Stop playing the victim

I read this letter to the editor in our newspaper and I wanted to share it with everyone.  It says alot about how I feel about some of the Christians I have known.

Quit playing victim card
I find it almost laughable that Marilyn Mourer, as stated in a recent letter to the editor, thinks that she and other Christians are being pushed around by people of various backgrounds and then hints that the problem is being caused by the “slop” on TV, the computer and video games.
Those “sources” are things that many people, including Christians, knowingly and voluntarily introduce into their homes. What’s more laughable is that most of us, if we have invited those “sources” into our homes, pay to have them delivered to us, and some of us even pay to have “the premium package: 500 channels in high definition.”
The reason I don’t find Mourer’s premise entirely laughable is that she seems to think that there is some entity “out there” that needs to be pushed back when, in fact, it is the appetites of those who indulge in these “sources” that need to be controlled, from within.
If we sin, it is not because “the devil made me do it”; it is because we chose to turn our backs to God.
Mourer seems to think that the decadence of this world is, somehow, caused by “them,” and if we somehow fought back, all would be well. She longs for a world free of temptation, the idyllic days when good Christians were in charge.
Unfortunately, those days never were. Jesus came to redeem a fallen people, not to celebrate with the sinless. He sent his disciples “as sheep in the midst of wolves.”
It’s time for Christians to quit playing the victim card and acknowledge our own culpability in the degradation of God’s Kingdom, our own sinfulness. Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” He did not suggest pointing fingers at others.
Mourer’s weak-kneed Christianity seeks to defend the poor, helpless Christian, to “fight back.” The muscular Christianity of Jesus commands, “Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you, bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despite fully use you.”
Those don’t sound like fighting words; they are, instead, the confident words of a humble people, a people strong enough to accept responsibility for their own behavior.
People strong enough to acknowledge their own faults don’t need to “push back” against others.
Instead of “pushing back,” let me suggest another option. Just say, “No, thank you.”



I left the name of the person who wrote this off but I will just way it was not me. I wish I had.  We need to stop blaming tv, computers, and videos for what is going on in the world.  If you do not like them, turn them all off.  And do not be afraid to regulate what your kids watch on television and monitor what they are doing on the computer. Our kids were not allowed tvs in their room or computers until they needed them for college.  We monitored what they watched.

She is right.  Christians never had it easy and we never will but we do have a God that will see us through all those rough times.  We are not to point fingers at those who do not worship the way we do. My mom always said when you point a finger, four more are pointing back at you.