Upstairs, on the third floor of our former crack home,\nawaits a really big and really empty, comfortably furnished attic apartment.\nNow that we are empty nesters, we\u2019re deciding how best to use it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An exchange student? A foster child? Airbnb?   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But because our pastor mentioned the Holocaust this past Sunday and because these Impeachment hearings have only served to heighten the sad division in our nation and the growing hostility between people groups, we had to wonder if was time for a new conversation. We conjectured a scenario where our country reaches a boiling point where the only conclusion is the genocide of a certain people group so that we, as a nation, can truly be free. We wondered if there could ever be a time where we might want to use our attic similar to \u2018The Hiding Place\u2019, where the Ten Boom family hid Jews at the real risk of their own family\u2019s safety. We discussed whom might the \u201cAnne Frank\u201d be that we would someday hide in our attic? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have no doubt that previous to the Holocaust, all the Christian\nGermans who insidiously backed Hitler in the days of Ten Boom would have\ninsisted, \u201cThat (a genocide) would never happen here. Not to us or our\nChristian country.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet it did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So as two people desperate to be anything but na\u00efve, Paul\nand I speculated:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCould it be we\u2019re already close to a boiling point? I mean,\nwe know illegal immigrants who, if discovered, will be sent back to Honduras.\nWhile most people will say they\u2019re not actually against immigration<\/em>, they just want people to come legally \u2013 what\nwe know FOR CERTAIN is that our immigration system is so broken, a legal entry\ntakes upwards of 20 years. During that time, while our friends would be waiting\nin Honduras for their legal immigration request to be processed, their\nAmerican-born children will graduate from high-school, go to college, get\nmarried, have babies, get cancer, go on vacations and celebrate birthdays and\nholidays without them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul and I decided we\u2019d have no problem hiding illegal\nimmigrants up in our attic so they could stay with their families instead of\nbeing deported. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then we talked about the LGBTQ community who feel oppressed\nand targeted. What if this country boiled over in hate for this particular group,\nblaming them for the problems of our country and insisting their elimination is\nthe only answer? Would we be willing to hide gays, lesbians, trans, and drag\nqueens in our attic?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Absolutely, we decided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From there, we discussed several other groups of people that often get \u201clumped together\u201d and blamed for problems in our country: blacks, whites, Hispanics, Muslims, Jews, Christians, atheists, the rich, the poor, Republicans, Democrats, the NRA, the mentally ill, the homeless, druggies, Pro-life, Pro-choice, left, right, and upside down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve heard the following comments before \u2013 and\nalthough they\u2019re not quite as bad as they must have been in 1940\u2019s Germany –\nthey\u2019re still painfully hateful and divisive (and remember, the \u201cthey\u201d can be\nany of the groups I\u2019ve mentioned as well as about a thousand others\u2026):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

• They hate America. They don\u2019t care about you at\nall.<\/li>
• They\u2019re all drug-lords, rapists, and thugs.<\/li>
• If only they could see how wrong they are.<\/li>
• They cost so much money \u2013 they\u2019re draining our\neconomy.<\/li>
• They only care about themselves.<\/li>
• They only care about one thing and it drives all\ntheir other decisions.<\/li>
• They\u2019re everywhere \u2013 and they\u2019re taking our jobs.<\/li>
• They\u2019re stripping our country of what matters\nmost.<\/li>
• They\u2019re stealing my rights.<\/li>
• They make me feel unsafe.<\/li>
• Their beliefs are from the pit of hell.<\/li>
• They\u2019re so sure they\u2019re right, they\u2019d kill to\nprotect their beliefs.<\/li>
• Etc., etc., etc.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

  The more we hear these kinds of sentiments and the more they\nare repeated over and over and over, the more we are convinced they are real\nand true. And that\u2019s exactly how Hitler convinced a whole country it was in\ntheir best interest to extinguish \u201cthe problem.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  So Paul and I decided, being the totally woke and cool (do\nwoke people say \u201ccool\u201d?) people that we are, there is not a single people group\nwe would refuse to stay in our attic if they were the target of a genocide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  HOWEVER\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As soon as we felt the smugness of our loving behaviors, it\nsuddenly hit me: \u201cBut what if WE\u2019RE on the wrong side of the equation, hon?\nWhat if WE\u2019RE the ones being targeted for a genocide because we\u2019re followers of\nJesus and therefore we love everybody else, too??\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  But Paul, in all his great wisdom, hit me with this: \u201cHmmmm.\nBut in every scenario we\u2019ve discussed, whether black and white, left or right,\nrich or poor, there are always two sides to the equation \u2013 meaning that in our\n\u201cboiling point\u201d scenario one side has to be right, therefore one has to be\nwrong. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, in Math, an equation is one where two values are\nEQUAL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Perhaps the great equalizer, the one who IS the equal sign\n(=), the one who MAKES all the equations, is God. And with God there are never\ntwo sides. There isn\u2019t an in or out, left or right, good or bad, there\u2019s just\nlove.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  So what if we just love everybody? Will we be persecuted for\nthat someday?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Perhaps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  But I doubt it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I yield back the rest of my time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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