Sunday, December 16, 2012

This Is Going to Sound Insensitive to Some

Captured from the Drudge Report a couple days ago...



Here is a young man, new to the world of professional football. And he's admittedly Christian. Like Tebow. Is his stand as a Christian the reason for all the nastiness being thrown his way? Few, if anyone, are going to come out and admit that such is the case, and I can't say definitively that it IS the case. All I can speak to is what I see, and what I believe.

What I see is a cancer that has metastasized in the bones and deep tissue of our nations soul... a spiritual vacuum. Many will deny that it exists, but that doesn't change the fact--the FACT--that there is a growing disdain (to put it mildly), and a growing hostility for anything and anyone that "pushes" a belief that calls for a separated life; that asks its followers to live holy and separated lives unto God. The accusation is, invariably, that such people are hypocrites because so many of "them" commit sin. But here's the rub. It is impossible to NOT commit sin, and especially for Christians, because they are under far greater spiritual pressure AND attack than are the unsaved. After all, what need do the forces of evil have, truly, of attacking the unsaved? They are already dead-- spiritually speaking. Those who attack Christians for being "holier than thou" and "hypocrites" only demonstrate their ignorance in matters of grace. Those who attack Christians are actually trying to extinguish any light that may shine upon their own lives.

So, the lost have the temerity to mock, decry and defame anyone of, or anything proposed by faith in God, yet they call out to God in grief (as they rightly should) when a young man enters a school and murders twenty-six living souls. They call out to God on the one hand...

...but live as though he doesn't exist on the other.

Jesus said to the religious hypocrites of his day, paraphrasing... 'you claim that had you lived in the time of the prophets you would not have been partakers in their murders; but you proudly claim descent from those same men who murdered the prophets, and even now plot to kill me!' In other words, you play at righteousness by putting on an outward robe, but do nothing in your heart, let alone your consistent actions, to demonstrate there is any validity in your outward claim.

Jesus, then, said, "You who murdered the prophets...," but he could just as easily say today, "you who slaughter the innocent... tens of millions of them and still counting!"

Not a single one of those slain Sandy Hook children are in hell. I know that's small comfort to anyone with a heart, and especially the victim's families. I know it sounds insensitive, but I can't worry about that right now. There's a reason I'm writing this, and that is to point out something most of you have missed. This nation has spent the last several decades pushing God away, especially from our schools. Is it then any wonder that someone, some twenty year old young man, felt the need to walk into a school and murder children?

No... not a single one of those children are absent from the presence of God. That cannot, however, be said of a certainty of any of the adults who also died, even those who shielded the children with their bodies. Jesus said 'wide is the road to destruction, but narrow is the path to salvation, and few there are that find it.' It is my sincerest hope that not a single adult died without Christ, but...

When entire generations grow up within a godless system of education, what can we expect but godlessness? Many are questioning God's love because of what has happened, but few if any are questioning themselves. Take God out of the equation and something will, invariably, fill the vacuum. If we don't train our children up to fear and reverence God, they will grow up to be empty, and eventually bitter. They will look to find something to fill the void. For a few, when that search leaves them emptier still, they will resort to the unthinkable.

We mock those who fear God. And when we deny our children the right to carry Him with them to school, Sandy Hook Elementary is the result. In response to Sandy Hook America won't think to institute a bible reading program into the nation's school curricula. Instead, this nation will seek to deny firearms to its people. It was the gun which killed all those innocent people at Sandy Hook, not the shooter. Instead of teaching our children to fish, we're blindly lashing out and simply giving them a fish to eat... taking away the gun. We haven't taught them how to cope with the hopelessness that is living in a godless vacuum... we haven't taught them how to fish.

We claim to be Christian, but we don't do anything 'Christiany'. We drink, we smoke, we "sleep" around, we steal, we lie, and we kill. We allow abortion to continue unabated for decades. We allow just about every immoral penchant imaginable into our eyes, ears, hearts, minds, and homes. Then we get up on Sunday morning, put on church clothes, listen to the pastor preach for approximately twenty minutes, and think ourselves good Christians for sacrificing our Sunday mornings for the appearance of Godliness. In other words, we white-wash the sepulchers of our bodies without bothering to clean out the dead and rot contained therein.

Men who claim to be holy-- who choose to acknowledge God publicly --are ridiculed and discounted, while others who merely pretend at holiness, hold themselves up as paragons of virtue... all the while standing up for nothing but political parties, and the socials mores they defend.

To fix what is wrong with America would require teaching our students love and reverence God. The students have the ultimate say, of course, as to whether they want God or not, but they need to have a moral compass implanted into their hearts, or at the very least have some directions installed in their minds. Because what we saw at Sandy Hook can be traced directly to a lack of faith in the classroom. It can be traced all the way back to when prayer and the Bible were removed from the classroom.

As Jeremiah Wright was one heard to have said... "America's chickens have come home to roost."

And God help us all.

