Proposition 8 Is About Choice Not Religion

What I’m about to say wont win me any popularity contests. I consider myself to be a bible believing Christian. What I mean by this that I reached a point in my life where I not only recognized that there was a Holy God but that I was also living a lifestyle that was not according to His desires. I surrendered my life to his lordship and made a choice to shape my life around the principles of the bible and not try to shape the bible to my life choices. It doesn’t mean by any stretch of the imagination that I am a perfect person but it does mean that I strive to conform to the Word of God on a daily basis and not to the patterns of this world.

With that said I stand against gay and lesbian couples being able to be united in marriage. It isn’t because I hate homosexuals because I really don’t and neither do true bible believing evangelical Christians. It is because it is in direct opposition to what the bible teaches. That isn’t to say that God hates homosexuals either. It just means that some people with a political voice in our society value holiness and use the bible as the standard of that holiness. It isn’t religion but a choice to be Holy.

Lots of things have been done in the name of religion and weren’t holy. The crusades were done in the name of religion. So was the Spanish Inquisition. In Salem witch hunts were conducted in the name of religion and let’s not forget that airplanes struck the Twin Towers and the Pentagon at the hands of religious zealots. However, none of those were acts of Holiness or righteousness and were conducted by worshipers of a God that neither I nor any other evangelical Christian worships.

Proposition 8 was upheld in California not because of hatred or religious zealotry but because people made a choice to stand for holiness. Many will make the argument that the bible promotes bigotry and all stand by it preach hate against those who have chosen alternative lifestyles. That just isn’t true. There is only one standard of holiness and it is unchanging. The bible teaches against lying, adultery and murder as well. How come no one is lining up to stand for the liars, adulterers and murders? Is the bible a book of hate because it speaks out against those things as well or is it just because it teaches against a lifestyle that so many people have chosen to live?

Life is all about choices and in my opinion the state of California made the right one.

"But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." Joshua 24:15

Tolerance is so Intolerable

Welcome All!
http://purplemountainmajesties.blogspot.com blog site moves! Whew! How cool is this? Religion and Politics together! "Foul! - You can't mix Church and State!" Ah, but we can! ...we will! It is time to that America mixes more religion into its collective life! If you have kept up with the random and sporadic writings of Captian America, then you will be very interested in the content of this site - as dolphinfan will give you loads of credible debate from the religious view of life. We look to have fun!

Anyway - back to the first couple sentences....we have got to move from our tolerance mentality! It is literally gonna kill us! The end result of tolerance is maniacal intolerance. President Bush spoke to the UN (another sour point in life's many oxymorons) recently and supported the drive to tolerance. Problem is, he doesn't think the way the UN does and the UN doesn't think the way he does. He even referenced God.

Tolerance at base level is "acceptance of beliefs and ideologies, traits, personalities, etc." But taken to the extreme...then you have the inability to reference your beliefs as solely true.

All faiths believe that they have some corner on the market of religion. Two of the most commonly mis-quoted and/or emphasize (or demonized) are Christianity (some Protestant and Catholic groups) and Muslim. Though they may be highlighted as "extreme" ... and in some cases are ... just because their beliefs center around God or Allah being the only way to heaven. Christianity further stresses that belief in Jesus is the Only Way to Heaven.

In essence, one is wrong if you do not believe in their fashion ... including whether or not one is attached to their group. Buddhism, Taoism, Satanism - each have their exclusivities too. But they fade in comparison.

I think you see the problem I emphasize. There is no acceptable way to either of these religious entities to back off their beliefs. At which point, their "members" are "intolerant."

In America, our First Amendment Right is the ability to speak freely. The Fairness Doctrine is just one of many steps being sought to hack away at the great wisdom of our Founding Fathers. Americans United against Church and State - is another entity dedicated at de-unifying America and enforces division (at least for Caucasian or Anglo Saxon [loosely used, in a tongue-n-cheek kind of way] churches). The removable of prayer in school (formalized...cause you know that each test/quiz was proceeded by a silent prayer), the removal of the Ten Commandments, the attacks against Christmas Icons and many other instances are slowly removing this basic right from our society.

It is something we must fight. Seperation of Church and State is a myth, legistlated from the courts from outl-of-context debate. That is why our site is called "Church and State." More on this in the future (read the past too!).

So, put your lights out with your Manger Scene, your Hanukkah Candles and the like...fight for your city to put them up. Otherwise, one day you and I may way up with duct tape on our mouths!

More on the subject...semi-fictionally and set a few years in America's future... Read "Sinner" by Ted Dekker

Welcome To Church And State!

However you stumbled across our blog we are glad you are here and hope that you’ll stay awhile. We can’t promise top notch entertainment or gut busting humor but we’ll offer honest opinions and occasional random thoughts on the political state of our nation and the direct or indirect role religion plays in it.

With degrees in religion (applied ministry and biblical studies) and a minor in political science we are two bloggers who often have strong opinions that don’t always match. So settle in, grab a cup of coffee and enjoy reading. Help out with the conversation by leaving your comments below.