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The Pope says a Christian Looks Like What?

Shawn Graham
What does the Pope say being a Christian looks like?  First off, I am not Catholic, and I have never been.  I have many friends that follow the faith, so I will try to write this as gentle as possible.  When I process spiritually related topics, I like to dig deep into what the Bible says about these things.  Instead of taking people at their word, I am always hesitant because things can be strewn from actual Biblical facts.  Church leaders especially have a duty to share the Bible as though it were coming from God himself.  They should not inject their politics into their message.
I was reading an article today about the Pope and what his thoughts were about refugees.  My mind was attracted to the article because I wanted to see what a spiritual leader of the great following had to say about the topic.
As a Christian, I believe that it is important for us to fact check church leaders words against what the Bible says.  The article I read quotes Matthew 25:31-46.  I would urge you to further examine this verse in your own Bible.  The passage is about the parable of the judgment.  This passage talks about separating the sheep from the goats.  My interpretation is that the sheep represent the followers of God and the goats represent unbelievers.  The verses continue to talk about how you are supposed to feed the hungry, visit a prisoner in prison and cloth those without clothes.

Breaking down the book of Matthew.

If you look Matthew 28:40 “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.”  What does the Bible refer to as brothers in other scriptures?  Lets go back a littler farther in Matthew to chapter 12 and skip forward a little way to Mark 3.

Mark 3:35 “For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”

Matthew 12:48-50 “But he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

After examining multiple books of the Bible, I Believe that Matthew 28:40 refers to brothers in Christ as the threshold for the preceding and proceeding verses.  I believe the judgment that this section of Matthew is referring to is brothers and sisters in Christ refusing to help other brothers and sisters in Christ.

How the Pope is wrong about refugees and Christianity.

After reading several articles on the same story about the Pope, I have come to several conclusions.  Firstly the Pope is correct that we are supposed to help others in need.  But what the Pope does not say that the Bible verses he quoted, were referring to Christians helping Christians.

Secondly, the Pope stated “You cannot be a Christian without practicing the Beatitudes. You cannot be a Christian without doing what Jesus teaches us in Matthew 25,”

Lets look at what it means to be a Christian.  Being a Christian means that you are a follower of Jesus right?  Well if we follow Jesus and do not welcome in refugees then we are not Christians, right?  Wrong.  The Pope is incorrectly telling people that if they do not allow refugees into their country, then they are not Christians.  Nowhere does scripture tell us that there are two thresholds to being a Christian.  You must follow Jesus and allow refugees into your country.  I think that the Pope is using politics to influence his followers by incorrectly stating the truths of the Bible.

 

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