Who’s My Enemy?

There’s a joke I’ve heard since I was a kid. A man arrives at the gates of heaven, and St. Peter asks, "What’s your religion?" The man replies, "Methodist." St. Peter checks his list and says, "Alright, head to Room 24, but please be very quiet as you pass Room 8." Soon, another man approaches. "What’s your religion?" asks St. Peter. "Lutheran," the man responds. "Go to Room 18, but again, be sure to stay quiet by Room 8," St. Peter instructs. A third man comes to the gates. "Religion?" St. Peter asks. "Presbyterian," the man says. "Go to Room 11, but make sure to keep it down when you pass Room 8." Curious, the man asks, "Why do I need to be so quiet near Room 8?" St. Peter leans in and whispers, "Well, that’s where the Baptists are, and they think they’re the only ones here.”

Of course, this joke always got a laugh because the baptists were the punchline of every church joke. When service finished early it was so we could beat the baptists to church. One thing I’ve had to come to grips with is that these jokes, while entirely meant to be light hearted and fun with no nefarious intentions, helped me to form an unconscious bias against the baptists. They became the enemy denomination. As a a result, I can list off several issues I have with the baptist theology and how I think they have horrible practices.

But one thing I want to be adamantly clear about, Baptists are not the enemy. While we disagree on several fronts, they have the same goal as Methodists do: to make disciples of Jesus Christ. I think you would find that we have far more in common than we have differences, it’s just that we take so many of our similarities for granted. I mean, when’s the last time you even thought about the fact that we both worship on Sundays instead of Saturdays? While that seems like a weird thing to bring up, there are other denominations that vehemently disagree with us about worshiping on Sundays. They aren’t the enemy either.

What is easy to reason out but hard to live as if it were true is that most people are not our enemies. It feels like the stakes in the denomination disagreements are small so it’s easier to talk about, but the hard truth is that those whom you disagree with politically are also not your enemy. You may think that you couldn’t possibly agree with anything that the other party stands for, but I would like to believe that if you had an honest, non-confrontational conversation with them, you would find that some core goals are still the same even if their approaches are diametrically opposed. Just like Methodists and Baptists both have a mission of making disciples, both major political parties are trying to create the best America they can.

With that being said (even if not believed), John Wesley gave us three rules for how we should vote. And as we enter into the final stretch before the election, I particularly hope that we can live into number three.

  1. To vote, without fee or reward, for the person they judged most worthy;

  2. To speak no evil for the person they voted against;

  3. To take care their spirits were not sharpened against those on the other side.

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