I am afraid.

I’m not, pardon the pun, afraid to admit it.

There is a lot of hatred out there.

Everywhere.

News. Internet. Blogs. Facebook. Instagram.

A lot of hate and anger.

Most of that hate and anger is directed at Christians. We are the new pariah; the new villain. Christianity is intolerant, hateful, judgmental, phobic. Think of a vile adjective and it has been hurled at Christians.

What is our response? Hunker down. Bunker down. Retreat into our communities of like minded people.

Take a look at one of those inwardly focused communities. There was a class of very religious men. Devout. Faithful to the rules. Pure and clean and undefiled. These men had very little love, mercy, or compassion. In their eyes, if you were suffering it was a punishment. Maybe you were at fault. Maybe your parents. Someone, somewhere was to blame for your misery.

This class of religious leaders were feared by the people over which they presided. They called anyone who deviated from their teachings as hypocrites. When they saw someone suffering, they passed on by. After all, the sufferer deserve what they got!

Into this morass of religious perversion a lone man appeared. He taught something very radical.