From Newsgroup: uk.religion.christian
On 30/08/2025 14:59, hermeneutika wrote:
There seems to be a inate desire to demonize those who are different? eg trans,gays,muslims etc etc ad nauseum ad infinitum. I am of course totally guilty of this. Whats to be done?
Unfortunately, it is part of a more base human nature. A kind of base
instinct we really need to work against.
My take on it is that we humans are rather 'tribal' by nature. There is
a tendency to group together with others who are 'like' us, and distrust
or even shun those who are 'unlike' us. That may be in appearance,
language, culture, beliefs, social behaviour and so on.
Whereas the tribal nature probably helps when people live in small
villages surrounded by other potentially hostile villages who might
compete for, or steal resources, then distrust or hostility might be
good survival instincts.
But these days people are far more intermixed. People were also very intermixed in 1st Century Palestine, though.
Jesus taught us to love our neighbour, even if they are different to us,
even if, shock-horror, they happen to be one of those despised Samaritans!
So we need to learn to see the Image of God in all people.
It's not easy, and I struggle a bit at times. Where I live and grew up,
it has changed drastically in the last 25 years or so, from an area
where nearly everyone I passed on the street was ethnically similar to
me, White British. Now, it seems like nearly everyone is ethnically
different.
I find the difficult thing is languages. Nearly everyone I see walking
around is speaking in languages other than English. When I do hear
English, it is often with a strong foreign accent and obviously not that person's first language.
However, when I look back at my life, most of the people that have ever
given me grief have been White British!
It gets harder to adapt as we grow older, but I don't think God's
command to love our neighbour has exceptions.
Tim.
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