3000-L Participants:
I hesitated to post this for a few reasons. I rarely get to contribute to
the technical discussions because someone else always gets there first, and
that person tends to have much more MPE knowledge than I anyway. Because of
this, I feel I haven't earned the "right" to go off-topic very much, if at
all. Also, I don't relish the idea of people insulting me, either by e-mail
or in person. Considering the recent tone of the list, especially on OT
posts, I have some reluctance to stick my neck out.
Having said that, I must also say that I will be unsubscribing from the OT
posts at the end of next week. I want to say that I very much enjoy the OT
posts. I love a great debate. Unfortunately, I love them too much. I find
it difficult to break away when I should. I therefore have decided I must
stop them altogether, at least temporarily.
Why am I telling you all this? Because there is something I have wanted to
say for a while now. I want to get it in and give you a chance to comment
before I cut myself off from OT posts. So, in a fit of irony, I contribute
to the OT glut I will soon shun. Here goes.
I think the Christians in this country should stop fighting for the Ten
Commandments in public buildings or for prayer at public events. Why?
Several reasons.
I don't think it really is defensible. Yes, it used to happen all the time
and nobody ever objected. That was when we lived in a country that was
largely Christian. I don't believe that is really the case any longer. If
the country was majority Muslim, and city officials wanted to start meetings
with a prayer facing toward Mecca, the Christians in the audience would be
really upset. Someday, if America is majority Muslim, they may try that.
If we were to object, they could say "you did it when you were the majority
and fought for it when we objected". What defense would we have then? I
hear people say that we don't have to stop doing things because a small
minority objects, but is that truly a Christian attitude? In this case,
shouldn't we take more of a "turn the other cheek attitude"?
Second, is it really that important, anyway? Why do we fight for having
Christian prayers at the start of city council meetings or other events? If
we want your leaders to make godly decisions, we should pray for them before
the meeting. If we want football players protected during a game, we should
individually pray for them before it starts. What good is a group prayer if
half the people "praying" aren't believers? "The effectual fervent prayer
of a righteous man availeth much." James 5:16b. One of my friends believes
God wants him to spend the entire church service off in a room praying for
the congregation. Just him by himself.
Third and last, is all of that public Christianity really best in the first
place. I know the first impulse is to say "Of course it is!" but I wonder.
It is so easy and even desirable for people to say they are Christian
because it is so prevalent in our society. What really makes me angry isn't
the Ten Commandments being removed from courthouses. What makes me angry is
people like Britney Spears and Bill Clinton calling themselves Baptists when
they so obviously care nothing about the things of God. I think this hurts
Christianity so much more than not allowing community prayer before a high
school football game. I remember when Bill was first running for president.
A reporter asked him about religious beliefs and Bill said he was Baptist.
The next day a Baptist minister, IIRC, it was the pastor of Bill's church,
went to the press and basically said, "Wait a minute. I want to make sure
everyone understands that the Baptist church does not approve of abortion,
etc, even if Bill says he supports it." Bill wasn't embarrassed, but I
sure would have been.
I think there is soon coming a day when it will hurt to be a Christian in
America. You can see the seeds of future persecution being sown today.
People have posted on this listserver examples of schools that allow
after-school clubs for other religion-oriented groups but forbid the same
privileges for Christian groups. I believe this kind of discrimination will
only get worse, especially for denominations that refuse to accept
homosexuality as allowable. We will be labeled hate-mongers soon enough.
See http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=36602
<http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=36602> This took place in
Britain, but could easily happen here. It seems to me we are freaking out
because we are trying to plug a few holes in the dam with our fingers, but
we don't see the barrels of dynamite that are about ready to blow the whole
dam sky-high very soon. Rather than fight these little fights we can't win
anyway, we should seek God and try to reach our neighbors individually
through neighborly love and compassion. These fights just make us appear
combative and petty. They don't really demonstrate God's love for
individual people. God isn't going to save entire communities because they
pray before a city council meeting. He is going to save individual people
because they individually committed their lives to him. That should be our
focus.
I think I have said enough. Just the ramblings of a man trying to see the
big picture. Feel free to comment, just keep the flame-throwers set on
stun. (Thankfully, Brian Donaldson won't even see this.)
Respectfully yours,
Thomas L Gerken
Systems Administrator
Paramount Health Care
419-887-2112
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