Dear Blind Christian, I wish I didn’t have to write this.

It pains me to do so.

It also feels borderline pointless. You see, because I was once just like you, I am certain that a post on willful blindness will go right over your head.

That makes sense. You are blind.

And I can see why. You stopped looking with the ayin tova, what the Jewish people call “the good eye.”

The good eye sees good in the world, in people, in creation.

Your eye is dark. The problem is you don’t think so.

But listen to the words of Jesus:

The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.

Jesus, Matthew 6:22-23

Most people like you think that Jesus is talking about behavior. He’s not. He’s talking about the good eye, or ayin tova. The people of his time would have known that, but Christians like you hated the Jewish people for so long, you’ve forgotten that Jesus was a Jew, and as such, colored his language and parables to reflect this.

There are lots of ways that Christians like you have marred the Gospel. This is but one example.

Just the other day I was listening as someone I encounter on a daily basis talked through a Psalm dealing with “wickedness.” The acrobatics he jumped through to convince the people listening that God was talking about your common “Christian Hating” sins, such as homosexuality, swearing and drinking, was astounding.

However, a quick gander of the verses surrounding his text could have easily shown all of us that the “wicked” were those who claimed to believe in God but bend the bow to bring down the poor and needy.

Funny that he left that part out.

But not surprising. Because I’ve noticed ever since I’ve been surrounded by “Christians” that some of you are the most “UnChristian” people on the planet.

And that’s okay. As an imperfect Jesus follower myself (these days I cringe at calling myself a Christian), I know it’s my duty to love you anyway.

I try; I promise I do. But you make it so hard!

The cherry-picking of verses in the book you Worship as much as you do the one who wrote it. (Fun fact: Jesus probably isn’t the literal Bible if the verse that says “He was the Word” was written before the Bible was even compiled.)

The way you choose to see some sins as hell-bound but ignore others.

The blatant hatred you have for certain people groups, with little to no repentance for the sins of the past (and present).

It’s a lot for a person who is just trying to love like Jesus to take in.

In fact, I really can’t think of one time Jesus hated on anyone that you seem to hate.

I wonder sometimes, Blind Christian, if you realize that if Jesus “hated” the behavior of anyone, it was people like you.

Even so, He allowed His bruised and broken body to be placed on a cross, and without a second thought said, “Father, forgive them…” (Jesus in Luke).

Do you realize that you’re just as much of a sinner as everyone else?

I don’t think you do.

Do you realize that following Christ has nothing to do with behavior modification and everything to do with loving your neighbor?

Nope. It’s obvious by your actions you don’t.

While you’ll argue that you’re really good at caring for the poor, I’d argue that your short-term mission trips aren’t solving much. (And might be causing harm.)

While you’re sitting on your high horse judging others’ sin, I hope you realize that your own sin might be blinding you.

And while I know you want to follow every red-letter of the Bible, the fact of the matter is, Christians pick and choose what they believe is a sin. (In other words, not a single one of us takes the Bible literally, and most of us hold to Church tradition more than the actual words of the Bible. So, we worship Church, not God.)

It’s fine for you to believe whatever you want, Blind Christian. But it hurts me to see you abuse others with those beliefs.

It hurt Paul, too, who I would argue most of you worship more than Jesus.

In his letter on love, 1 Corinthians 13: 1-13, Paul was pretty clear about what love is.

13 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Notice he said that you can have all the knowledge, power and gifts in the world, but if you don’t have love, you’re nothing but a noisy, banging cymbal.

I just don’t seem to recall Jesus being a noisy, banging cymbal.

Quite the opposite. Everywhere Jesus went, He drew people unto Himself.

They wanted to be around Him, soaking up all His goodness, His gentle burden, His light yoke.

Blind Christian, is your burden light, or have you placed heaviness around your neighbor’s neck that you won’t lift a finger to bear?

Do you care that Jesus said He was doing something new, yet you went back and did the old again?

Do you care that your neighbor is hurting because of the load you’ve placed on them?

Does it bother you that you yourself don’t see the log in your own eye because you’re so focused on the speck in your neighbor’s?

My heart breaks for the downtrodden, Blind Christian.

But it also breaks for you.

Because it’s obvious you don’t really know Jesus.

You couldn’t.

You clearly have nothing to be forgiven for.

At least, in your eyes.

See you soon,

Toni