Those are the two words to describe the current attack on religious freedom in this country. Cowardly, wrong, and evil are right in the running as well.
This morning it was again brought to my attention that nobody is as intolerant as those on the left reviling conservative Christians for their intolerance. There was a story published about a business owner who happened to be an ordained Deacon in the Catholic Church. The man teaches at Seminary and holds his belief dear. He has a heart and a soul that follows Christ and trusts in the Bible and the teachings of his church.
This man has protested Obamacare and the requirement that his company fund contraception and abortion drugs. He is not telling his employees that they must follow his spiritual goals. He is not telling them that they must do anything. He is, however, telling the federal government that he doesn’t approve of the money they will force him to spend on items that are outside his faith structure. He is considering closing his business rather than be forced to defile his faith.
And the response I saw was from a man whom I consider to be well educated. He is not stupid. He attends church each week and considers himself to be a Christian. But he is so wrong that it pains me greatly. The title to his Facebook post was “American Taliban.” His gaggle of friends (mostly) jumped in and excoriated the Deacon for his intolerance and willing women into slavery and unwanted pregnancies. Some hoped his business failed. Other less civil thoughts followed on other forums about the same news article.
How did we get to the place in America where a man simply saying, “I’m not going to use my business to fund items that I find morally wrong, I’ll close it instead.” is the equivalent to the Taliban. For those of you that need a recap, the Taliban is the charming group that destroyed all music in Afghanistan, blew up ancient statues in the desert, requires women to be virtual possessions of men, mandated complete body covering for all women, throws acid in the face of school girls, and decapitates people based on their faith alone. I am completely unable to fathom how the Deacon is of this ilk.
Be careful, America. Your soul is in jeopardy. You are dangerously close to the behavior of the ancient Israelites seen in Judges. Go take a read there to see how God reacts to this kind of behavior. You cannot be a Christian and ponder this kind of attack on another believer. Paul had quite a bit to say about that kind of behavior.
And lest you think I’m judging – you’re right. I’m sick to death of being told what a horrible person I am for having beliefs.
Personally I have no urge to wander under another tribe’s dominion and be enslaved. Yet we are perilously close to that in this country.
I debated posting this at all. But as I was standing in a crowd of Christians engaged in worship on Friday night I felt myself drift away from the crowd and spend a few moments of utter clarity on this topic. And here’s my conclusion:
You cannot be a true follower of Jesus Christ and endorse abortion as a right. You can do a lot of things, but killing a child before it is born is beyond the pale. You can have remorse and ask forgiveness for that horrible decision and still be saved. But you can never actively endorse it. You cannot force others of faith to fund it. You cannot claim that they are Taliban for refusing to work on the behalf of those that would.
God has a plan for all of us. Even the unborn. And there is no way in 2013 that you can call a child in the womb anything other than a child. If the argument is that the fetus is “an nonviable tissue mass” then all children fall into that category until about the age of five. Because you aren’t going to find feral children under five. They need our support, love, medical care, feeding, and nurturing from the moment of birth until they can run fast enough to get away. Is killing four year old children good with you? How about kids that are 50 months old. Remove all support and they’re not able to get along. Get the point? If not, I refer you to the New Testament where John reacted in the womb to the news of Christ. Done. Argument over. They’re humans.
And if you want to call me Taliban, drop on by and do it in person. Don’t bother posting something nasty about me. I’d like the opportunity to point out the error of your ways in person. The cowards who destroy fellow Christians by remote control, savage their integrity, and set the dogs of discredit on them are not worthy of my notice unless they have the guts to stand face to face with me and explain how I am the equivalent of Osama Bin Laden. If you can find the passage in the Bible that says you must provide abortions and birth control, I’ll shut my mouth.
We now resume our normal blogging.
