Physician, heal thyself

A recent article from the Pew Research Center outlines a survey that suggests there's a downward trend in the United States of those who are religiously affiliated.  According to the survey over the last ten years there's been a steady decline in the number of people who consider themselves to be Christian, attend any type of church or pray with any regularity.  Many of the pastors I listen to in Colorado on Grace FM will say the church is under attack, that the government is trying to shut them down and believers are being oppressed.  I don't doubt that there are external forces warring against the church.  Certainly Satan is at work trying to destroy all that God has created.  But let's not be deluded into thinking that there's some nameless, faceless phantom out there that is trying to destroy us.  The enemy of the church is far closer to home than we realize.

I think for some they'll look at those survey results and say, "See? We're under attack by people who hate Christians!"  There may be some truth to that but for me, when I look at those results, I can't help but think we, as Christians, are responsible for much of that decline.  Sure, there are outside forces pitted against the church today but I believe our problems are just as much like a cancer as they are an external affliction.  It's a sure sign of a lack of humility to assume all the problems facing the church reside outside of the church.  During one of his sermons, a local pastor said that a recent survey identified church pastors among some of the most untrustworthy, along with lawyers and politicians.  I personally haven't seen this survey but I'll take him at his word.  He saw this as another attack from some outside forces trying to bring down the church.  I find it doubtful that a reputable organization would just create a bogus survey just to attack someone or something, but who knows, I'm sure it's possible.  But surveys typically call out the perceptions of a slice of the population on any given topic.  My question is, if a portion of the US population consider pastors to be untrustworthy, what makes them feel that way?  Wouldn't a self-assessment be in order?  You can't refute survey results unless you have some information that defends your position.  The "nuh uh" defense will never win an argument.  

So let me get the ball rolling with this self-assessment.  Christians will recall that Jesus gave us two commandments.  Just two.  The first, love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.  The second, love your neighbor as yourself.  Sounds simple enough.  Not like the ten found in the Old Testament.  Ah, but that's the catch.  Those Ten Commandments are actually rolled into those two commandments Jesus gave us.  But I digress.  So now we have to ask ourselves, are we living up to those two commandments?  If we're being honest with ourselves the answer should be a resounding "NO!"  Speaking for myself, I fail at both on an epic scale.  Sure, some days are better than others but it's a constant struggle to fully live by those commands.  Now some of you might say I'm off base, that for the most part you do a pretty good job living up to those two commandments but consider this - Does the desire for that promotion supersede our calling to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength?  Does our desire to win an argument take precedence over the command to love our neighbors as ourselves?  When we speak, are we doing so in a loving manner or are we abrasive because, well, "that's just how I am"?  As we plan our lives are we seeking God's endorsement or His guidance?  If it came to being accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict us?  Remember, just calling ourselves "Christians" doesn't necessarily mean we are one.  I can say I'm a loving husband but if I beat my wife then all evidence would point to the contrary.  If you say you're a loving Christian but you blow up your Facebook and Twitter feed with hate speech towards a certain person or group of people, then again, all evidence points to the contrary.  

The decline in the Christian church can be summed up in a single word, hypocrisy.  Sure, I've heard pastors say in response to that claim that we Christians are flawed and are prone to sin and I certainly agree.  But we can't stop there.  We can't just sit there and say yes, we're hypocritical at times and we sin occasionally, as if that's enough for the casual observer to simply overlook.  We have to recognize that this hypocrisy is the greatest indictment against the church and we are all complicit.  We can't just shirk this off as if this is some simple little indiscretion that can be repented over.  We need to own the ramifications coming from this truth.  If we only publicly call out things like so-called government overreach, supposed CRT in grade schools and the like and not say a word about the vile behavior of public figures who proudly claim to be Christian, then WE are the perpetuators of this hypocrisy.  If we publicly speak out against abortion but go radio silent over the oppression and marginalization of an ever increasing population by big business and corrupt politicians, then we are contributing to this hypocrisy.  If we want to be in the habit of commenting on secular issues then we need to be ready to comment on all of them.  Human reasoning will deduce that anything we don't condemn we therefore condone.  So if we aren't speaking out against, say, the bad behavior of so-called Christians then we are actually condoning it.  For example, congressperson from Rifle, Colorado is fond of calling herself a "good Christian mother" but spends the majority of her time on social media spewing hate speech.  Much is said in church over the oppressive demands of having to wear a mask but not a word about the so-called Christian who promotes hate.  This is just one example of the hypocrisy that has lead many to say, "if that's Christianity, I want nothing to do with it."  

As long as we Christians continue to be conditioned to believe that the threat to the church only comes from outside the church, then the more we will continue to contribute to its demise.  As long as we continue to believe we have no ownership in this problem, it'll never be resolved.  Perhaps if we focused more on Jesus, more on how we should love God and love our neighbors and behave as if we do, then we may see an uptick in those survey numbers.  Perhaps we need to spend less time making people afraid of the world and encourage them to stand strong in the power of the Holy Spirit.  There is power in the Word and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it.  If we are truly in the Word then nothing in this crazy world should scare or concern us.  If we are truly in the Word then we'll know that all these things MUST come to pass so railing against them is to rail against the Word.  But if we truly put our trust and faith in Jesus and devote ourselves to loving God and loving our neighbors as ourselves, are we not doing God's will for us? 

Link to the Pew Research Center article:  

https://www.pewforum.org/2021/12/14/about-three-in-ten-u-s-adults-are-now-religiously-unaffiliated/?utm_source=join1440&utm_medium=email&utm_placement=newsletter

Choices...

I know that as Americans our freedoms are emblematic of who we are as Americans.  Freedom of choice is the bedrock of our governing system.  Sure, one can argue that we don't actually have a lot of the freedoms we should but for the most part we are free to choose.  And choose we will.

When it comes to COVID, the vaccine and our personal right to choose I'll admit there's an ugly, authoritarian part of me that says, "to hell with your personal liberties, you WILL get the vaccine."  I know, I know, that's not right and I admit I need to work on my impulsive nature to want people to do the right thing.  My best friend, who's a doctor and Army veteran, reminded me that this really does need to be a matter of choice and I do, ultimately, believe that.  But he is also quite animated when it comes to ignorance, pettiness and selfishness of those who refuse to get vaccinated.  From a medical perspective, there is virtually no reason not to get vaccinated.  In fact there's a social and moral obligation to get vaccinated because this virus affects ALL of us.  

Certainly anything "mandated" contradicts our personal freedoms.  But we all know mandates exist.  You can't drive 80 mph in a school zone, or at least you shouldn't.  And when it comes to vaccine mandates they've been in our schools for decades.  But there really is a dilemma when it comes to the idea of mandates.  For example, most who say a mandate should be in place forcing a woman to bring a pregnancy to term are the same ones that say there should be NO mandate when it comes to the vaccine.  Aren't both mandates technically about saving lives?  I mean one could loosely argue that choosing not to get vaccinated is the same as having an abortion because ultimately someone is going to die.  Yes, a straw man argument, but when you think about it, a woman only aborts a single child.  An asymptomatic carrier can potentially infect and ultimately kill hundreds of people.  This is not an argument for or against abortion but those who are against abortion and against the vaccine can't really defend their positions without contradicting themselves.  Soooo, is this a matter of choosing which lives should be saved and which shouldn't?  If that's the case, who determines that and whoever that might be, what gives them the right to make that determination?  Now we're dabbling in subjective morality and that opens a whole other can of worms.

Perhaps my failure is assuming too much when it comes to the choices of my fellow citizens. Of course real freedom of choice means having the freedom to choose poorly, selfishly, ignorantly, stupidly.  I don't consider myself a smart man but when I see something so incredibly obvious it shocks me to see others who don't, or as I suppose, choose not to see.  One would've thought that the Information Age would usher in another Age of Enlightenment but it's only served to sink our collective ignorance to greater depths.  There is far more false information out there than true.  And given the lazy, self-serving, self-indulgent nature of our citizens, the idea of spending any amount of energy to get to the truth is tantamount to trying to scale Mount Everest with an elephant on your back.  Fears over the vaccine are unfounded, plain and simple.  There's tremendous amount of information to corroborate that.  And for my fellow Christians who think the vaccine is the mark of the beast, for goodness sake go read the Bible.  But most Americans are too willing to accept things they hear on face value rather than taking a couple of minutes, a few mouse clicks, to get to the truth.   

Ultimately we can't assume people will do the right thing.  Getting the vaccine IS the right thing.  Not just for ourselves but for the people around us.  But yes, we are free to choose.  And with the authority to choose comes the responsibility of accepting the consequences of those choices.  That could mean no longer having access to schools, theaters, restaurants, airplanes or any number of public places.  Perhaps that might even mean limited access to health care.  I mean, if you think this virus is no big deal and you don't need a vaccine, then if you get infected with COVID what makes you think you should be entitled to medical care or at least, why should you be prioritized over those with other health conditions?  I know that sounds harsh but I'd prefer not to make it easy for people to be stupid but I guess that's their right.  

I know this is uncomfortable for many to hear but this is the time where we have to think beyond ourselves.  Perhaps we need to go back to the words of John F. Kennedy and, "Ask not what your country can do for you.  Ask what you can do for your country."  But I have to remember that Kennedy was a Democrat and given our current political climate many will say it's a call to socialism.  <insert face palm> Oh well.  I guess when it comes to COVID, we should consider the words of Captain Kirk when it came to the Klingons, "Let them die."  And no, I don't believe that.  

Stewards of Freedom

You hear "freedom isn't free" and typically that's a reference to the fact that the freedoms we enjoy in this country came and continues to come from the sacrifices of those who put themselves in harms way to protect our freedoms, namely the military.  But I think as a nation we've forgotten that the phrase "freedom isn't free" isn't just about military sacrifice but also about our personal responsibilities as citizens of this country.

As I'm fond of saying, "Authority (freedom) and responsibility, you can't have one without the other."  We've all had that run-in with an obnoxious person who bellows, "You can't tell me what to do.  I'm an American and it's my Constitutional right to do (fill in the blank)."  Let's forget the fact that the Constitution doesn't say we can blast our stereos all hours of the night or that we can take up two parking spaces at the grocery store.  But do we have the freedom (authority) to do whatever we want?  Can we go into a crowded theater and yell "FIRE!"  Are we free to drive as fast as we want regardless of the traffic?  Of course not.  Many of you will say, "we have laws against such things."  And you're right, we do.  But have you ever thought to yourself, "why do we need laws telling us how to behave?"  Why indeed.  

It's understood that although they were very specific about freedom of faith, our founding fathers formulated our Constitution and subsequent laws under a Judeo-Christian ethic.  It's a universal standard, not established by any one person or party, but by a greater objective truth.  Over time there have been numerous additions to our laws that govern behavior, whether it's related to how we conduct business or how we conduct ourselves in our neighborhoods.  These laws aren't arbitrary. They all stem from an incident where one person's notion of personal freedom comes in direct conflict with the intent of the existing laws.  You can trace the genealogy of the ordinance "Inoperable vehicles are not authorized to be parked along neighborhood streets" to the command, "Love your neighbor as yourself".  When you think about it, each law that follows the command to "love your neighbor as yourself" is a response to an action by a person who refused to embrace the intent of the original command.  

But it says a lot about us when we look at the laws not in terms of how we should fulfill them but rather how we can get around them.  The Original Laws, as I call them, were put in place to help us see how important it is to put our faith and our neighbors before ourselves.  Unfortunately in today's culture it's quite the opposite.  Today we look at laws not as a means of uniting us to our communities and country but rather as a vehicle to serve ourselves.  We believe that anything that is not specifically forbidden is therefore allowed.  Far too often we hear people say, "there's no law telling me I can't do that."  So when our Constitution grants us freedom of speech without qualifying the word "speech" does that mean all speech?  Does that include knowingly spreading lies or hate filled rhetoric?  Most all of us know deep in our hearts that lying and expressing hate speech is wrong, but are we at the point where we need to document that?  Regardless of where you fall in politics, the unfortunate truth is that these last four years have shown us there is no restriction and no accountability to what someone can say.  The unfortunate truth is that many are enjoying the freedoms of speaking their minds but willfully turning their backs on the responsibility they have for accepting the consequences of their words and actions.  

Today we are seeing individuals being removed from social media for willfully spreading lies and hate speech.  People are protesting about the infringement upon our rights to free speech and expression that have lawyers running circles trying to determine the legalities of these actions with no clear path forward.  Because of our unwillingness to live according to the spirit of our laws, what I suspect we'll see is the emergence of new laws that will govern what and how we can express ourselves which is nothing what our founding fathers had intended.  I hear people complain about government over-reach and the violations against our personal liberties.  We need to understand that the erosion of our personal freedoms in this country is a direct consequence of our own abuses of them, not the workings of some mythical satanic cabal.  The more laws we need to put on the books to govern our behaviors, the more our freedoms will erode away.

We are not sovereigns but rather stewards of freedom.