8 But what does it say? "THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART"--that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, 9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
Should we be making such a fuss about gay marriage support? Should Christian leaders be so ready to give their opinions on the matter? Don't we serve God and should'nt we represent His position instead of our own? In fact, so much time and media space is spent decrying the shift to embrace homosexuality that all sorts of Christian churches and organizations are really speaking out and giving their two cents about it. Political leaders who call themselves conservative republicans are railing against it, saying it will completely disintegrate society as we know it. Christian leaders are saying many things about it, but I haven't heard much in the way of quoting actual scripture as much as diatribes against it.
But, we must be honest in our dialogue of the issue. Let's start by being honest. America is not now, nor has it ever been Christian. A biblical standard for being a Christian is a confession and a belief. The Constitution in no way expresses a confession of Jesus Christ, nor a requirement of its citizens to believe in Him as a requisite to live here. While some of the founders of the country were deists, it's difficult to find information regarding their true belief system. In fact, they specifically made it a law that anyone can practice anything they want and that the government could not interfere or limit their rights in any way whatsoever.
So, at the country's founding slavery and demoralization of the Native American were flying in the face of this being a Christian nation. Fast forward a hundred years and there actually had to be a bloody, ugly war to fight for a people group to stop being treated like animals. There were professing Christians on both sides. That's sickening. To further denigrate the religion, the Christian right were either hush hush or opposed to integration during the Civil Rights Movement. In fact, many of them stepped into pulpits and made the same remarks then that they make now about gay marriage. They wanted MLK to slow down and stop his work. In the 50's when dating began to take hold and in the 60's when drugs and sex were so common it shocked even the unbeliever's conscience, they may have said something, but their objections were not well - noted.
In America and the church it's more likely a couple will divorce than stay together. Abortion rates have grown higher and higher, especially in the African-American community. Many of those getting abortions have been sitting right there in the pews. Between the print and screen media and the music of pop culture it's difficult to find messages that don't promote hyper-sexual behavior, violence, materialism, idolatry, or vanity. That has always been the case. Capitalism has become pure greed with the wealthiest Americans making 180 % more than the average American citizen. And now, no one has to come here to terrorize America, we're just fine terrorizing each other with the highest rate of murder in a developed nation to boot.
This country has continuously been at war somewhere in the world, including the war on drugs, since its inception. Try preaching Jesus to people while you step on their necks. There has been no limit to the amount of debauchery, lasciviousness, hatred, idolatry, covetousness, vanity, lewdness, and all out lack of integrity since the country began and all of sudden it's the most popular thing to stand up and say "America doesn't look the same anymore." Well, how did it look before? Could you really say that Christian values were ever truly America's values?
Disenfranchisement, respecter of persons, racism, violence, and full on sexual immorality in every way imaginable. It is hypocrisy to now come out and say we are losing our Christian identity. If God spat I believe He would spit at the notion. This country is not now, nor has it ever been Christian, unless by Christian you mean a walking contradiction of itself.
I love living here because of the diversity, but I hate that there is still a great deal of racism. I love that there are so many ways to increase your monetary worth, but that if you don't have money people here don't value your true worth. I love that we're free to practice whatever religion we want and that we can speak whatever truth we want to proclaim, but that the same freedom causes people to be evil and hurt each other. I love that millions of people pledge to be one Nation under God, but that very few of us truly submit and abide to life "under" His authority.
What real Christians, not politicians looking to get a few more votes, or those seeking more popularity or favor with men or more money, but those strong and sincere in their faith to God, need to do is pray and fast. If those who claimed to be Christians were to live a life that the Bible says is pleasing to Him, we wouldn't have the aforementioned societal ills. We'd have utopia.
Should we be making such a fuss about gay marriage support? Should Christian leaders be so ready to give their opinions on the matter? Don't we serve God and should'nt we represent His position instead of our own? In fact, so much time and media space is spent decrying the shift to embrace homosexuality that all sorts of Christian churches and organizations are really speaking out and giving their two cents about it. Political leaders who call themselves conservative republicans are railing against it, saying it will completely disintegrate society as we know it. Christian leaders are saying many things about it, but I haven't heard much in the way of quoting actual scripture as much as diatribes against it.
But, we must be honest in our dialogue of the issue. Let's start by being honest. America is not now, nor has it ever been Christian. A biblical standard for being a Christian is a confession and a belief. The Constitution in no way expresses a confession of Jesus Christ, nor a requirement of its citizens to believe in Him as a requisite to live here. While some of the founders of the country were deists, it's difficult to find information regarding their true belief system. In fact, they specifically made it a law that anyone can practice anything they want and that the government could not interfere or limit their rights in any way whatsoever.
So, at the country's founding slavery and demoralization of the Native American were flying in the face of this being a Christian nation. Fast forward a hundred years and there actually had to be a bloody, ugly war to fight for a people group to stop being treated like animals. There were professing Christians on both sides. That's sickening. To further denigrate the religion, the Christian right were either hush hush or opposed to integration during the Civil Rights Movement. In fact, many of them stepped into pulpits and made the same remarks then that they make now about gay marriage. They wanted MLK to slow down and stop his work. In the 50's when dating began to take hold and in the 60's when drugs and sex were so common it shocked even the unbeliever's conscience, they may have said something, but their objections were not well - noted.
In America and the church it's more likely a couple will divorce than stay together. Abortion rates have grown higher and higher, especially in the African-American community. Many of those getting abortions have been sitting right there in the pews. Between the print and screen media and the music of pop culture it's difficult to find messages that don't promote hyper-sexual behavior, violence, materialism, idolatry, or vanity. That has always been the case. Capitalism has become pure greed with the wealthiest Americans making 180 % more than the average American citizen. And now, no one has to come here to terrorize America, we're just fine terrorizing each other with the highest rate of murder in a developed nation to boot.
This country has continuously been at war somewhere in the world, including the war on drugs, since its inception. Try preaching Jesus to people while you step on their necks. There has been no limit to the amount of debauchery, lasciviousness, hatred, idolatry, covetousness, vanity, lewdness, and all out lack of integrity since the country began and all of sudden it's the most popular thing to stand up and say "America doesn't look the same anymore." Well, how did it look before? Could you really say that Christian values were ever truly America's values?
Disenfranchisement, respecter of persons, racism, violence, and full on sexual immorality in every way imaginable. It is hypocrisy to now come out and say we are losing our Christian identity. If God spat I believe He would spit at the notion. This country is not now, nor has it ever been Christian, unless by Christian you mean a walking contradiction of itself.
I love living here because of the diversity, but I hate that there is still a great deal of racism. I love that there are so many ways to increase your monetary worth, but that if you don't have money people here don't value your true worth. I love that we're free to practice whatever religion we want and that we can speak whatever truth we want to proclaim, but that the same freedom causes people to be evil and hurt each other. I love that millions of people pledge to be one Nation under God, but that very few of us truly submit and abide to life "under" His authority.
What real Christians, not politicians looking to get a few more votes, or those seeking more popularity or favor with men or more money, but those strong and sincere in their faith to God, need to do is pray and fast. If those who claimed to be Christians were to live a life that the Bible says is pleasing to Him, we wouldn't have the aforementioned societal ills. We'd have utopia.
