Pick and Choose...

June 16, 2009

Danielle Joyner Kelley

"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” Exodus 20:2.

Recently I was asked how I felt about the rumors that people are attempting to have the judge in Alabama who put up the “Ten Commandments” disbarred, an issue debated for years, and that Miss California has recently been “dethroned”. While some won’t agree on my arguments on either, I still have them. As harsh as it sounds, we struggle to understand humans and many times can’t figure it out. However, I don’t believe it is because of their complexity; rather it is their stubbornness and simplicity that leaves us confused.

We live our lives based on need and comfort. My reality is that when my body is in the ground there will be only one need I have and it will be the greatest need I have ever known. “Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6.

The bigger problem is that as soon as I say that everyone assumes I am forcing them to have my same needs and comforts. The truth is that people often take things out of context and isolate them to further their own beliefs. This is the “pick and choose” mentality. Even Christians will isolate scripture, and those in the persuasion business, such as activists, attorneys, and political leaders, will isolate historical events to incite others to come to their side.

RESPONSE TO THE ONE SIDE

For example, people who are non-religious frequently cite the fact that people came to this country to escape religious persecution. This is true; however, the reason those facts are being told to you in this context is an attempt to get you to reach the conclusion that those very people were non-religious themselves. To bolster the argument, those people point to the “Separation of Church and State” argument. The conclusion you are to reach? That the founding fathers were non-religious too.

The argument still begs for a conclusion. Why? Because the “Separation of Church and State” argument comes not from the Bill of Rights or the Constitution, but instead comes from what is widely understood as a letter written by Thomas Jefferson regarding the First Amendment. That is right, it is not in the Constitution or Bill of Rights, but that fact is rarely told.

Instead, the argument is made that the founding fathers must have been non-religious or else they would not want a “Separation of Church and State”. What founding fathers? We have one father who wrote the letter from my understanding of history.

The listener starts to become convinced that the person is correct. The truth is that the person arguing took a point out of context, and convinced the listener to buy it hook, line, and sinker. One letter was isolated up against an entire amendment. I can write my view all day long about the Bible, that doesn’t mean that anyone is going to, or should, rewrite the Bible and incorporate my writings.

We cannot isolate things. The law that governs this issue is not a letter, but it is the First Amendment contained in the Bill of Rights. That Amendment states that Congress cannot make a law respecting an establishment of religion nor prohibit the free exercise of religion.

The founding fathers obviously put a barrier in between the government and the church with the First Amendment, and people came here to avoid religious persecution, but that does not mean they were non-religious. Quite the contrary, they were extremely religious, so much so that they did not want the sanctity of religion tainted by the government. I do not want politicians in charge of my church either, depending on who they are, but it should be our choice, not theirs.

Nonetheless, people isolate the argument and run with it. But when you look at the history of the founding fathers, and what was written and said, it becomes clear that this was more of a matter of not having people get killed for sinning against the church, and a lot less about whether or not a state courthouse in Alabama has put up a copy of the “Ten Commandments”.

Today there are lawyers traveling the country looking for cases such as the state courthouse in Alabama. They want to set the precedent of religious freedom. Do not allow yourself to get lost in legal talk, but instead focus on what history really says. The problem is that “Separation of Church and State” and “Freedom of Religion” are not the same. One of them is the law, and the other is not the same as what you are being led to believe. “Respecting an establishment of religion” and “Separation of Church and State” are not the same. Anyone who has studied the First Amendment in a legal context can tell you that. Would the United States Congress have been considered to have passed law establishing a religion if they allowed a judge in a state, not federal, courthouse in Alabama to hang the “Ten Commandments” on a wall?

Those same attorneys know that, but they make sure you do not. They are masterful at blurring the lines. People end up believing that religious freedom is what separated the church and state, and that both are the law. Do not allow yourself to be the fish on the end of that pole.

No matter what the legal pleadings say, people want you to believe “Separation of Church and State” and “Freedom of Religion” are both somehow violated by a copy of the “Ten Commandments” placed in a state courthouse. The truth is that it was not a “Freedom of Religion” issue or the Judge would have won because He has the right to exercise his own “Freedom of Religion”. The government building was the issue remember?

People constantly argue about what they do not want crammed down their throats or what they have to look at. Christians are appalled at the argument, both sides file suits, and whether you are Christian or not, as a taxpayer, you are helping to set a legal precedent over the “Ten Commandments”. The media jumps in and fuels the debate between those who are religious and those who are non-religious.

What else is happening at that moment? The pornography industry is laughing their way to the bank. Everyone works to censor a Biblical principle that tells us to love God, love others, be kind to one another, and in the meantime the real danger escapes out the door.

