"Force us" on the Family

Yesterday morning I made a common recurring mistake - I tuned to a "Christian" radio station and heard the day's broadcast of "Focus on the Family." Here's the blurb for the show:

"Issues Update: September 2005 Monday, September 19, 2005

Recent headlines read "Hate crimes bill passes the U.S. House of Representatives" and "California judge's rule that the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional in public schools." Dr. James Dobson and special guests Dr. Ken Hutcherson and Miss Star Parker respond on these assaults on religious liberty. What do times like these call for? For prayer and support of the many Christians in Washington working on pro-family issues.

If you can stand it, listen to the show sometime - it's full of the "Life should be easier for Christians" message - they use words like "assault", "attack" and "culture wars" to describe their justification for condemning the "Liberals" for their attempts to "destroy" religious liberty."

Lord have mercy. I can't find anything in the New Testament that says that any government will EVER support the way of life that Jesus proposed that His disciples should live. The letters of Paul and Peter specifically deal with how we should live in the world that will, generally, not accept us. The fact that, for the most part, western democratic governments like the US and many in Europe go beyond tolerating Christianity is by the pure grace of God. Jesus said that we should rejoice when they persecute us for doing right......that's apparently not good enough for Dobson, Colson, Robertson, and all the other raging self-righteous political opportunists who call themselves Christians.

When I listen to "hate" radio - which very cleverly masks itself under terms like "concern" or "protection of rights" or, my favorite, "Christian action," I hear what a friend calls "them against us."

No one who calls themselves a Christian; a follower of Christ, should realistically expect to have guaranteed "rights" or preferred treatment. The founder of Christianity was brutally beaten and crucified for speaking the truth - as was nearly every prophet in the Old Testament. If they weren't beaten and killed, they were ridiculed and humiliated. Where is the historical and biblical precedent that guarantees that any government will support Christian beliefs?

When Jesus revealed His teachings, i.e. The Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7), He spoke to a society that knew all too well the moral laws of their society and religion- however, He taught a moral standard that was beyond the letter of the law. He turned the moral laws of the society on their ear and advocated a lifestyle that was based on living from the "mind in the heart" (to borrow a term from St. Theophan the Recluse.)

The letters of Paul and Peter are full of guidance and encouragement to the followers of Christ for living in and loving a world that won't accept them. Where does it say that Christianity is to be the socially moral standard for those outside the church?

If salvation is a gift from God, then it naturally follows that the gift can be accepted or rejected. God gives mankind the freedom to make choices - even bad ones!

The Christian life is a chosen way - a decision to be a holy or "called out" nation, living in the world in a different way than those who are not Christians.

The Christian life is about carrying crosses, loving and praying for those that are our enemies.

The Christian life is about condemning our own sins and forgiving those of others.

If Christians go around condemning people and forcing them to believe what they believe - where's the difference?

I used to think that apologetics, or defending the faith, was all about convincing people to believe as I do - but now I understand that it's about strengthening my own faith that others may observe a hopeful and loving attitude in me and ask me about it. (See 1 Peter 3:15 and read it very carefully.)