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Friday, March 29, 2024 - 03:51 AM

INDEPENDENT CONSERVATIVE VOICE OF UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

First Published in 1994

INDEPENDENT CONSERVATIVE VOICE OF
UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

I read the newspapers, I watch the news on TV, and what I see is a nation at war. It is not at war against a well defined enemy. It is a war between good and evil, where evil often masquerades as good and tries to portray good as evil. It is a war that the Bible tells us is older than mankind, a war that has its origin with the rebellion of Lucifer, who would supplant God as the ruler of the universe. God will not be supplanted. So, Lucifer, as Satan, wages an on-going battle to win the hearts and souls of men to his cause, which is ever and always rebellion against God.

Some will say that this is but a myth, that there is no such being as Satan. To do so is to also say that there is no such being as God, and is part of Satan's deception in this war he wages through us: for he is the father of lies and the master of deception.

He uses lies and deceptions and half-truths to win men to his purposes. His successes are great, for he knows our weaknesses and plays upon them. Perhaps our greatest weakness is the same as his...pride! It was pride that induced him to challenge God, and it is our pride that leads us to believe we can improve upon God's plan for mankind. It was this pride that Satan played to when he tempted Eve with the lie, "You shall not surely die...your eyes will be opened and you will be like God..." GEN. 3:4-5

Some of the lies that are rampant in our world today: 1. To abort a fetus is not murder. 2. There must be room for all religions. We do not have the right to restrict any religion. 3. There is no absolute right or wrong. Each situation must be viewed in light of the circumstances that surround it. 4. Homosexuality is not wrong or evil. It is simply an alternate lifestyle and we have no right to condemn or restrict it. 5. The real evil in the world today is man's inhumanity to man, including his attempts to force his own sense of morality onto others.

Let's look at item 5 first. There is evil in man's inhumanity to man. The holocaust against the Jews in Hitler's Germany is perhaps the greatest example of this in the history of the world to date. But to try to equate such actions with a society's attempts to preserve and protect its traditional values and ethics against corrosion and subversion is ludicrous. Our nation is noted for its tolerance of diverse views and we pride ourselves on our compassion for the downtrodden. We should not let these virtues become vices by carrying them to illogical extremes. As one of our country songs so aptly puts it, when anything goes, everything's gone. Tolerance, also, must have its limits, and tolerance for evil is a luxury we cannot afford. A reading of the scriptures reveals in no uncertain terms what happens to a nation when it compromises its belief in God.

Item 4. The Bible is explicit in its condemnation of the practice of homosexuality. It also reveals the true nature of homosexuality as being a curse from God, not simply an alternate lifestyle. Why would God bring such a curse upon a people? Take a look at chapter one in the book of Romans, starting at about verse 18 and going through the chapter. Boiled down to its simplest it says that the curse is the result of the sin of unbelief: For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and served the creature rather than the Creator...For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions...men with men committing indecent acts. ROMANS 1:25-27 Leviticus, chapter 18, verse 22 says, you shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination. Also, God's judgment against Sodom is to be an example to future generations. (See Jude 1:7.)

Even for those who may not hold with Christian beliefs, nature should provide sufficient evidence against the practice of homosexuality. It is obvious that the function of sex is procreation. It is nature's way to insure the continuation of the species and it was made pleasurable for that reason. Men with men and women with women just do not fulfill that purpose. Actually, homosexuality carried to its ultimate would insure the death of the species. In this light it can only be seen as an unnatural act and a perversion of nature's design. (It is somewhat of a puzzle to me that not one of the participants I have seen discussing this issue on TV has seen fit to bring up this most obvious point.)

I understand that there is now before the Congress a motion (HR 1430) that would classify homosexuality as a condition covered under the Civil Rights Act. To put homosexuality in the same category as race, age and gender is totally absurd. I suppose the next additions to these categories will be psychopaths and sociopaths. Surely they too deserve protection as true minorities.

