20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; 21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: 23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. 24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. 26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
King James Bible<<
It says the same thing in our Catholic Bible. I know I have been guilty of it too, which is why I try to avoid the religion threads on here, but there it is, in Jesus' own words, and yet we fight and argue over the most ridiculous things. And I say ridiculous because look at what is happening to Christians in the Middle East and Africa. Watch the video of the priest from Iraq as he sobs describing the 7-8 yr old children who refused to deny Christ who were chopped in half. Think about that for a moment. One child is chopped in half in front of the others. Can you imagine the fear and horror for the other children? No you cannot. None of us can. Yet none of them denied Christ.
As I sat in Mass this morning I thought about all those people who have to fear for their lives to even leave their homes to go to Church. They are shooting Christians on their way to Church. I didn't have to worry about being murdered for going to Church this morning, and neither did the Baptist, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, etc. who love in my community.
We think we know persecution because someone had to bake a cake for queers? Try seeing your child get cut in half and then their head chopped off and put on a spike for everyone around to see. We need to come together as Jesus wanted, instead of bickering amongst ourselves. Imagine what we could accomplish!
Got to remember that more and more those of us who believe in Jesus, regardless of what church we attend, will come under attack, and it does not have to be violent physical attack, but just even verbal or digital abuse as well.