This week amid storm and earthquake they unveiled the Dr. Martin Luther King statue in Washington. Although the formal dedication will have to wait, I am wondering if this was the great man's way of looking down on us and sending his approval. Certainly while he was alive, Dr. King sent tremors through our society and turned it upside down. I say our society because I believe Dr. King was not just speaking to Americans about Americans, but to the whole world.
I know that most of my blogs have been critical of Christianity. However, Dr. King was one Christian I wholeheartedly respect. Yes, I have heard what they have said about his private life and I wish that it were not true. But even so, that does not diminish what he stood for.
Dr. King was a Christian who used his faith in a forthright, direct way. When he spoke out on civil rights, it was not to push a hidden agenda. Yes, I am sure he wanted people to come to Christ--as a Baptist minister, how could he not? but that was not what he was about. Yes, he based his message on the Gospel, but as a way of reminding people of what they already professed to believe. That discrimination has no place in the life of a Christian. But even if you aren't Christian or have no religion, discrimination is still wrong. And it is a sin because it denies others a chance to develop their talents.
I wish there were more like Dr. King out there. But unfortunately the American evangelical community has chosen increasingly to act like bullies in the sandbox. They are out to impose their agenda on the rest of us, come hell or high water (and with Hurricane Irene we certainly have had the high water). Some openly speak of throwing out separation of church and state and doing precisely what the Founding Fathers sought most to avoid--establishing a state religion. If that happens, don't think that because you call yourself "Christian" that you will be immune from what follows. Because you will see power struggles like you wouldn't believe. It's happened before. No sooner did the Roman government lift the ban on Christianity and embrace it as their state religion than Christian turned on Christian all in the name of truth until one group was left standing. Don't think it won't happen again.
What particularly distresses me about this sort of thing is the sneaky way they are going about it. They are doing precisely what they accuse the secular humanists of doing, and that is trying to infiltrate any way they can. Because they have God on their side. That excuses everything. They are taking advantage of our freedom to behave just like a bully in a sandbox and then when they get their hands slapped, when they get called on it, they whine about persecution, just like the bully goes whining when he can't get his way. Grow up. We all have to share the sandbox. But if you insist that the sandbox is all yours and nobody else can have a say, that it is your way or the highway, don't be surprised if the rest of us don't want anything to do with what you are selling.
A while back I read "Prisoners of Hope" about the two American missionary women who were captured by the Taliban. I am no friend of the Taliban but I thought they came off as behaving much more honorably than the two women, who deliberately went into a Muslim country intending to evangelize knowing that the penalty for converting from Islam is death, and who repeatedly lied to the people they were putting into danger. No, I'm not witnessing, no, I'm not trying to make you Christian, no, I'm not trying to teach people about Jesus--I just want to show this little movie. Well, they got caught. And because they were Americans, the Taliban went rather easy on them. They were not tortured, they were allowed to keep their Bibles, and in the end they were released. Their converts, on the other hand, were not so lucky. But that is the price you pay when you become a Christian. What really galled me was that these two admitted in the end that they realized that their actions had screwed things up for any future NGO (non-governmental organization) that wished to come to Afghanistan; yet they showed no real remorse. I am sorry but I don't think these women are heroes. I think they are fools who have caused irreparable harm both to the Gospel and to the people they wish to serve, and they should be told that in no uncertain terms. If you have to lie to advance the Truth, then maybe what you are advancing isn't the Truth after all.
I believe in the freedom of the marketplace. While I may not agree with what you are saying, you do have the right to state your case, provided you do it openly, and not sneaking around. Jesus didn't sneak around. He said what he had to say, and he paid the price. Dr. King didn't sneak around. He said what he had to say and he paid the price as well. Where are their successors?
I know that most of my blogs have been critical of Christianity. However, Dr. King was one Christian I wholeheartedly respect. Yes, I have heard what they have said about his private life and I wish that it were not true. But even so, that does not diminish what he stood for.
Dr. King was a Christian who used his faith in a forthright, direct way. When he spoke out on civil rights, it was not to push a hidden agenda. Yes, I am sure he wanted people to come to Christ--as a Baptist minister, how could he not? but that was not what he was about. Yes, he based his message on the Gospel, but as a way of reminding people of what they already professed to believe. That discrimination has no place in the life of a Christian. But even if you aren't Christian or have no religion, discrimination is still wrong. And it is a sin because it denies others a chance to develop their talents.
I wish there were more like Dr. King out there. But unfortunately the American evangelical community has chosen increasingly to act like bullies in the sandbox. They are out to impose their agenda on the rest of us, come hell or high water (and with Hurricane Irene we certainly have had the high water). Some openly speak of throwing out separation of church and state and doing precisely what the Founding Fathers sought most to avoid--establishing a state religion. If that happens, don't think that because you call yourself "Christian" that you will be immune from what follows. Because you will see power struggles like you wouldn't believe. It's happened before. No sooner did the Roman government lift the ban on Christianity and embrace it as their state religion than Christian turned on Christian all in the name of truth until one group was left standing. Don't think it won't happen again.
What particularly distresses me about this sort of thing is the sneaky way they are going about it. They are doing precisely what they accuse the secular humanists of doing, and that is trying to infiltrate any way they can. Because they have God on their side. That excuses everything. They are taking advantage of our freedom to behave just like a bully in a sandbox and then when they get their hands slapped, when they get called on it, they whine about persecution, just like the bully goes whining when he can't get his way. Grow up. We all have to share the sandbox. But if you insist that the sandbox is all yours and nobody else can have a say, that it is your way or the highway, don't be surprised if the rest of us don't want anything to do with what you are selling.
A while back I read "Prisoners of Hope" about the two American missionary women who were captured by the Taliban. I am no friend of the Taliban but I thought they came off as behaving much more honorably than the two women, who deliberately went into a Muslim country intending to evangelize knowing that the penalty for converting from Islam is death, and who repeatedly lied to the people they were putting into danger. No, I'm not witnessing, no, I'm not trying to make you Christian, no, I'm not trying to teach people about Jesus--I just want to show this little movie. Well, they got caught. And because they were Americans, the Taliban went rather easy on them. They were not tortured, they were allowed to keep their Bibles, and in the end they were released. Their converts, on the other hand, were not so lucky. But that is the price you pay when you become a Christian. What really galled me was that these two admitted in the end that they realized that their actions had screwed things up for any future NGO (non-governmental organization) that wished to come to Afghanistan; yet they showed no real remorse. I am sorry but I don't think these women are heroes. I think they are fools who have caused irreparable harm both to the Gospel and to the people they wish to serve, and they should be told that in no uncertain terms. If you have to lie to advance the Truth, then maybe what you are advancing isn't the Truth after all.
I believe in the freedom of the marketplace. While I may not agree with what you are saying, you do have the right to state your case, provided you do it openly, and not sneaking around. Jesus didn't sneak around. He said what he had to say, and he paid the price. Dr. King didn't sneak around. He said what he had to say and he paid the price as well. Where are their successors?
