Thursday, May 10, 2018

As Christians, Our Job Is Not to Lie Down and Take It.

My Pastor is sometimes at pains to explain that Jesus was not always a "nice guy." Jesus offended all sorts of people all the time, and being both man and God, Jesus knew and understood exactly what he was doing. Indeed, Jesus chose his words carefully, which is to say that he meant to be offensive. He did not suffer fools lightly, particularly when these fools sought to entrap him. Consider what he said to the Sadducees when they wanted to know if it was right to pay taxes to Caesar: Give to Caesar was its Caesar's, and give to God what is Gods. Jesus is making a point here, that Paul later makes more explicit in Romans (and which Jesus' tormentors should have been able to figure out for themselves) that as Christians we are to submit to lawful authorities as these have been appointed by God.

The operative word here is "lawful" with Paul's understanding of the word "lawful" being authorities following the Commandments of God as laid out in the Torah. So what do we do when they are no longer "lawful?"

Well that is the subject today of Kurt Schlichter's article at Townhall.com entitiled "Sigh" No, Being a Christian Does Not Require You to Meekly Submit to Leftist Tyranny. Just one example in the news lately is the Supreme Court case Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado. The Bible seems fairly clear that homosexuality is not in God's plan. And while I don't believe we should be throwing homosexuals  off tall buildings as the Muslims do, at the same time I believe Christians have a right, indeed a duty, to live out their faith in all areas of their lives.

(Incidentally, I should point out that if Masterpiece Cakeshop is decided in favor of Colorado, because homosexual marriage is now the "law of the land," can Bank of America and others be forced to provide financial services for legal gun dealers? For if we make one set of people cater to a legal product against its wishes, how can we deny another legal set of people equal justice?  Its a tangled web the Supremes may be weaving.)

Schlichter:
Now, let’s understand this basic concept – Jesus was not some sort of whiny wimp who refused to confront the establishment and took comfort in his own righteousness while leaving others to do the heavy lifting. Jesus made people angry, because that’s what happens when you defy bad people. Being a Christian does not mean that you have to shrug and let the likes of Hillary Clinton be elected so she and her minions can fire up her anti-faith pogrom against those of us who dare worship God and not the elite she represents. Maybe you didn’t notice, but they do not accept the concept that we have any legitimate interests or rights. They hate us. And, if we are weak and stupid enough to allow them to take power, they will act on their bigotry and prejudices. Baking cakes is only the start.
Schlichter goes on to marvel that people seem not to understand how Christians can vote for Trump, and can applaud when he does something right, which is more often than he does something wrong. But of course, we all knew who Donald Trump was before we voted for him.  But were we going to vote for Hillary?  Not on your life.  And then a funny thing happened.  Trump, despite expectations, seems to have had a genuine change of heart.  It seems that for him, it is no longer about just his ego, but he genuinely loves this country. 
Maybe you are willing to bake a cake before you soil your dainty digits, but I’m not. I’m doing what adults do, making a choice. My choice – and yours – is between A) the imperfect human being who has a nearly perfect record of defending our religious and other liberties, or B) the imperfect human beings who have a nearly perfect record of attacking our religious and other liberties.
Choose one. And not choosing is choosing Option B.
Trump may provoke a whole bunch of “Oh, well, I nevers,” but he’s been there for us. I only supported him after Ted Cruz dropped out, and only because the alternative was worse. But he surprised me. He’s performed beyond my wildest dreams.
Indeed he has. Throughout the Old Testament, God seems to have chosen the least likely individuals to carry out His will. Moses was a murderer, David was a murderer and an adulterer. Paul persecuted the Church before being called by Jesus to be an apostle. I clearly do not know God's will. He seems to have better things to do than confide in me. But looking at history, perhaps God has put Donald Trump in his position to lead us back from the brink of a Leftist takeover.

2 comments:

  1. RE: "He seems to have better things to do than confide in me. But looking at history, perhaps God has put Donald Trump in his position to lead us back from the brink of a Leftist takeover."
    -Nor does He confide in me. I wonder if
    running the entire universe leaves him little time to bother with human foibles like right or left, figuring being made in his image, we, left to our own should be smart enough to sort it out?

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  2. BB, your opinion is as valid as mine, no doubt. Glad you are here.

    Wade

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