Looking for Christ in Others

This is the end of my series on the factions in Roth's books. The rest of the series is here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Every person has things & ideals they value. Frankly, we value some things & ideals so much that we not only idolize them but vilify others who dare to value something else more. My friends, this is not a good thing to do!!

In the Divergent world, the five factions clash a lot. If they were in our world, they'd be making social media groups where they agree how awesome they are & how blind the other factions are. If they formed denominations, they'd be questioning the others' salvation.

Let's play out a few scenarios to see how the factions would attack each other:

Abnegation would ask the others how they could be so selfish!
Amity would frown over the divisiveness of that statement.
Candor would own its selfishness and be ready to point out your flaws as well.
Dauntless would scorn their perceived meekness as a sign of a weak character.
Erudite would either be too deep in a book to care about Abnegation's statement or would be utterly outraged when Abnegation suggested that their book fund should be donated to the poor.

Amity would ask why it was necessary to be divided into groups. They would suggest a cookout.
Abnegation would agree...if the factionless (poor) were invited too.
Candor would ask why they should spend time with you, since they don't like you. See the truth hurts.
Dauntless would come for the food and then start competitive games of strength.
Erudite would come if there was a quiet corner to read and skip the small talk. It is logical to eat when it is offered.

Candor would tell you your faults & strengths
Amity would ask Candor why it was so negative & fault-focused. People already know their flaws and need encouragement.
Dauntless would punch Candor for criticizing them.
Abnegation would revive the unconscious Candor.
Erudite would ask Amity why they wanted to live in ignorance, even as a dazed Candor asked why it should hide the truth.

Dauntless would ask why people did not want to know, face, and overcome their fears.
Abnegation would shake their head at the self-centered focus of knowing my fears, facing my fears, and overcoming my fears. If we forget ourselves, won't that erase our fears?
Amity would point out that people's fears do not lead to peace or harmony, but division & hate. In the ideal world, people would overcome their fears, but Amity would struggle with dredging up the worst in people in the process of overcoming fears.
Candor would claim that they do know their fears because they are honest, but they don't face them as thoroughly as Dauntless.
Erudite would ask and see if they could study people in their fear scenarios and write a paper on it.

Erudite would ask why people didn't study or learn more.
Abnegation would tell them that serving the poor is more important than knowledge.
Amity would tell them that living in harmony & peace is more important than knowledge.
Candor would tell them that speaking the truth at all times is how people learn about themselves and others.
Dauntless would show Erudite that they had learned the practical skills: fighting, defending, mastering their fears. What else is needed?

There would be bickering, insults, and fighting if these factions lived in our world. But we fight among ourselves even without factions like Roth's.
"How could someone who values ______ be a Christian?"
"How could someone not value ______ like I do? Don't they read their Bible?"

Now please listen...er read...carefully: everything good, every pure ideal & value, all beauty comes from God. Jesus would not be placed in a faction, political party, or even church denomination because such a narrow, human construct could not contain all of His goodness. So we dismember Jesus. We build walls around our group, effectively cutting off parts of Jesus' nature that don't fit in or mesh well with our beliefs, that make us uncomfortable. To accept all of Jesus is to look for Him everywhere, even in other groups or across the aisle. Then we will be more Christ-like instead of trying to form Jesus in our image.

Then we can say to Abnegation: I see how you strive to be selfless like Jesus. Jesus does value selflessness.
Then we can say to Amity: I see how you surrender your preferences & submit to the group like Jesus submitted to His Father's plan. Jesus does value peace & harmony.
Then we can say to Candor: I see how you strive for honesty because Jesus is the Truth. I see how you speak hard truths like Jesus spoke hard truths to the religious leaders. Jesus does value truth.
Then we can say to Dauntless: I see how you strive to protect the weak like Jesus did. Jesus proclaimed freedom to captives and release to prisoners.
Then we can say to Erudite, I see how you strive to be a good teacher like Jesus..the Good Teacher. I see that knowledge can point us to God. Jesus taught the crowds and His disciples.

Once we can see Jesus' traits in other groups, we can start to pray to be fully Christ-like.
Lord, may I be selfless like you. May I be friendly, peaceful, and harmonious like You. May I be truthful like You. May I be courageous & defend the weak like You. May I seek after You, to know you more.

Once we can do that with fictional divisions, we can look for the real divisions in our world and do the same thing.