WWJD

                                                                          
                                                              What Would Jesus Do?

No, I didn't by myself a new bracelet with these letters or words on it, but it has been on my mind lately. (the words, not the bracelet)  In recent years this phrase has become quite cliche, but in reality it's a question we really should ask ourselves when it comes to most every topic in life. The event that got my mind puzzling these words is watching my facebook news feed blow up in recent days with folks choosing sides on several different debates, one being the Chik fil A issue.  I think the most cleaver post was this one:

Oh, the battled raged for days about this subject and I added my two cents once or twice, but avoided participating in any heated arguments.  As the above picture states so plainly, why is the world so surprised by the answer Mr. Cathy gave regarding this subject? And what would Jesus answer have been to the question that got the restaurant owner mired in controversy?  Also, why is it being debated in the first place? I think it's because we've come right down to the nitty gritty of how can a Christian love people and lead them to Christ, when we know that they are not going to agree with what the Bible clearly says about these and other matters.  I am not a Bible scholar but I have studied enough to know that when I have a dilemma going on around me I can usually find a useful answer right there between the pages of Genesis and Revelation.  But "the world" isn't interested in what the Bible says about sin.

Also, in the past week I kept an eye on another facebook war between an old friend (who is now a pastor) and his Bible college classmate.  It seems the classmate feels that my pastor-friend has become "soft" to sin and has publicly called the saints to pray that he will see the error of his ways.  In doing so he has riled the anger of many Christians due to his public rebuke of the pastor and his extremely "religious" opinions.  I say religious because he reminds me of the the Sadducee's and Pharisee's of Jesus' day with his "I am holy because I keep every commandment" attitude.  420 comments later, they are all still arguing. (none of those were my comments, by the way)  But all of this caused me to wonder what would Jesus do or say if he were peeking at facebook during these heated debates? (which He may very well be)

As a result of my wondering, I have decided to spend the next few weeks studying the red letters in my Bible.  I've read the four gospels in the past, but never to intentionally focus solely on the words of Jesus. In light of recent events I think this is the perfect time to do so.  I may share a bit of that on this blog or facebook, not in the hopes of sparking debate, but to simply chronicle the revelation I hope to receive from it.  In the mean time, I am still asking myself, WWJD?