Should we? It's hard.

Take a good hard look at the following two pictures.  Go ahead and really stare at them and let them soak in.

9-11, the twin towers just as the 2nd plane was hitting the second tower



a scene from the recent Paris terrorist attack in which 140 were killed







I don't know anyone whose blood didn't boil in the days (and longer) after each of those incidents at the hands of avowed terrorists.  In the first incident, the Towers, al Qaida was involved.  In the second incident, ISIS (a radical offshoot of al Qaida) was involved.  Both groups are painted with the same broad brush labeled Muslim.

Following both incidents, yes both (and I will explain that in just a second), I got on my anti-Muslim high horse (it's the one that lumps ALL Muslims together) in a big way.  Obviously, after the Towers incident many, many of us did the same.  Those terrorists had attacked us on our own grown in a despicable way, and killed many.  The recent Paris incident evoked the same reaction from me, and likewise many others here in America, as well as around the world for the same reason--the attacks in Paris were sneaky, despicable attacks that also killed many innocent people, ordinary citizens, families in many cases, who were just doing the human thing.  They were out eating, they were taking in a show, etc. Through both of the attacks pictured above, the dignity of ordinary peace loving people was accosted. 

My immediate thoughts in both cases went instantly to a general and broad hatred of a segment of society, the Muslims.  Not just the terrorists themselves (who were found to be Muslims), but all Muslims--because the terrorists were Muslims.  And I, like many, have been vocal in expressing those feelings, in private conversations and on social media.  It is very, very hard for anyone who is not living with their head in the sand not to have those feelings in light of what took place.  And, it is even easier to do so when we live in a country that is seemingly currently allowing hundreds of thousands of Muslim refugees into this country--especially after knowing that the two responsible for the Boston Marathon bombing a few years back were likewise Muslim refugees. 

Where is this going?  Today, as I was listening to K-LOVE on the radio, I heard a discussion that I really, really didn't want to hear.  Frankly, the discussion really messed with my sense of patriotism, as well as screwing with my sense of indignity over those terrorist incidents mentioned above.  I didn't want to hear it because it slapped me in my face.  As a person trying to be a good Christian, I was hearing something that I knew was right.  As a human, I was hearing something that was telling me I have been dead wrong in the way I have reacted to the above mentioned atrocities, and I expect that will be the case for anyone who reads this. I was hearing something that made me halt and ask myself  "Should I, it's really damn hard?"  And my answer to myself was short and sweet--"Joe, you've got a choice to make--live the Word, or don't live the Word."  In other words, this is a prime example in daily life where the rubber hits the road.  What I heard was a discussion of reactions to the terrorist attacks based on biblical teaching:

Matthew 5

Teaching about Love for Enemies
43 "You have heard the law that says, 'Love your neighbor'* and hate your enemy.44 But I say, love your enemies!* Pray for those who persecute you!45 In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.46 If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much.47 If you are kind only to your friends,* how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that.48 But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.

Frankly, I don't want to love them.  I want to hate them.  But, I also want to live my attempt at a Christian walk in the way that follows the Word.  I came, once again, upon hearing that discussion and reading the related Word noted in the discussion, to the conclusion that God really does hand us some tough choices in our daily lives doesn't He.

Bottom Line Thought:  When the rubber hits the road in our Christian walk, it is sometimes just plain hard to do the Godly thing isn't it?