Raising a toddler is an exercise in madness.
It’s like going to war every day with a clinically insane enemy, losing to said enemy, and still being profoundly grateful for the opportunity. They are not rational. They throw tantrums that make no sense. They do not like to do the things that are good for them and seem to be determined to do things that could end their lives.
They are insane.
And yet I love my toddler daughter so much I can’t even imagine a universe in which I don’t get to spend every day loving her no matter how ridiculous she is. I wouldn’t change a thing.
That is love.
Now, before I paint myself as some sort of saint, there is no one else I could exist that way with.
Maybe my wife.
Maybe.
But when you consider just how much insanity exists everywhere, one wonders how anyone stays in a relationship with anyone ever. People can be selfish and dishonest in the most nutso ways.
Did you hear about the “birds aren’t real” guy? In 2017, on a whim during a counter protest that was happening outside his window during a Women’s March, Peter McIndoe decided to throw everyone for a loop. He quickly made a sign that read “Birds Aren’t Real” and went and stood amidst the counter protesters. He then proceeded to start making stuff up on the spot about how birds were all a government conspiracy to spy on the American people because all birds were actually drones and that the entire bird population had been killed and replaced with said drones.
It’s insane, right?
Except that, some people believed him. He spent years playing the part of this conspiracy theorist as a joke and as an experiment. Lots of people knew it was a joke. It was an open secret. But many believed him. He backed it up with fake documents and pictures and such.
Eventually he started doing interviews and even a Ted talk about what he had done and why he had done it explaining how he had made it up and why.
But here is what is even crazier than people having believed such a ridiculous conspiracy. Even after he told everyone he made it up and why, there were still people who refused to stop believing the conspiracy.
Perhaps you’ve met people like that.
Here are some questions. What do we do when everything around us becomes unbelievably insane? How are we supposed to relate to that? What happens when everything changes and all the stability we thought we lived within is turned upside down around us?
What do we do when the world goes mad?
We currently live in a time where Christian Nationalism has a real chance of making life in our country very unstable. Our separation of church and state could begin to disappear. Along with that, we could see the disappearance of religious liberty. Add to that, the uncomfortably high number of powerful Neo-Nazi influencers who have hitched their wagon to Evangelical Christianity and helped shape this current Christian Nationalistic movement.
Rights are being taken from women. Openly racist individuals have increasing say in policy creation. If anyone ever wanted to know what passionate Christianity would look like if the love of Jesus was removed, now may be your chance to find out what could come of that.
And it seems ridiculous that this could happen now.
Haven’t we made progress as a people and a nation? Haven’t we learned from the mistakes of our past? Have we forgotten our history? Did we learn nothing from WWII and other historically significant times like it?
It’s frustrating. And I’m terrified for the future my beautifully insane toddler may have to live in when she grows up. How do I or any of us relate to the events of now and the potential realities of the future?
As is my custom, I want to try to address this by asking some questions peppered with some statements and try to simplify it and add some perspective.
Here we go.
If we are servants of Jesus, does a changing context alter the spirit of how we conduct ourselves?
If, even in the day of Jesus, which was a volatile and dangerous time of unrest, we were to be known by our love, does that change now just because our world suddenly becomes volatile in its own way?
If the person we don’t want becomes the president, whichever one that is, do we stop being love to everyone we encounter? If every fear we ever had about life and politics and religion and good and evil comes to pass, does that mean we stop being love to all people?
Do we stop being love just because it becomes inconvenient?
Are we disciples of Jesus always or only when it works in our favor? Which, if we aren’t willing to be known by our love in every situation, I might question whether we were ever actually disciples of Jesus.
Being a disciple of Jesus means we act in love, always.
Being born of the Spirit means we will follow an unpredictable path and find ourselves in places and situations we never expected, and doing things we might not otherwise do. But whatever those things are, we will do them in love.
For example, if the spirit leads you to be a soldier, you will be a soldier, but you will do it in love, walking a line that balances justice and mercy.
If the world goes completely bonkers, does that change who we are in Jesus and who Jesus is in us?
Adventism is a religion that believes deeply in Religious Liberty, although, based on an unfortunate and growing subset within the denomination, you might not know it. Standing for Religious Liberty is more than just doing so to make sure Adventism is free to be Adventism. And, counterintuitively, it isn’t just to make sure people can choose whatever belief they want. It is to make sure people have the freedom to follow wherever the Spirit of God leads them, whatever that turns out to look like. Because, as disciples of Jesus, it is not just our duty, but it should also be our sincere pleasure and desire to make sure people have the freedom and a safe space to follow the Spirit’s leading.
Adventism likes to hang its hat on things like the Sabbath, our interpretations of prophecy, the state of the dead, and the investigative judgment, amongst other beliefs. But there are a lot of Adventists who seem to have forgotten that Religious Liberty has always been foundational to who we are. Along with another one that is more foundational than any of them.
The love of Jesus.
The belief that a disciple of Jesus will be known by their love must supersede anything else we think or believe. It should define us. It should compel us. It should oblige us.
It should be our greatest desire.
If that is all true, then what should change about our discipleship in Christ if the world goes completely mad?
Absolutely nothing.
No matter how much our context changes, no matter how much more dangerous our world becomes, no matter how much we may have to adapt to a newer and crazier world, if we are doing it right, our character won’t change. Because, no matter what happens and no matter how scary and dangerous the world becomes, there is another thing to remember.
Love transcends all fear.
God is love. Where love is, God is. And where God is, love is. And if love isn’t there …
I think you get that logic sequence.
I don’t actually know if the things I fear will come to pass. I do know that I cannot let my fears undermine my love.
And here is the thing about my toddler. She is not actually crazy. She just doesn’t get it yet. She’s only 2. But one day, after years of growing and learning and experiencing, she will become someone different. And, if my wife and I do a really good job as parents, that someone will be an even better version of the amazing kid she already is. But for that to happen, she has to see what it is to be a loving, kind, and patient human.
If we as servants of Jesus can’t maintain a character of patient love and mercy and kindness, through the presence of the Spirit, no matter how ridiculous the world gets, how can the world ever grow and learn that there is a better way to exist that doesn’t involve hatred, violence, fear, and the suppression of freedom?
The world doesn’t get it yet. And, probably, neither do we.
And since we don’t, how about we just focus on being love to as many people as possible and let God sort out the rest?
It isn’t easy, but it’s so crazy a solution it just might work.
Tony Hunter is a Seventh-day Adventist pastor and a hospital chaplain working for UCHealth. Tony, his wife Nirma, and daughter Amryn live in Firestone, Colorado. Email him at: thatbaldguy37@gmail.com