2101 Truthing Forward Against the Seductions of the Age
Since January, Americans have been witnesses to, in a growing number of seismic shifts in their freedoms to worship, assemble, communicate with others. Their ability to access vital objective information about events, issues, and trends which effect their everyday lives, futures, the futures of loved ones, and their liberties, has entered a campaign of purging which no one could have ever imagined before.
Conservatives, especially conservative Christians as well as those practicing Orthodox and Conservative Judaism, need to start coming to terms with the only two choices they have, actively standing unashamed against the strengthening storm or burrow into their own small worlds to watch while “Rome burns”.
G.K. Chesterton (Writer, Philosopher, Lay Theologian) wrote: “There are an infinity of angles at which one falls, only one at which one stands.”
Abraham Kuyper (Pastor, Philosopher, Dutch Prime Minister) wrote: “When principles that run against your deepest convictions begin to win the day, then battle is you calling and peace has become sin; you must, at the price of dearest peace, lay your convictions bare before friend and enemy, with all the fire of your faith.”
The Psalmist (119: 41-46) put it this way: “May Your favor also come to me, LORD, Your salvation according to Your word; so that I will have an answer for one who taunts me, for I trust in Your word. And do not take the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, for I wait for Your judgments. So I will keep Your Law continually, forever and ever. And I will walk at liberty, for I seek Your precepts. I will also speak of Your testimonies before kings and shall not be ashamed. “
In my opinion, it is a dangerous fallacy in such an age as this, to believe that “good” Christians can simultaneously be responsible citizens while hiding behind the idea that speaking publicly in defense of righteousness and justice is somehow not their divine calling. Such reasoning flies in the face of the entirety of the biblical history of God’s interactions and expectations of His people. For these reasons, I propose to offer, over the next posts, observations of how we can patriotically walk in our faith and fulfill our responsibilities to both God and man.
To set the stage, one thing should be obvious. The highest priority is God’s glory and therefore, I believe, His “reputation” in His creation – the world and the nation we live in. That raises the need for an especially important distinction. It is beyond question that Christians are to obediently accept persecution FOR THEIR FAITH (a mere blip in America in comparison to the Middle East and China). However, our role as bearers of light amid the encroaching darkness and therefore God’s expectation for us to be defenders of righteousness, is completely different. Our tools for bearing light and defending righteousness, and justice, will be my ongoing focus now.