Shame and Grace IV

...the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles...

From Acts 10

Is racism the ugliest human behavior? Is it at the root of evil done by man?

Or is the root something else? Are there evils worse than racism? Murder? Hate? Lasciviousness?

We all want to feel good, and being right feels good. Being good feels good. But it goes deeper than that . . . 

Feeling like we're right feels good. Feeling like we're good feels good. We cannot separate the feeling of goodness from the reality of goodness. We can't even see that we should even care about the difference between feeling good and being good . . . because the result might feel bad.

We can be members of a group, and this will make us feel good. Ganging up on some outsider or marginal person: someone different, someone strange, a whistle-blowing employee, someone less intelligent, someone less attractive . . . being in a group gives you security, because the group can protect you, and that feels good.

100 likes on Facebook feels good; so we post what will get us likes. Popularity might get us out of our loneliness or depression. 

We just don't care enough about whether we are motivated by selfishness rather than true altruism, and it's a distinction that can make or break society.

But God shared grace with everybody, "even" Gentiles. Just like that His "chosen" people were not so exclusive. God will let just anybody into His Kingdom now. It's like siblings. One of them gets  a hobby, or develops a talent, that makes her special. And then the other follows suit, which makes the first one want to drop the interest and move on to something else. She is not special anymore. 

Facebook shaming, and public ganging up (happens everywhere) are just horrible things that make the perpetrators"feel" good. Partisanship and denominationalism are forms of ganging up, of choosing sides, hoping my side wins, because that will get me benefits, and that feels good. It also may preserve my life and livelihood.

But ganging up and shaming is not where grace is found . . . . unless you have extended the hand of friendship to the victim. Now, I am going to have to put it in plain terms:

If you can't hate Trump without hating his followers (be honest), then you can't hate Trump. But the same goes for the Right: Whether right or wrong, for instance, you have been adjudged as against teachers, and that's not a good place to be. If you don't want higher taxes to pay them, then you should consider donating in ways that will help them, because if Obamacare proved one thing, it is that the Left will always have it's way eventually, if you make them mad enough. And historically, you always make them mad enough. 

We don't realize what a big deal it was, for the Gentiles to be included in grace. 

It's the same as you casting off your party identification and joining up with your opponent.