A Short Rant. Indulge Me.

(note: this is all out of season, copied from an earlier blog of mine around Christmastime a year ago. I just re-read it and liked what I said.)

I heard a snippet of the 'Focus On The Family' radio broadcast this afternoon. Now, I have some respect for Dr. James Dobson. I think he's a good man and a solid authority on parenting. That said, I had to cringe a bit when I heard him recounting an experience he had recently at a department store. Best I could figure, a cashier had the temerity to wish him 'Happy Holidays' when he completed his purchases and I suppose it got his righteous indignation going. According to him, he replied with something like, 'Isn't there a better way to say that? How about Merry Christmas?' Okay. I'm not unaware of the frustrations my fellow believers feel as we watch the apparent marginalization of Christianity in society. It's easy to be aggravated at the climate of political correctness that makes it unfashionable to speak frankly about traditional viewpoints. That's all easily understandable. But let's look at Dr. Dobson's approach...was even a gentle upbraiding of a Lord & Taylor's cashier appropriate? Perhaps the young lady was Jewish. Perhaps she was agnostic, atheist, wiccan, or simply abiding by company policy. What Dr. Dobson seems to be missing is that the world doesn't owe him a 'Merry Christmas'. I'd remind him of our Lord's words in John 15:18...'If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.' This is indicative of the big, overarching problem in the mindset of many believers in this age and in this country. There's no question that a great many of our neighbors who are not Christians look at us as political bullies and crass, insensitive busybodies who just want to be all up in everyone's business. And I tend to agree with them. Look...I doubt anyone is going to ever going to be brought closer to the saving grace and love of Christ by our ham-fisted attempts to hammer this country into the shape that's pleasing to our own morality. It seems to me that the cause of God's kingdom would be better served if we would all tread more lightly and tend to our own spiritual gardens.

Here's what that looks like to me:
> if you don't believe in abortion, don't get one.
> if you don't believe in same-sex marriage, don't marry anyone the same sex as you.
> if you're troubled by Christ being marginalized around Christmastime, then keep Him in the center of your life....see how that might work? Live the life. Walk the walk. Teach your children and love your neighbors and spend less time wringing your hands that unbelievers don't share your moral compass. Remember, brothers and sisters, what James wrote at the end of chapter one of his wonderful letter: 'Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.'