"Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." 2 Timothy 4:2-5
And there will come a time. And there has come a time. A time when the church is deaf to cries for help. We give the excuse that God is only about the gospel (Jesus died for our sins), that politics and government are not the Christian's concern. We shoot fiery, passion driven arrows of pride over facebook to anyone who may have the audacity to post about anything that convicts Christians to take political action. I happen to have many wounds resulting from my open political statements on social media sites. Many of these have come from frivolous discussions on issues that were not worthy of the time given them. And there are many I regret. After looking back over so many debates I honestly wonder how I could have been so prideful. Thankfully I have at least gained some wisdom from those debates on how to approach others. But there are still many things I am adamantly convicted of. These things I fully believe need to be discussed, sifted and cautiously approached by Christians. I will not be silent on these things. Prepare yourself for a very harsh post.
On January 26th a few friends and I traveled to San Francisco to attend the West Coast Walk for Life. We attended this event because we found it important to take such a public stance against the genocide happening in our country. I try to do this every year and as a California resident I find it increasingly more important to attend considering the liberal positions of our state government. This year more than 50,000 people walked the worst streets of San Francisco. You can imagine how impressive this is considering the location of the event. I want to apply my faith to every aspect of my life. It may be easy to tie our faith to the pro-life cause. But there are many other aspects of our lives that we easily dismiss as unrelated to our Christian faith.
I post politically controversial things and I am okay with that. I enjoy lively discussions and honing my ability to communicate effectively. I also enjoy giving people things to think about. I hope to encourage Christians to be more motivated in discerning how their faith applies to every decision they make.
Here is an example: What is your position on birth control? This is a widely controversial topic. One that I am a minority on. I fully believe that birth control in 99% of cases directly contests the bible, even within marriage. Society uses them to "plan parenthood", "protect" from unwanted pregnancies or to "protect" from sexually transmitted diseases. The use of birth control ( in any form) is based in an ideology which suggests that pre-marital sex, multiple partners and genocide is perfectly justified. It rejects the position that intimacy between a man and a woman is exclusive to heterosexual married couples. It rejects the position that a fetus is a living child with a beating heart and functioning organs. It rejects the position that multiple sexual partners is morally wrong. Our society uses birth control because they reject the blatant laws of the bible. We are told, in the law, that pre-marital sex and murder are sins.
Here is an example: What is your position on birth control? This is a widely controversial topic. One that I am a minority on. I fully believe that birth control in 99% of cases directly contests the bible, even within marriage. Society uses them to "plan parenthood", "protect" from unwanted pregnancies or to "protect" from sexually transmitted diseases. The use of birth control ( in any form) is based in an ideology which suggests that pre-marital sex, multiple partners and genocide is perfectly justified. It rejects the position that intimacy between a man and a woman is exclusive to heterosexual married couples. It rejects the position that a fetus is a living child with a beating heart and functioning organs. It rejects the position that multiple sexual partners is morally wrong. Our society uses birth control because they reject the blatant laws of the bible. We are told, in the law, that pre-marital sex and murder are sins.
It seems that we are purposely blind to the laws of the bible because we choose to just focus on the gospel. We disconnect the two when they were meant to be known as a whole. Just like 2 Timothy says..."For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables". Are we purposely blind?
It seems that we are not only blind to our biases but we are also blind to the reality of society. We are called to be in the world but not off the world. I feel like those roles are being switched. The evangelical Christian church doesn't preach purity from the pulpit and our youth are being lead by the vulgarity of society. Why? Because the presentation of the Christian faith is not convicting. Society says "If you love this person and it is special then it is ok to give up your virginity to this person". God says that our purity and innocents is a treasure, something to only be shared in a covenant, life-long bond. And to defile the sanctity of marriage is a direct contradiction of God's law.
God is forgiving and does not look more harshly on a woman who is not a virgin at marriage. He is just and loving at the same time. But it is absolutely inexcusable to continue a sexual relationship outside of the realm of marriage because God is forgiving. This is not the law or the gospel. It is inexcusable to abort a baby because it was an accident. When will people take responsibility for their actions? Excuse my confusion. The physiology of such actions seems to be pretty clear. I will stop there.
My point is, when are we finally going to stand up for the bible as a whole? When will we make every aspect of our lives and every decision be determined by our faith? When will conversations about birth control, abortion and pre-marital sex be socially acceptable?
This is a weak spot in my own life. I quake with the thought of being bold in my faith. But I am so thankful that God is working in me to be a stronger and more courageous Christian. I want to be bold enough to approach the young adults around me who are succumbing to the pressure of society. If we truly do call ourselves Christians than we will hold the law and the gospel together as a whole and we will live our lives by the words of wisdom given to us in the scriptures. I know that I need to work on this just as much as my fellow Christians. But for some reason it is easier for me to talk about such sensitive issues, maybe this is a way for God to work through me. I just pray that I don't have feet of clay.
My point is, when are we finally going to stand up for the bible as a whole? When will we make every aspect of our lives and every decision be determined by our faith? When will conversations about birth control, abortion and pre-marital sex be socially acceptable?
This is a weak spot in my own life. I quake with the thought of being bold in my faith. But I am so thankful that God is working in me to be a stronger and more courageous Christian. I want to be bold enough to approach the young adults around me who are succumbing to the pressure of society. If we truly do call ourselves Christians than we will hold the law and the gospel together as a whole and we will live our lives by the words of wisdom given to us in the scriptures. I know that I need to work on this just as much as my fellow Christians. But for some reason it is easier for me to talk about such sensitive issues, maybe this is a way for God to work through me. I just pray that I don't have feet of clay.