Friday, January 11, 2013

My recent mental struggle

Recently I've been having some thoughts that keep me up at night. This is not uncommon for me. When I don't know how to resolve something, I can't stop thinking about it. Knowing that God is in control and the King of kings helps, but I also believe He has given me responsibilities on this earth. Let me explain:

The bible can be quite bold and offensive in its teaching. Especially offensive to the American culture that likes to embrace whatever makes you happy. The bible teaches that there is one way, one truth, one life. Not many, one. So my recent struggle has been this: how do I hold to my moral beliefs (which call for action) without seeming like a crazy person? Maybe it's not possible in our culture which has followed Romans to a tee:
"For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools"
How can you reason with someone who wont see reason? But I can't believe that there is no way to reach people. Jesus is sufficient for that.
Or maybe the problem IS the crazy Christian (if you can really call them that) zealots who boycott gay people's funerals and hurl insults at women seeking abortions. These people are absolutely in sin and miss the heart of the gospel and the bible. Yes, abortion is wrong. Yes, it is a sin to practice homosexuality. But is the answer to be hateful and hurtful to people who do those things?? Absolutely not.

So here we are. How can I stand for things I believe and share those things without putting myself in league with the extremists? What keeps me up at night is that I'm not sure that's possible. I mean, a guy (who happens to own a large business) says that he holds to the bible's teaching about marriage and family and the media blows up! They call him anti-gay and immediately put him in the category of bigot. How intolerant of them.

"In Germany they came first for the communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. They came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew...They came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up." If you care about the slaughter of the innocent, then for God's sake, speak up. ~ R.C. Sproul

How???

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