6 comments:

  1. The accusation is, invariably, that such people are hypocrites because so many of "them" commit sin.

    I disagree with this claim. Everyone knows that no one is without sin, but there is a difference between those who attempt to live a righteous life and those who appear on TV, stand at the pulpit, or hold political office who hold their faith as a badge of honor while they are not just sinning, they are carrying out the vilest behaviors. These are the true hypocrites.

    but he could just as easily say today, "you who slaughter the innocent... tens of millions of them and still counting!"

    I don't believe this was his "original intent."

    No... not a single one of those children are absent from the presence of God. That cannot, however, be said of a certainty of any of the adults who also died, even those who shielded the children with their bodies.

    This is interesting. At what age exactly does this transition occur where people change from innocent to not innocent?

    When entire generations grow up within a godless system of education, what can we expect but godlessness?

    I've never ever heard of an instance where a student wasn't allowed to pray to God in school before a test, before a visit to the vice-principal, heck, before lunch. People seem to want to complain about the lack in parent involvement in their children's education when it comes to math, English, science, and history. Isn't the religious practice and education of the children the duty of the parents and their churches?

    If we don't train our children up to fear and reverence God, they will grow up to be empty, and eventually bitter.

    Yes, but isn't "we" parents and clergy?

    We mock those who fear God. And when we deny our children the right to carry Him with them to school, Sandy Hook Elementary is the result.

    Are we to believe that these children did not carry God with them to school and did not pray to Him as this horrendous act occurred?

    In response to Sandy Hook America won't think to institute a bible reading program into the nation's school curricula.

    And why should they? Would a prayer in the classroom have stopped Adam Lanza from carrying out his insanity?

    they need to have a moral compass implanted into their hearts, or at the very least have some directions installed in their minds

    Why is sex education not the duty of school and religious education is? The average K-12 student is in class 30 hours a week. Why aren't parents and clergy responsible for implanting into their hearts a moral compass the other 138?

    Because what we saw at Sandy Hook can be traced directly to a lack of faith in the classroom.

    This is a ludicrous assumption, Rev. Huckabee.

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  2. Your response is typically simplistic; there is no weight or even thoughtful consideration of anything I wrote. You merely picked out some phrases and objected, without any thought to context whatsoever.

    there is a difference between those who attempt to live a righteous life and those who appear on TV, stand at the pulpit...

    It appears you're attempting to say a couple things here. One, that you equate 'those who appear of TV with the 'bad' sort of religion which, again, is simplistic. and just plain wrong. Second, that it is a bad thing to wear one's faith as a badge of honor while committing sin. As you said, everyone sins, and every sin is vile (by Godly standards)... the world is literally FILLED with hypocrisy! But you take issue with religious hypocrisy while, seemingly, ignoring your own day to day hypocrisies. We can't just point our fingers at anyone else while ignoring the fault in ourselves, not and have any measure of integrity. That too is hypocrisy.

    And this idea that wearing our faith as a badge of honor is a bad thing. I disagree, but only in that when anyone truly sees what they are, and that there is no hope for them outside of God's grace; when they see that it is only by God's grace and the blood of Christ they are clean... I too, despite all my faults and failures, view HIS grace as a badge of honor. Not an honor I deserve, but one I am thankful for and wear, publicly, for all to see and mock when I stumble and fall.

    The world needs to stop looking for men to be perfect. Jimmy Swaggart was, and probably still is viewed as a fake, pretender, hypocrite, what-have-you, but it's not about what Jimmy has done, it's about what Jesus has done. jimmy Swaggart may have fallen from the pulpit in any public, or visual sense, but he has not fallen from God's loving hand. Much as the world may hate a 'fallen' TV evangelist, those people may very well see him in heaven, assuming they make it there themselves.


    I don't believe this was his "original intent."

    Original intent? No one knows who or what the unborn may become. We can't even say what shall become of elementary school students already dreaming big dreams of the future. Only time and a whole sting of choices can say for certain what anyone will become. Can we say, honestly, that another Martin Luther King was not among the 60+ million aborted in America since 1973? But if it's original intent you want, what say you about Leviticus 20:13? or more to the point, what about Luke 17:2?, or Matthew 18:2-10?


    At what age exactly does this transition occur where people change from innocent to not innocent?

    This is, actually, a very good question, though it does make you sound a bit heartless, considering the number of children murdered. No one wants to believe that God is going to view children in the same light as adults. Psychologists know that children do not reach a certain understanding of right and wrong until they have reached to a certain age-- they may know that something is wrong because their parents have told them it's wrong, but they don't necessarily understand why for themselves. Everyone is born into sin; but children, I believe, aren't held liable for the things they do wrong until they have reached that certain age. I do know, however, that even King David believed he'd see his dead newborn son in heaven. As for the millions of aborted children, I can't believe that they have simply vanished, or gone straight to hell, despite the fact that they were conceived in sin. So I must trust God; trust that he has a plan to make things right for them; give them some opportunity to make a choice. But I can't back that up with scripture. It's what I choose to believe.


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  3. I've never ever heard of an instance where a student wasn't allowed to pray to God in school before a test, before a visit to the vice-principal, heck, before lunch...

