that starts to make sense. Hatred breeds hatred and exposes our total depravity. I agree that our view as believers, should reflect our new nature, but I do not think it can be extrapolated to a national position.

posted at 3:29 pm on June 19th, 2008 by Robbie Vedrenne

I would say it is more than to “Not Hate”. We are called to pray for those who persecute us. That is a call for action on our part. And to show Grace on a terrorist is perfectly inline with the gospel. A terrorist is still a person, and needs our prayers in love. We should not have to learn to love a person based on what they do, we should just love them as Christ did us.

Last thing. I am not sure what you mean by “I struggled with the images because of the age of some of the participants. It is impossible to put context around things when your 6 - 10 years old.” All the images do is show scripture and a image of people we hate. What does age have to do with that?

posted at 12:07 pm on June 20th, 2008 by Corey

Grace and Mercy are always the issue, always the driving force for Christ and His followers. You, nor myself, are no more worthy of God’s Grace and Mercy than a “terrorist.” Also, for most people, it is understood that “loving thy enemies” does not equate to passivity in all siutations. If a terrorist threatens my life or my family’s, then I would chose to kill him if faced with it being “him or us.”

Christ doesn’t ask us to condone the actions of our enemies and doesn’t ask us to associate with them. Christ doesn’t even tell us that we have to “like them” but He makes it clear we are to love them as Christ would love them. This simply means that we understand that they are just as worthy as us as receiving Christ’s Gift of Salvation, and we should act as intercessors for the lost souls of this earth so their hearts may be opened to receiving Christ as Lord and Savior. We should pray that God will rain down His Grace and Mercy upon them so they can turn from Satan and their evil ways.

What would Christ do if Bin Laden came before Him hungry and seeking His Truth? Christ would feed him and He would witness to his spirit. Christ would admonish him but still love him, and He would welcome him into God’s family with open arms if Bin Laden sought forgiveness and accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior. Doesn’t mean that Christ wouldn’t still judge him for his actions and still condemn him to hell if he did not accept Christ as Lord and Savior.

posted at 4:14 pm on June 25th, 2008 by Patrick L.

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