Humility

We Christians need to be humble. Not "more humble," but humble. Jesus told them that when his disciples asked about which could be the hot shot in his kingdom. He put in their midst a person who was powerless and "simple." Not a government official or a scholar.  A child. The special vote in Ohio on August 8 is a reminder. Christians lost this one. Not Republicans, but Christians. And it's out there for all to see.  We keep looking for the world's approval.

We've done a really poor job on life issues like the right to life, but euthanasia for the sick and elderly is knocking at the door.  You can't wait for Roe v. Wade to collapse after 50 years before you get your local house in order. That sticky problem with the ease our state constitution gets changed has been a problem long before 2023, and both parties use it to their advantage (in 2011 it was a health insurance amendment). The percent of Christians who accept full legality of abortion even at full term is too high.  Twenty-four percent of white, evangelical Christians say abortion should be legal in all or most cases; 60% of white Protestants believe that; 66% of black Protestants. Catholics at least have a church teaching on abortion, which few Protestants do, and yet that is a whopping fifty six percent believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases.   See the Pew report Views about abortion among Christians - Religion in America: U.S. Religious Data, Demographics and Statistics | Pew Research Center  (although its definition may be a bit loose--that is explained in the report). Also see Public Opinion on Abortion | Pew Research Center

Christians are losing out to the world--the golden sex calf. One hundred years ago, Christians beginning with the Anglicans began to accept contraception because the world was doing it; then it was the hormone pill in the 60's and living together without marriage--movie stars and Phil Donahue recommended it; then it was abortion in the 70s and 80s; then same sex marriage, and now the transagenda movement with mutilation and cross sex hormones for children. We're moving quickly to socially accept pedophilia (renamed of course). 

Thoughts on the upcoming vote in Ohio--Matt. 18:1-9

In Sunday School today we were looking at Matthew 18:1-9 and other verses. Christians in Ohio are divided on what to do about Issue 1 on Tuesday. In fact, Christians are downright hostile towards each other on this issue. A look at these verses could speak to that.

First, Jesus sets a small child in their midst when his disciples (who seem to be slow learners) ask about who is the greatest in his Kingdom. Children in the ancient world had no standing unlike today when entire households and several generations will focus their lives and wellbeing around children and grandchildren, lavishing time and wealth on them. Jesus essentially told them to be needy, powerless and marginalized if they truly wanted status in the Kingdom. Think about it. Who is more needy, powerless and marginalized than an unborn child?

Second, Jesus then goes on to use hyperbole in showing what happens to those who would cause one of the little ones (his followers) to stumble. Really graphic and cruel--being drowned with a heavy weight attached to the neck, having limbs chopped off or eyes poked out. Again, in the ancient world, the disabled and blind would not have much social status.

 
Third, although Jesus is not referencing abortion, the cruel suffering depicted in his hyperbole, is real life and anguish for the unborn in the midst of an abortion. Right here in Ohio. Here in America. Limbs cut off and sometimes scissors jabbed into the skull to make the head small enough so the child is "still born," and not alive at birth. Late term abortion is rare in the U.S.--about 10,000 a year--some say less, some say more. That's a small city of dismembered babies!

 
When Dr. Kermit Gosnell was tried a decade ago for murdering babies in late term abortions who could have survived, only a few minutes (13 minutes and 30 seconds for a 58 day trial) of the grisly testimony ever made it to broadcast news. There will be Christians going to the polls on Tuesday who have no idea what they are voting for, enshrining abortion for any reason at any stage of the pregnancy in our Constitution. But even worse, there will be Christians who do know, yet still cling to the lie it's a "woman's right."

Humility is the queen of virtues

“. . . no one seems to know what just happened [decision of Supreme Court on same sex marriage in June 2015]. This wasn’t the legalization of a behavior—for the legal barriers to homosexual conduct were torn down decades ago. The rights to cohabitate, to share insurance benefits, tax status, and even call each other spouse—without discrimination—are hard fought gains that were achieved before last Friday. A new right has not been created, rather the Constitutional right for the rest of us to think and speak our minds, and to hold our own counsel has been severely curtailed. The right to do something impossible can’t be achieved, not by any court, only the right to demand everyone else be supportive of this masked ball, with legal penalties for refusing to join the dance. We’ve only lost the right to object.”

“. . . Christians shouting the word “sin” at something out there have failed to use this most powerful weapon we have by the Holy Spirit to counter forces beyond our human skill or strength. When an obstacle is too high, too strong, too wide for you to go over it, it is best to adopt humility and go under it. If language against a sin that’s been called a blessing can only draw fire and fill you full of verbal bullet holes, then use the stance that saints have long used in more trying circumstances and under worse governments: the language of humility. When saying, “You are sinners!” just won’t do—and I think this is one of those times—then freely speak the truth and say, “We are sinners and have failed God, but we’ve been found by Him and are happy to be new creatures in Christ.”
Humility: Queen of  Virtues

Humility isn't his strength

Or maybe it's just his generation. "By our count there were 38 I's (including two I'ms, but excluding two I's in a quote from Martin Luther King) in President Obama's speech accepting the Nobel Peace Prize." James Taranto, Dec. 10

I receive this honor with deep gratitude and great humility. . . . I cannot argue with those who find these men and women--some known, some obscure to all but those they help--to be far more deserving of this honor than I. . . . I am the Commander-in-Chief. . . . I come here with an acute sense of the costs of armed conflict. . . . I do not bring with me today a definitive solution to the problems of war. . . . I make this statement mindful of what Martin Luther King Jr. said. . . . I am living testimony to the moral force of non-violence. . . . I face the world as it is. . . . I--like any head of state--reserve the right to act unilaterally. . . . I prohibited torture. . . . I ordered the prison at Guantanamo Bay closed. . . . I have reaffirmed America's commitment to abide by the Geneva Conventions.