    Then either you have haven't been paying attention, or you're not read-up on the subject. David Limbaugh has an excellent book which details incidences and cases where these very proscriptions were imposed. And it's only gotten worse since the publication of Limbaugh's book, Persecution..


    Isn't the religious practice and education of the children the duty of the parents and their churches?

    Yes, but is it also the right of schools to thwart, attack, proscribe, and otherwise dismantle the religious eduction the children receive at home and at church? What right do schools have to tell their students they can't sing carols that mention God or Jesus? Or write an essay about their faith in God? Or draw a picture that says 'God Bless..."? None whatsoever, and yet it happens daily. This very moment in fact.


    If we don't train our children up to fear and reverence God, they will grow up to be empty, and eventually bitter.

    To which you replied, 'Isn't this the duty of parents and clergy?'

    Again, how successful can any child be in learning ANYTHING if the moment they leave wherever it is they learned whatever it was they learned, they are mocked or chastised for believing what they learned? Our education systems needs to be "God and Prayer Free Zones"; God and prayer need to be both allowed into the curricula and encouraged by educators.

    Millions of students are literally starving for answers to Life, the Universe, and Everything, and their hunger for knowledge is not confined to those three subjects alone. They want answers that Math, Science, and Language skills can't give them. They need to know Math, Science, and how to communicate effectively, but they also need to know there is something greater than themselves, who loves them, and desires only the very best for them. And, I'll venture to say, learning to communicate effectively can only be enhanced by religious, biblical, instruction.


    And why should they[institute a bible reading program into the nation's school curricula]? Would a prayer in the classroom have stopped Adam Lanza from carrying out his insanity?

    It couldn't have hurt. If God had been in the schools throughout Lanza's school years; if he had been taught that God loved him, it might well have made ALL the difference-- in countless lives across America, but especially to the twenty slain children at Sandy Hook. Our schools today, whether they realize it or not, have fostered a culture of nihilism in our classrooms. Is it any wonder, then, that children today seek out and engage in the destructive forces in themselves, rather than than the constructive forces found in a relationship with God?

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  4. Why aren't parents and clergy responsible for implanting into their hearts a moral compass the other 138?

    They are! But why is it the responsibility of educators to strip it from the hearts minds of their students? Why shouldn't educators reinforce what their parents teach them? With obvious caveats, our education system needs to encourage a belief in God, and an understanding of His definition of right and wrong.

    And if parents didn't bother with a religious education at home at least the students would get some measure of it at school.


    This is a ludicrous assumption, Rev. Huckabee.

    So, with you it's Mike Huckabee, not Swaggart.

    If Prayer and, subsequently, God had not been removed from the classroom in the early sixties, you would be living in a different America today. How you cannot see that is bewildering to me.

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  5. Your response is typically simplistic; there is no weight or even thoughtful consideration of anything I wrote. You merely picked out some phrases and objected, without any thought to context whatsoever.

    I disagree. The gist of your post is that God is banned from public schools and that if he hadn't been, the Sandy Hook massacre might never have happened. I gave this considerable thought, and just as I did with Hucksterbee, I rejected it out of hand.

    I have no problem with believers wearing their faith as a badge of honor. I concede that all people sin. I concede that there is not a minister or priest in the world who has not sinned. I was talking about those preach, take the national stage, take your money, and bugger your sons.

    No one knows who or what the unborn may become.

    True and this is the case regardless of how the unborn remained unborn, even those unborn by God's hand.

    As for the millions of aborted children, I can't believe that they have simply vanished

    And what of those that have not come full term by other reasons?

    David Limbaugh has an excellent book which details incidences and cases where these very proscriptions were imposed.

    There is no proscription against saying a silent prayer before a test or grace before lunch. I did it in school all the time. My grand kids do it today. At public school. The Supreme Court allows students to pray alone or in groups as long as they are not led by teachers or administrators.

    dismantle the religious eduction the children receive at home and at church?

    I don't believe this can be done without the dereliction of parents.

    yet it happens daily.

    There is always a teacher or administrator who will go overboard. It's easy to cherry pick incidents and then imply that such practices are common or the norm.

    they are mocked or chastised for believing what they learned?

    Same answer as above.

    I'll venture to say, learning to communicate effectively can only be enhanced by religious, biblical, instruction.

    Based on what?

    If God had been in the schools throughout Lanza's school years; if he had been taught that God loved him, it might well have made ALL the difference

    You are assuming he didn't go to a parochial school.

    But why is it the responsibility of educators to strip it from the hearts minds of their students?

    See above on cherry picking rare incidents.

    And if parents didn't bother with a religious education at home

    Could be they are non-believers.

    How you cannot see that is bewildering to me.

    It's not a matter of not seeing it. It's a matter of believing that religious instruction is the domain of parents and clergy. And if they do their job, God and prayer will ALWAYS be in the classroom for those of faith. If you want your school to teach religion, it should be YOUR religion so you should send them to private school or home school them.

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  6. This nation is doing its level best to become Europe. And we can see, those of us who know history and can see what is in front of our faces, just how WELL that is working out. Secularism is a religion all its own that leads to a devaluing of life and a loss of freedom and liberty.

    BZ

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