Note:The following was first posted in August 2005 on our blog "Church Under Attack".
There is a most disturbing trend today, and that trend is going unnoticed and unchallenged by a great number of people, especially, in the Christian Community at large. It is something that has began slowly, and continues to grow at an alarming rate, and within every community in the United States, Canada, and around the world in general. That trend is called “Political Correctness”(PC), and people have been beguiled into being “PC” at the expense of their own self-respect, and even more disturbing to the point of denying their faith, and even being ashamed of their faith.
An even more alarming trend, is that “PC” has governments from the local, to the state, provincial, and national levels passing laws with the intent of inhibiting, and in most cases prohibiting Christian morals and Law being expressed from the pulpit. If a Catholic priest or Protestant minister gives a sermon in which homosexuality as seen in God's Law is the subject, they can be charged in many places with inciting “hate crimes”(as if perpetrators of hate crimes need inciting), and face fines and/or jail time. If a Christian opposes heterosexual couples living together outside the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony they are seen as repressive, puritanical, and “old fashioned”. Christians opposing abortion are seen as being “invasive of privacy”. Does Freedom of Religion no longer apply in Christian teaching on morality? Does only freedom from religion apply? Sadly, the answer to both questions is... yes.
This trend raises several questions. Why have people, particularly Christian, people remained so deafeningly silent with the passage of these laws? Why are we allowing ourselves to be so blinded by “PC” that we will not see that we are being told to deny GOD in a very open and yet subtle way? Why do we remain silent on these issues? Why do we want to seem “nice”, “progressive”, or “open minded” when these are code terms for denial of God? Why do we use the feeble excuse, that it “doesn't matter because it doesn't affect me”?
When Saint Polycarp of Smyrna, the great Bishop of Smyrna, was martyred, he was asked to deny Christ by the proconsul, and he refused. When threatened with the “wild beasts” by the proconsul his reply was, “Call them then, for we are not accustomed to repent of what is good in order to adopt that which is evil; and it is well for me to be changed from what is evil to what is righteous”. In essence, Polycarp proclaimed himself Christian, and refused to exchange God and Eternal Life for what was absolutely evil and unholy. Where is this Spirit of Faith today? Does it exist? I am afraid it exists in too far small numbers anymore, especially with todays “PC” mentality. It is apparent, that today there would be a very, very few who would and could stand like Saint Polycarp did, like Saint Ignatius of Antioch did, like the Apostles did, and not “repent of what is good in order to adopt that which is evil”.
We have become unwilling, even afraid to call sin just what it is...SIN! We don't do this for the other person, no not at all. We do it for self! Because self has become more important to us than God! We want people to think of us as “nice”, as “kind” and we think only of how we appear to people, when we should be more concerned about how we appear to God! Whenever we say that what God calls sin, is not sin, but, that it is alright, it's OK, then we are denying God and God's Law! When we say what someone else does has no affect on us, we just lied to ourselves, because by saying evil is just, we have called God unjust, and that most assuredly does affect us!
Granted, we are not called to judge, we are not to condemn, because “all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God”. Yet, we ARE called to correct and by not correcting we fail to properly instruct those who falter. We as Christians should place our trust in God who will uphold His Law and those who follow His Law through Christ Jesus and not deny Him by any word from man or man's law.
Luke 17:1-3 He said to his disciples, "Things that cause sin will inevitably occur, but woe to the person through whom they occur. It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.
2 Timothy 2:24-26 A slave of the Lord should not quarrel, but should be gentle with everyone, able to teach, tolerant, correcting opponents with kindness. It may be that God will grant them repentance that leads to knowledge of the truth, and that they may return to their senses out of the devil's snare, where they are entrapped by him, for his will.
1 Peter 3:17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that be the will of God, than for doing evil.
1 Peter 4:14-16 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let no one among you be made to suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as an intriguer. But whoever is made to suffer as a Christian should not be ashamed but glorify God because of the name.
1 Peter 5:8 Be sober and vigilant. Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for (someone) to devour.
Copyright © 2005-2011 Steve Smith. All rights reserved.
