A Bad Guy

Daily writing prompt

If you could be someone else for a day, who would you be, and why?

I can’t see myself enjoying being anyone other than me for a day. If I turned into the other person, I wouldn’t be me. And if I was me, and I stepped into their role, maybe I’d find it quite stressful. Perhaps I could have a little role in the recording studio during the recording of Abbey Road by the Beatles. That might be fun 😀.

I pray for a different country every day, and I’m often reminded of the suffering resulting from awful leaders. So, if I could step into a bad guy’s shoes and end a cruel war or corruption, that would be useful. I won’t mention which bad guy I’m thinking about. He might end up sending agents to poison me. Or maybe he wouldn’t see me as important enough to poison 😀. So here’s my AI bad guy who symbolizes all the real ones.

What I can do is pray. It’s interesting how the Apostle Paul urged the early Christians to pray for leaders. And these leaders were pretty awful. I think Nero was probably in power when Paul wrote his epistles.

1 Timothy 2:1-2
“I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.”

Romans 13:1
“Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”

Roman 13:1 is interesting. I don’t think that the Apostle Paul was necessarily saying that God approves of or endorses those in authority. It’s merely that for now, it’s His will to have them there. Humanity rebelled against God. We made our bed, and we lie on it. And if there’s a coup and someone else takes over, God has permitted that too.

But I think that Paul didn’t want the church to be seen as a sect that initiated rebellion against the government. So, nowadays, if you’re a Christian living in an oppressive country, you’ll want to live for Christ, but you’ll hope that the church will at least be tolerated. But if you’re supportive of nations or factions that are planning to overthrow the government, you’ll be seen as a dangerous sect to be eradicated. In some cases, you might be persecuted simply because you’re suspected of loving your religion more than the nation. But shouldn’t we all love God before anything else anyway? But that doesn’t mean that we’re disloyal.

That sort of thing happened in Europe after the reformation. I’m particularly aware of UK history, where both Protestants and Roman Catholics were executed for their faith. Thankfully, many societies are more tolerant nowadays, but it’s often said that many innocent people are murdered for their faith. I’m reluctant to use the word “martyr” because nowadays it’s sometimes used of terrorists who murder for some religious cause. I’m talking about sweet, innocent people who are persecuted simply for their beliefs.

So I’d want to be one of the bad guys who turned good. You don’t get many of them. People sometimes use Constantine as an example. People debate about how genuine is conversion was, but at least he stopped the Roman persecution of Christians.

Here are a couple of hymns about peace.