Luke 10:26-37
26 He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?
27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.
28 And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.
29 But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?
30 And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
31 And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
32 And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.
33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,
34 And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
35 And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.
36 Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?
37 And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.
(KJV)
Look at this man. He fell among thieves. And the thieves were certainly not his friends, but then, the priest and the Levite were certainly not showing love either! When the man correctly recognized that the Samaritan was the neighbor Jesus told him to go and do likewise. I believe God is giving us the same message today, "Go and do likewise." Those who stood by were forced to face their own shortcomings.
I am going to present some of the situations of the last few months and SUGGEST that there are acts of love the Body of Christ could have taken. Let me emphasize that there are alternatives that are viable. I am not trying to say to anyone, "This is what we should have done." To my shame I cannot even say that this is what I have done. I am saying, "We must do something," and these are viable and reasonable acts. If you have an alternative that also conveys love, do it. I will support you in it.
We have seen wanton acts of violence, churches burned, a man murdered by being dragged behind a truck, a man murdered by being beaten by a gang, people murdered when an abortion clinic was bombed, and a doctor that performs abortions murdered. The law of Moses says, "Thou shalt not murder." Why do I use the word murder rather than the more widely used word "kill"? Because the scripture prohibits the taking of innocent life, taking life without legal due process. The Torah lays down the valid reasons and process for taking a life. But a life was only taken when that was the valid penalty for an offense and then only when the person stood properly convicted of the offense and properly sentenced. All other taking of a life was murder. This was prohibited. The scripture has no place for vigilantism. It has no place for a “wakeup call to the government” that takes innocent life. And innocent life is any life that has not been properly convicted and sentenced. Even if one of the people killed at Oklahoma City had been clearly guilty of malfeasance and even guilty of taking lives improperly, it would not be valid to take his life without due process.
I make this distinction because there are those in the Body of Christ that believe that it should be open season on some "lower classes" of people. This is to our shame. Generally these are abortion clinic workers and gays. Let me assure you I have no doubt that abortion is wrong. I have no doubt that the practice of homosexuality is wrong. But so are heterosexual acts outside the marriage. And these are no less despicable. But the person does not forfeit his life by doing so, he is not responsible to me, he is not responsible to any man, since the procedure is legal he is not responsible to the government, his responsibility for his sin is to God. The scripture clearly says:
