Secular Libs
voted God out of their Democrat platform 8 years ago. No more objective moral
standards! They criticize others (Trump
with his sex talk) who have standards but can’t be held to any objective standards
themselves because they hold none. It’s
an interesting strategy. But does it meet reality?
Is anything real? For if there is reality, reality contains
rules and principles. If it contains
rules and principles, there is a reason for science and theology. If nothing’s real, then all bets are off. But if there is a reality, there must be some
objective standards that govern the universe. Where then can they be
found? All the world’s religions say
they are to be found in revelation. At
some place, in some time, in some person, secrets were revealed about how to
behave, how to seek further truth, how to live.
Recent evidence from the emails of
Clinton’s staff and Podesta, shows their scorn for Catholicism and
Evangelicals. That’s a big enough chunk of Christianity to say that this crew
doesn’t think much of Christianity in general.
Or if they do it is just to narrow the scope of their belief like the
guy who says “I’m a Christian because I admire Jesus.” Good luck with that
stategy in the presence of the Living God.
I think God reveals His almighty, all-knowing nature in the
Judeo-Christian scriptures. The absolute
perfection claimed by God quashes any notions of relative one-upsmanship by a
human. This is much like my reaction
would be if one talking cockroach stood up and told me he was a more righteous
roach than the others—so he should be saved. SQUISH!!
As we arrive at the 499th
anniversary of the Reformation (rather arbitrarily set as Oct. 31, 1517) it
might be worthy to note how a terrified monk found grace about 3 years
earlier. Luther read a famous
proclamation by Paul in Romans 1:16 “For
I am not ashamed of the Gospel. It is
the power of God for salvation, to everyone who has faith” Of course Luther
believed this. He was a doctor of
theology and a monk. But it was the
verse after this that mystified him, “For
in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is
written, the righteous shall live by faith.” To Luther, the righteousness (right living,
holiness) of God was a terrible thing to encounter. How could any human stand in the presence of
such a God if God is indeed Just? This is
the same problem, just a differing solution from those who would reject God and
any objective morality. One is
terrorized. The other pretends it doesn’t
exist.
But one night, we think it was in
October of 1514, cold enough that Luther lit a fire in his study, he found the
answer. The catalyst was Ps. 70:1 which
simply expresses a yearning for deliverance by God, “Be pleased, O God, to
deliver me! O Lord, make haste to help me!”
Suddenly Luther saw that God’s terrifying perfection and justice could not
be met by any human attempt. The
morality was too great, too demanding. You
couldn’t even remember enough to confess to cover your sin. But God delivers. And what Romans is saying is that this is
revealed from faith and to it at the same time.
That is, faith (trusting God for deliverance) and trying to act moral
shows us all the more how inadequate we are, yet leaves us clinging to God’s
deliverance all the tighter—“from faith to faith. Thus it is not our righteousness that
fulfills God’s justice but His own. God was so loving He came to deliver the
cockroach humans with His own costly death.
And through faith He hands us
this—“the righteous shall live by faith.”
God, not giving us what we deserve is Mercy. God, giving us what we don’t deserve is
Grace. So it is that Christians, forgiven themselves, tend to be a forgiving
lot. When Trump says he isn’t proud of
his yap, apologizes, even though he tends to still have trouble controlling his
mouth, many of us Evangelicals forgive.
The amoralists, weirdly enough,
often try to claim a higher moral ground.
They want to save the planet from global warming and pollution. They are not racist/sexist/homophobic like
those deplorable Christians. It is as if they want to create their own new 10
commandments. And if they find any sexual
sin by Christian standards, like bragging about your sexual prowess in an
abusive way, they are quick to condemn.
This, despite their own group’s (Bill Clinton, Weiner, Frank, Kennedy
and many others) wild malfeasance which draws no ire. It’s worse than
roaches. At least they all run when the
light is turned on.
What we really do need in this
country is a revival.
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