BLASPHEMY! I can think of no better word to describe the social media appearance of the President in the form of Jesus Christ. Explanations are nothing but double talk. That barely exceeded the scene when the Vice-President, who is a Catholic, argues theology with the Pope. As the sacred head of the church, The Pope is the final authority in questions of faith and theology. I am a Methodist, but I can’t imagine a public debate with a Bishop, who is several ranks down the pecking order.

Is religion just about negatives? That’s not the way Jesus portrays himself and his commandment. We are to spread the Good News and to share it gracefully with humility and not with arrogance.

Those who serve in the military have accepted the responsibility to defend us against all our enemies. Although Putin pals around the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, he is not inclined to argue with him in public nor accept his advice when it comes to war. Iran is known an Islamic Republic, the theology of Islam in some significant ways varies from Christianity. During the Crusades, the Pope recruited people for war to fight the Muslims, but that was in the period of the primitive Dark Ages.

During World War I and II, both sides invoked the name of God to defend and support them. We assume that because we won, he was on our side. I think that is a great oversimplification. We confuse the nature of God when we try to describe him in human terms. The official term is personification. Whatever our concept of God is, he is not an old man with a white beard somewhere up in the sky. I think of God as the center of hope, faith, and justice in a cruel world.

Some people say they cannot believe in a God who would allow all the misery, greed, and brutality in our world. Well, we were given the freedom of choice, and many times people make the wrong choices with the bitter consequences. We have to accept our own responsibility, both in common, and as individuals for our mistakes. God may forgive us, but that doesn’t remove the consequences of our actions.

The church, in the broadest sense of the word, is made up of a community of fallible people so it also makes mistakes. As Methodists, we consider ourselves as a community of believers who share our faith as well as our concerns and needs. We have not always been open to everyone, but that is changing also.

Throughout history, race always has been a major threat to our obedience to God. We claim that nationality is not an issue, but at times our jingoism is hateful. We say that we don’t hate the people of Iran, we’re just trying to challenge their leaders and their policies of third-party terrorists. When religious fervor is carried to the extreme, it can cause great harm. I cannot defend the war with Iran for reasons having nothing to do with religion. It was not carefully considered of what the consequences might be.

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