While there have been recent attempts to legitimate homosexuality by claiming that it is an inborn trait (as opposed to a lifestyle choice) this has in no way been proved. I remain convinced that it is a matter of choice. A choice perhaps strongly influenced by early environment, but a choice nevertheless.

Item 3 deals with what has come to be known as situation ethics. It is a product of the philosophy of secular humanism, which is perhaps the root from which the other four items (among others) grew. The humanist school of thought does not openly oppose Christianity so much as it attempts to subvert it by presenting man as preeminent in the scheme of things. As the earlier quote from the book of Romans put it “...they worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator.” By placing man at the center of their philosophy, the humanists dethrone God and put man on the throne in His place.

If man is the ultimate, it follows that anything that serves humankind is acceptable. It is also changeable, to fit the whims of whatever faction or fad that happens to be in ascendance at the moment. In other words, the immediate situation is the determining factor as to whether or not something or some action is good or bad.

Anyone who seriously considers such a philosophy may find it appealing for the moment (it permits the free expression of many base instincts,) but must finally reject it because it offers no solid foundation for any kind of permanent ground rules on which to build a lasting social structure. Change the situation and you change the rules. That, as I see it, is precisely the kind of social structure we have within our country (and the world) today.

Item 2 is particularly relevant in today's climate of liberal thought. Our Constitution states, Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;...From this fourteen word clause our justices have determined that our public schools (since they are tax funded and therefore represent the government) may not require nor even permit daily prayer. I'm sure this was not the intent of the founding fathers, but their intent aside, such a decision denies me my right to the free expression of my religion. Our judicial system has decreed that my right to freely express my religion is not as great as my neighbor's right to be protected from exposure to it. This is in direct opposition to the wording of the first amendment quoted above. I can comfortably accept that the government has a right to prohibit schools from requiring student participation in any formalized religious practice, such as prayer, but the courts have gone way beyond this.

The anti-Christian forces in our midst continue their assault. Most recently the Boy Scouts of America has come under fire. This organization, from its founding, has had as one of its major aims the preservation and promulgation of Christian morality and ethics. The Boy Scout oath puts God before country, as well it should. It begins, “On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and to my country...” It now seems as if our country is determined to put everything else before God. Should we wonder that our problems grow more severe with each passing day? The shame is that we Christians have allowed this to happen.

All of our surveys point to the fact that the vast majority of Americans consider themselves to be Christians. Why, then, do we not make our voices heard? Perhaps in present day America it is more comfortable to be a quiet Christian. But if we remain silent we abdicate our responsibility and we yield our position to the enemy. And be sure of this, the enemy is not the Justice Department, it is not the government, it is not even the atheist who presses suit against us. Our enemy is he who has been our enemy since he first tempted Eve in the garden, that old serpent, Satan, who is using his influence to spur on the activists and to render Christian voices mute through fear or apathy. As Christians we must demand our right to defend our faith against whatever assaults are launched against it. We have the power if we have the will.

Item 1 is the topic that is grabbing many of today’s headlines...ABORTIONS, an euphemistic term for murder. What we hear is a demand for our freedom of choice on the one hand and a cry for the right to life on the other. This is one issue on which a lot of Christians are speaking out, although we could and should speak out in far greater numbers. One of the problems is that many people who call themselves Christian are lined up on the side of choice rather than the side of life. (This is to me a paradox I cannot resolve.) If everyone who claims to be a Christian would write a letter opposing abortion to his or her Congressman the issue would be settled very quickly. But if I could just encourage all those Christians who feel as I do, that abortion is murder, to write and let their position be known, I believe it would be enough to turn the tide in favor of life. To continue in silence is to side with the enemy!

To those who demand their right to choose I say this: The choice is yours to abstain from sexual intercourse. If you choose not to do this, you have a number of birth control choices. The choice is yours all the way to conception. At that point the choice has been made and you should accept the consequences of your choosing, something that even Christians do not always enjoy doing, but which our faith obligates us to do. It is that faith, and our adherence to it, that sets us apart from the rest of the world.

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