Love my neighbor? What?

I am very grateful to live in a country where our religious freedoms are so vast.  I am free to worship in any style of my choosing, to any god(s) of my choosing, or not to worship at all.

That is why it makes me so nervous that so many of my Christian brethren would willingly limit the religious freedoms of everyone else if they could.  In fact, many of them are so convinced of their worldviews (which they can, of course, back up with clear Scriptural references) that they feel they should be made into law, so that others, even if convicted of different religious tendencies, should have to obey them.

This level of hubris is disturbing.  To think that you can know the mind and will of God to such a great detail that you know what he wants for everyone, and for the nation in general.  To think that, in this country of all places, that MY religion is so much better than YOUR religion (or your LACK of religion) that all citizens should be affected by changing the laws of the land, so as to fit MY religious convictions, making some things  illegal that are currently legal, and preventing other things from becoming legal, even if they amount to more freedom - which seems strange, since, according to the apostle Paul, "where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is freedom" (2 Corinthians 3:17).

It seems especially strange to me that my fellow Christians should take such concern in the laws of the land, especially since Jesus said "My kingdom is not from this world" (John 18:36).

Of course, all of these Christians behave this way out of the best of intentions.  I realize that.  But their efforts seem misplaced.  Their certainty in these matters also seems misplaced.  Yes, they can point to Scriptural examples to explain their stances on certain subjects, and I would never presume to say that those passages aren't real, or that they are misreading them.  However, being able to point to Scripture for precedent isn't necessarily all that it's cracked up to be.

After all, Job's friends certainly had evidence and conventional wisdom on their side when they argued that God rewards the righteous and punishes the transgressors, so OBVIOUSLY Job was misstating the truth when he insisted he had done nothing to deserve his various calamities.  All Job did was continually question God.  So when God finally shows up and blows Job's mind with a glimpse into the length and breadth of his perceptions, what does God say to Job's friends?  "My anger is stirred up against you and your two friends, because you have not spoken about me what is right, as my servant Job has" (Job 42:7).  They had all of the written and spoken evidence on their side, and Job only questioned God instead of making pronouncement about him, but they were wrong and he was right.

Also, the Pharisees and Sadducees  had a virtual monopoly on Scriptural exegesis in first-century Palestine; no one knew the Bible better than they did.  But Jesus countered them on every turn, telling them over and over again that they were wrong in their teachings.

I think that if we Christians just followed the teachings of Jesus (go figure), everyone would be better off.  Look at this passage from Luke 10: 25-37:

Now an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you understand it?” The expert answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and Love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus said to him,“You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”  

But the expert, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem  to Jericho  and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him up, and went off, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, but when he saw the injured man  he passed by on the other side. So too a Levite, when he came up to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan who was traveling came to where the injured man was, and when he saw him, he felt compassion for him. He went up to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever else you spend, I will repay you when I come back this way.’ Which of these three do you think became a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” The expert in religious law said, “The one who showed mercy to him.” So Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.”

The story of the Good Samaritan is often thought of by many Christians as a wonderful example of how to help those in need, but that isn't the point of the story.  The whole point of the story is to provide an answer to the religious expert's question, "And who is my neighbor?"  And the answer is radical: your neighbor, whom you should love as yourself, is the person whom you most despise, with whom you disagree the most, whose lifestyle is one that you in no way approve or condone.  THAT is what a Samaritan was to a first-century Jew, and vice versa.  And THAT is who we should be neighbors to in this current age.  We should love our neighbors, not try to legislate against them.

Christians can still be the examples for the nation (and the world) that many of them so desperately want to be.  But for that to happen, we have to stop representing the worst facets of human nature, and instead represent the best.  We should live our lives in the Way that Jesus taught, by his examples and words, and stop browbeating our neighbors.  "You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill cannot be hidden. . . In the same way, let your light shine before people, so that they can see your good deeds and give honor to your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:14, 16).