Personally, I am less worried about something that is in a public building that tells people to “do good things”, and more concerned about what is out there that tells men to rape my child walking home from school. The interpretation of the First Amendment allows pretty much everything these days except messages that incite violence.

Meanwhile the “Ten Commandments” are out, and pornography is still in. Who is paying attention to the founding fathers again? To keep his job, that judge was supposed to deny God and take them down on the basis of the Constitution even though those who wrote the Constitution left God’s name in more places than could be mentioned here. I read the Bible with an understanding of the history and context surrounding it. Even if you read Thomas Jefferson’s letter on “Separation of Church and State” read it in the historical context. That context left God all over and in the Constitution and the government.

Still, with all of that another danger looms. For so long, those lawsuits were filed to advance the argument of tolerance for other beliefs. Those who were arguing for tolerance at that time later become the ones who are intolerant and unwilling to allow someone to practice the same freedoms that they wanted so badly for themselves.

Believe it or not, some attorneys are aware of the danger that prohibiting speech of one side also prohibits the other. There is no other group in my mind more deplorable than the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). However, when the KKK wanted to join the “Adopt a Highway” program in Missouri, which attorneys represented them? The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Most would read that and think it is nuts. The ACLU knows exactly what they were doing. They wanted to make sure that the tolerant message of non-violence and racial equality kept moving forward, and that if they shut up the KKK, they would prohibit their own speech in return. If one side cannot speak, in legal terms, the other will not get to either. What is good for the goose is good for the gander.

No, we should not tolerate violent messages, and religious people are not in a position to. Nowhere in the Holy Bible does it tell me to kill others so I can die and get virgins in return. In fact, I’m pretty sure that God would have me in a sling if I tried to.

When Miss California was asked her belief on marriage and answered, she was crucified by activists, politicians, and the media. No matter how you feel about the issue, it is an example of how the quest for tolerance has led to intolerance. For years champions of the cause to allow marriages for homosexuals preached the need for tolerance and equality. They told their side, but look what happened when someone else told theirs. Although people will argue that her crown was taken away for other reasons, we all know the sequence of timing on that issue, and, as I always say, coincidence just is not that lucky.

That is the problem that many don’t see. When you shut up the other side, you just shut yourself up as well. If you want tolerance make sure you are not asking for tolerance only for your own viewpoint and then intolerance for the one in opposition. That is defined as hypocrisy.

Today, the religious arguments continue, and there is always something new. There is so much hype and discussion of wanting to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance, take “In God We Trust” off of our currency, and not teach anything remotely religious in pubic schools and Darwin rules all, and get the “Ten Commandments” off that courthouse wall because it is “so offensive”. This much I am sure of, you can take God off of and out of everything you want, He is not going away.

No one wants to look crazy, and society tells us that those who advance religion in public are just that. In the popularity realm, people are focusing on the poll of how many people in America are Christian or Jewish and whether we are a Judeo-Christian nation. Don’t talk to me about the poll of people here today living life in America, I have studied history enough to understand the Founding Fathers intentions. Instead, tell me the poll of people on an airplane that is going down in flames who all know they are living their last moments. Are they worried about how they look? That people will think they are crazy? How many of those people believe in God at that moment? Show me those statistics.

Knowing at this moment that there are horrible pornography movies being made, and songs written about raping women and killing people, I wonder why the “Ten Commandments” is considered so offensive. If you asked me what would be offensive for my children to look at, the “Ten Commandments” would probably not be the answer, although the majority of television would be.

Once I asked the question only to hear that it is because our country was based on religious freedom and this violated it. So freedom means the “Ten Commandments” have to come down? Whose freedom? Certainly not the person who wants it up.

Still something is so offensive to people about it that it amazes me. They are not there to tell you that you have to believe in it. If there is something I find offensive and I want to go about telling everyone how offensive it is, eventually I will be told that if it is so offensive then I need to stop looking at it.

The argument grows louder, and politicians start to give in to the pressure. Meanwhile, everyone is left scratching their heads as to what is going on.

If you want to understand the politicians caving on these arguments go back to your playground days. They take one of two forms. No, it is not Republican or Democrat, it is the bully and the peacemaker, and both are equally dangerous. The bully will scare everyone in to leaving him alone, and the peacemaker will sacrifice his own self, family, and beliefs to fit in with the crowd.

Right now children in this country are learning that there are no moral consequences for their actions, and everything is an individual’s choice. You may agree that is what should be taught, but what will you think when your house is broken into by teenagers? If everything is a “choice” and no longer has an effect on others, then are we no longer discussing “peer pressure” in schools?

Then again, schools are only teaching evolution right now, and do apes have morality? I have no idea. Instead of worrying about what children are being taught, people are worried about whether or not they have to say “God” in the Pledge of Allegiance. We worry about the “Ten Commandments” and let the porn industry skyrocket. Talk about morality.

