Saturday, September 13, 2014

Martial Morality

Gardenfire Christian T-shirt This Shirt Is Illegal in 53 Countries-mediumI saw this shirt at Lifeway.  It says (in case the pic didn't turn out...) THIS SHIRT IS ILLEGAL IN 53 COUNTRIES.  It's crazy the way people act.  When Christianity was the reigning religion of choice, people joined together to ban anything and everything that offended their religious views.  Now we have a divided nation, where the only un-Christian thing a person can do and still be jailed for is get married to someone of the same gender.  Abortion is legal, divorce is widely accepted as commonplace...drug usage is treated like attempted - genocide and I don't think a whole lot is mentioned about cannabis in The Bible...although The Bible does say you should not damage the temple of Christ - which supposedly (I haven't read enough of The Bible to verify this) is a heavy way of saying "don't jinx your health"...of course, that's not why "recreational" drugs are illegal...they're illegal because it creates unmotivated, uncaring people and unmotivated, uncaring people are not productive members of society, and by productive members of society I am referring to the notion that if you don't have a job, you are a waste of God's talent because you are not contributing anything to anybody else's interests.  If mental illness were not an excuse for crime, I'm sure I'd be in prison by now.  Thankfully it was detected early in my life, so I didn't bear the responsibility of explaining my case to a jury and a judge.  If I had to explain my circumstance, I don't think I'd do a good job at gaining sympathy from a jury.  People would look at me and they'd see a selfish punk who has no soul.  All the appreciation I should have for hard work, my fellow man, etc.... would be replaced by an aloofness that nobody understands, and would have a red dot hovering on it, until the time came for the jury to pull the trigger with its verdict of "Grow a pair and quit asking for our money". 
Anyway, the law has no interest in God.  The homophobic law of DOMO is not Biblical.  It's justified by little pieces people taken from The Bible, but singling out gays and letting every other sin run rampant in society is not what The Bible says to do.  All sins are equal in the eyes of the lord and all sins are forgiven by Jesus Christ.  Yes, you should repent, and yes you should be grateful enough for God's gift to the point where it's not a constant battle to keep from relapsing.  But judging people's behavior is not spiritually productive.  The quote that says something to the effect of "don't judge 'elsewise you'll be judged" = that means judgement creates judgement.  You may be well off and on your way to Heaven, but do you think it's OK to give rope that you know will be used for suicide?  If bitterness is given, it's going to be taken, and it's not going to help anybody.  Yes, you have every right to be offended by the lack of righteousness in people's lives.  But you biting the sinner's ear off is not the answer.  Jesus will take care of what he can.  And he's a lot more powerful in his methods than some preacher who has it out for gay people.  Perhaps this is a large part of why "This shirt" is illegal in 53 countries.  Obviously, it's more to do with tradition, i.e.: China and the middle east - they have their ways, their own culture, they're proud of it, they don't want it taken over by what they perceive to be outsiders.  But if this list of countries grows, it's not because of tradition - it's because of spiteful folks who use their religion a vehicle for hate coming up against a society that largely has no interest in The Bible.  The Bible, unadulterated, 100% concentrated, does not condone spite.  Yes, you can still go to Heaven despite a bitterness that may remain in your heart, but it won't be any sweeter the taste just b/c you willfully go on defending your spite with "well, he started it...".
  Many churches have their own policies - The Baptists, The Methodists, The Church Of Christ, the Penticostals...none of them have a clear concentrated view and/or acceptance of The Bible.  People say "Christians are...", they have no idea really what they're talking about, because "Christian" means about half a dozen things all depending on who you talk to.  Christian isn't even a Biblical term.  It's what Disciples of Christ got labeled with by onlookers after The New Testament was bound and ready for distribution to all the churches who wanted a copy...

No comments: