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Thursday, July 3, 2014

SoulFood (3) You are only as free as you are Brave

       In Politically Correct America, it takes a very bold person indeed to state a view that crosses the liberal sensibilities. On the other hand it doesn’t require much courage to “go with the flow.”  Many are rushing to show that they have accepted homosexuality as a normal part of life. Both the news and entertainment media have spent three decades pushing us to adopt what the Bible rejects.
      Burger King now has what they call the Proud Whopper where, in their logo, the last E is replaced with the gay flag. Burger King is celebrating gay pride with a message on its Whopper wrappers. The fast-food chain has a video, showing scenes from San Francisco, where it sells the "Proud Whopper."  When you open it a message inside the wrapper says, "We are all the same inside." I support their right to say what they believe. Freedom of speech should never demand uniformity of ideas.
      Note though that when a company run by Bible believing Christians says that they believe in traditional marriage there are huge pressures towards censorship and much breast beating ire.   You might recall the outrage over comments by Chick-fil-A. People have lost their jobs because they have donated money to causes upholding one man one woman marriages. Nobody at Burger King is worried about their career because they were behind the Proud Whopper.
      So there is a price to be paid for speaking against the trend to force acceptance of a lifestyle that America in the pre 1900s regarded as one of the many expressions of humanity’s fallen state. In a way there is nothing new about finding it expensive to stand firmly in support of what the Bible says. The Braveheart line: “They can take our lives but they cannot take our freedom,” finds an echo in a hymn by Martin Luther: “Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also; the body they may kill, God’s truth abideth still.”
      In the midst of this debate we now come to our country’s birthday celebration.  It is popular for churches to include the Irving Berlin song: “God bless America.”  We will do that this Sunday. However a lady e-mailed me this reminder of how the song starts: “While the storm clouds gather far across the sea (and you will recall the world war setting of the poetry) Let us swear allegiance to a land that's free. Let us all be grateful for a land so fair, as we raise our voices in a solemn prayer….”
      Will we pray God Bless America, well-knowing that the drift away from His laws is now far advanced?  I write this not just with one issue in mind. The desire to redefine marriage is just one expression of liberal America’s shift from the world view of its founders. It was a concept of life that included the word “sin.” Sin is a conscious decision to live opposite to what God’s Word prescribes. In that respect we are indeed: “all the same inside."

       Here’s Jesus on the matter: “Things that make people sin are sure to come, but how terrible it will be for the person who brings them! Suppose people lead one of these little ones to sin. It would be better for those people to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck. So watch what you do.”  All very well, until a time comes when sin is called good. That is a time for bravery. 

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