Morality, to me, is understanding good and bad and then choosing the good side. If we are so concerned with taking the “Ten Commandments” out of a courthouse even though they tell us to be kind, and we allow the pornography industry to grow and grow and start to look for children, then I would have to agree that morality has left society. One thing remains though: there will be consequences in the future.

RESPONSE TO THE OTHER SIDE

What the other side fails to realize while blaming their adversary is that we all have a contribution to a problem. If someone keeps hurting you and you keep going back, eventually won’t someone else tell you that you did it to yourself? Even enabling a situation to continue is a problem. There is where many Christians sit still today.

Many Christians have become complacent. Perhaps it is due to the days of the Inquisition and other days gone by where many atrocities were committed in the name of religion. Perhaps it is because history has shown us first hand the danger that comes when the leader of a country, such as Hitler, combines science (natural selection) with religious beliefs in an effort to destroy a segment of the population. People are scared to trust anyone anymore, but we never should have placed all our trust in each other to begin with.

In veering away from history’s examples of extreme Christians, we have become stale. Not until a catastrophic event happens are most of us willing to say the name Jesus Christ, and even then we feel comfortable doing it because everyone else is also.

Many of those advancing Christianity today preach all about love and tolerance, and we should. Absolutely God’s love for His children is where to start the discussion. However, we are not to use those principles to forget the rest of the commands contained in the book we all claim to follow, the Holy Bible. The truth is that Christians don’t want to come under fire either, as the Judge in Alabama did. I’m so glad God does not think that way. If He avoided helping us because He didn’t want to come under fire, then I probably would not know the name Jesus Christ.

Meanwhile, church leaders everywhere are yielding to what is popular and how we need to do a million things other than recognize who we really are. God is an active God. If you are have lost peace in yourself over the fact that you are a Christian and you do not understand why other people want the “Ten Commandments” taken down, who took your peace from you? Many people would say it was those who wanted them taken down. Completely untrue. God tells us to “seek peace” and “pursue” it. “Seek” and “pursue” require action on your part and no one else. Stop letting other people dictate how you feel inside. Proverbs 18:15. Are you working for God or man?

You will hear Christians say that they do not know what to do. The good news is that as Christians we know that our Savior simplified it for us. Which of the commands should you live by? "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." Matthew 22:36.

God tells us to love, but He does not tell us to sit by and endure everything either. “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:19-20.

The judge who wanted to hang the “Ten Commandments” in a courthouse in Alabama was removed from office. He had the guts to do what many of us do not, and being blunt, he was in line with what God said to do. No matter who thinks it was right that he was persecuted because he was wrong in their opinion, remember Jesus told us that people like that judge would be persecuted thousands of years ago. As a Christian, that is what you need to know. The Bible really has predicted so much hasn’t it? That means it is true? As you nod your head “yes” remember if it is all true, then go and make disciples of all nations.

He has given us commands to follow on how to deal with situations like these, and so many people sit around proclaiming His name and expecting everyone else to. Nothing is going to get better until you act.

Without trying to add a stereotype, but it is safe to assume that certain portions of the population have higher percentages of religious people than others as demographics show us, the “Ten Commandments” issue occurred in the State of Alabama. No, it was not California, New York, or Florida, it was the “Bible Belt” itself. Then ask yourself if things are getting better?

Are you going to spend your life worshipping God and planning to meet Him one day only to explain why you had everyone else do your preaching and praying for you? He told you to be active, so get up. Religion is kept out of public schools, every one is scared to mention God, and the side that wants that is the most vocal. You would think it would be the opposite.

BOTH SIDES

Are we becoming more tolerant? A few weeks ago I received a call from a friend whose seven-year-old daughter was caught with her Bible in public school. She wasn’t reading it to anyone or showing it to anyone, but she was reading it herself during a break. It was taken away from her. Not in California, not in New York, not in Florida, but you guessed it, the State of Alabama.

The argument for religious tolerance by those who do not want to have Christianity crammed down their throat really has come full circle hasn’t it? You want to speak your views, you just don’t want me to speak mine. So those who actually practice a religion are prohibited, and those who have decided not to have one are permitted to tell others their side publicly. What was their side again?

That victory is short lived though, as anyone who knows the First Amendment knows that there is not one side without another. People are so ingrained in arguing for something that they cannot see the consequences anymore.

True freedom is not “pick and choose”. The “pick and choose” mentality has resulted in some of the worst political disasters in our history. Look at the “Separate but Equal” doctrine. Was that “pick and choose”? Of course it was, no matter what people said to convince the public that it was “equal”, it picked one side and chose them over the other.

Be yourself. If you are convinced in your heart that you are right, then who are you afraid of?