Wednesday, November 17, 2004

Decency?

PREFACE
I generally don't like getting into things like this because its impossible to change anyone's mind (they have to choose to try a different viewpoint and if that rings true with them then they may actually try to think differently) but I'm tired of hearing groups like American Family Assoc (I believe that's the one) espouse non sequiters that they say they found on spiritual beliefs that I hold as firmly as do they.


BODY
Since when did promoting a personal belief system so that it took precedence over other's opinions or desires become not only acceptable but what you have to do if you're conservative. I dare you to find someone more conservative about Biblical interpretation and application than am I. I believe the Bible to be the holy, ispired, infallible word (in its original autographs) of a holy, divine, omnipotent, omniscient, self-extant being and I believe that said being has revealed himself to humans through personal interaction and that book and that any personal experience that contradicts that book must, de facto, be errant and possibly perpetrated by demons. Now put that in your pipe and smoke it. Find someone who believes more strongly in the immutable message of the sinful nature of each example of mankind (e.g. you, me, your mom, your uncle, that guy over there, etc) and the necessity and free gift of a holy and divine sacrifice and I'll eat your hat (that is a metaphor for those who fail to read the Bible and understand that it can be holy, inspired, literal in its didactic teachings and yet still contain both metaphors or historical narratives that include metaphors - just wanted you morons to not fall behind).

Now given that as my personal opinion and the grounds upon which I test conviction in my own life I find it disingenuous that people are offended when I say fuck or not or upset because Saving Private Ryan comes on a "regular" pay channel. Folks, just because a divine being granted each person the capacity to choose to be offensive or compliant with that beings will and you happen to be at a place in your life where you want to "do all things as unto the Lord" doesn't mean that the rest of the 6+ billion people on planet Earth are at the same place. I'm not suggesting that if I screw up and blow out a curseword at Shoneys you don't remind me that I'm in a public place. I'm not suggesting that you don't say, 'Hey, I don't happen to like egregious violence, language or sex." I'm saying that its totaly OK for you to not like it and even to voice your opinion but get a clue -- your opinion is just that. Yours and an Opinion. 6+ billion other people have theirs and some lady in China doesn't even understand why you might find something offensive. It's not that its "right" or "wrong". Its that you live in a litigious society that happens to be turning to where its more publically acceptable to put social pressure on someone to conform to your belief system even if they don't happen to agree with it. Grow up. Turn the TV. Heck, turn it off for that matter. Some things happen from time-to-time in life that are bad and during those times of stress (like World War II) some young guys around the ages of 20-25 might have cursed or screamed out in anger at God while their buddy's guts lay glistening in the sunlight. You or I probably don't even have enough idea what that's like to form an opinion. Remember that a documentary is designed with the purpose of presenting a view of some historical event, period, occurrence or person and you ought to be open minded enough to take the good with the bad. If you don't want to see it or even have it on in your home then I'll stand right behind you and even take up a gun to defend your right to not have to see it. I'm all for you to choose your own path. I'll expect that if I want to see it as an historical reminder of a time that is painful and levied on the people who lived through it a weight that I believe they would all have gladly passed to some other generation, then I expect as American's you will support my right to see such an historically accurate (according to people who lived through those events) depiction. I expect that as grown ups you won't go running to the hall monitor and decry that someone has exercised his (A) God granted right to do something that you would not personally choose to do and (B) a right recognized and provided for by the Constitution. Sure, it was on one of the "lower channels" and seeing Saving Private Ryan on one of the major networks may not be explicitly granted as a right in the Constitution but removing the opportunity to see a work that has historical merit from people who can afford or can only get those channels is outrageous and an egregious exercise in your personal belief system and how you may try to strongarm others into doing things to which you choose to subscribe.


CONCLUSION
In closing I'll ask this. When I was studying Bible at Wm. Jennings Bryan College and I was going door-to-door asking if the person who answered the door believed that it was possible to know with any certainty what would happen to them after they died, where were you? Were you taking drugs? Were you having illicit sex? Were you lying under oath? What little peccadillos were you indulging in? See everyone has times where they are closer to realizing holiness and righteousness in their own lives. Don't confuse social and political fervor for George W Bush or your church with true zeal for holiness or righteousness. You owe yourself and God more honesty than that. Have you convictions. Share them; just don't shove them down anyone else's throat. God didn't do it to you and you have no mandate from Him to do that to anyone else.



Caveat for those who have read this far

Consider Judges 21:25
"In those days there was no king in Isreal; everyone did what was right in his own eyes." (NASB)

I don't suggest that you should water down your own convictions or that anyone should do "what they feel." That verse is, in my opinion, a condemnation of the Israelites and one of the examples that God gives of just how depraved human nature is; it is just one of the examples in the Bible of why we need more structure from a being who is holy in his essence rather than from other flawed humans. I do suggest that you accept that your job in this life is to be the best steward of the time given you and to "bear witness." You are not commanded to win souls, you are commanded to assume a present position of "going" and in so doing, make disciples (look it up in the Greek).


Kevin

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