Religious Liberty?

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The majority of the population of the United States is and has always been recognized as predominantly Christian regardless of varied degrees of personal devotion, denomination or separation. Atheists for example hold the smallest majority yet will yell the loudest and threaten to sue anyone who places the Cross of Christ anywhere short of a church including a remote uninhabited mountain ridge they have never been to and have no need or reason to go to. Yet they stand more defiantly against the majority and any visible sign of Christianity than the majority of Christians do in defense of the rights of their faith. This includes Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

Though some do not practice their faith as devoutly as they are called to or may be separated from the practice of their faith, the majority through maturity are returning to their faith of heritage. Christianity in itself without regard to denomination is being attacked yet still some refuse to believe it. Not just by politicians looking to buy support through trinkets like free birth control and such for targeted groups of the population, but now in a deliberate attempt to erode the constitutional rights every faith has always been afforded in the founding of this country until now.

If we Christians do not stand as Christians in this upcoming election, regardless of whether one is currently practicing their faith or not, we will find one day when we seek to return to our religious heritage our Churches have had to return underground. Although I have no intention to try and suggest who an individual should vote for, I do strongly suggest each Christian learns the truth about each candidate and the issues so important to the survival of our society and vote in moral conscience for your family’s future generations. We must stand up for ourselves as the majority we are and with at least the same enthusiasm as those who ignore our constitutional rights.

Otherwise, we have no excuse.

(1 John CH2: v4) “Whoever says, "I know him," but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

Organized Religion - Is it necessary?

In today’s society there is a growing opinion that organized religion is unnecessary. Such people suggest one can follow Jesus using scripture alone and they do not need anyone telling them how to live their faith. does that sound familiar? For some, organized religion is flat out objectionable. People have developed various excuses to justify their personal position to disregard the validity of organized religion but the most common underlying factor is clear. A vast number of people today prefer to do things their own way with a disdain for being told what they should or should not do or how they should do it. They would prefer to live as they "think" with their minds closed and would rather not know the facts or truths to be able to compare and make a knowledgeable choice. After a great deal of discussions and debates, the same can be said for their political and religious position as well.

Consider the opinions of those previously labeled as liberals but who have gone so far beyond liberalism to become permissives. If one were to put aside pride long enough to look into their reasons for being so permissive in their social views they would realize it is not a trait that expresses a respectful “live and let live” attitude as much as it is a “let me live as I want” attitude. But in expressing an excessively permissive position in support of others to the degree of opposing what is by God, nature and science natural to life and purpose, they feel more justified when they can say, “I supported you to do whatever makes you feel good, so you should let me do the same.”

Some who object to the need for organized religion claim to support their opinion by pointing out the number of Christian faiths that exist today suggesting this is their proof that organized religion is nothing more than a means for some to promote their own agenda. The fact is, the massive number of  Christian faiths that exist today is due to those who separated from the one and only organized Christian faith, the Catholic Church, with the opinion they didn't need the organized Church to teach them their faith, they could figure it out themselves. Ironic, isn't it?

What the liberals and permissives haven’t realized yet is that at some point after their permissiveness has taken hold in society it evolves into entitlement, which is now flourishing in our culture. In time, entitlement will circle around and eventually become an infringement on those very people who have been promoting it through their own permissiveness. Once that happens there will no longer be a reasonable argument against that infringement because it was after all “permitted”. Those who were supported by such distorted freedoms through permissiveness will eventually take directly from the resources of the permissives and everyone else. The more permissive one is the closer he or she is to becoming a victim them self. Just as civil laws were established by man in an attempt to protect each person’s individual social rights (also done under the recognition of God), organized religion teaches the spiritual values of morality to protect and preserve our own self respect as well as respect toward others as we would have others respect us.

In a very short period of time, America has achieved greatness as a country founded upon the rights bestowed upon us by God as first attested to in the Declaration of Independence. Rights considered to be unalienable, founded in moral virtues written on the hearts of man by our Creator. Through the efforts and achievements of individual men and women, this country grew strong and became influential in the struggle for freedom throughout the entire world. Organized religion was the governing body of our moral code just as civil rights were advanced in the name of God. These principles enabled each individual the freedom to seek their own financial success. But we are beyond that now. In today’s society Martin Luther King would have been more likely to be scorned and mocked for being Christian or mentioning God than having been successful in the advancement of civil rights. 

We’ve abandoned God, self respect, respect for others and respect for life. We support the unbridled self indulgences of others with absolute indifference in order to justify our own flexibility of options until our excessive permissiveness becomes surrender to social corruption, chaos, and the inevitable collapse of our society. It was our departure from organized religion that led to the vast number of independent Christian religions that exist today and our abandonment of morality over the last fifty years that led to our liberal and permissive mind set today. It would seem more likely at this point that we as a self proclaimed intelligent society should now recognize what our abandonment of God has led us to and ask ourselves when we may return to our organized religion rather than suggesting it unnecessary.

Entitlement

In our current times it seems as though a great many people of all Christian faiths including some Catholics possess the notion of  “entitlement” when it comes to the practice of faith and a sincere relationship with Jesus Christ; entitlement in the sense that one deserves salvation or has already been handed it without any obligation to live according to His teachings. That if we pray other than during Sunday Mass it is a credit to our future failed attempts and if we stop by a Church or attend Mass during the week it allows us to disregard attending Mass on Sunday because we “did our part this week”. We may compliment ourselves at being intelligent beyond any other past civilization possessing advanced knowledge that somehow leaves us believing all we had been taught in the past is “old school”. Sin doesn’t exist, hell is all but out of business and heaven is just waiting for us to knock on the door. Purgatory doesn’t exist because we are pure of soul and God just waves us in when we come before Him. Is this what we believe? Does it make sense? Knowledge has no value without logic. But then, perhaps we have disregarded the value of logic in such matters as well. A library possesses an overabundant wealth of knowledge that is worthless if we do not access it. By the same token, our own knowledge remains worthless if not utilized with common sense.

In reality, there have been many past civilizations that have fed from this wellspring of delusion and many have fallen to collapse as a result. We are not far from it. Today for instance, we find so many people of heterosexual tendencies often who hold no value in marriage for themselves, promoting same sex marriage and even cheerful when they hear of some state that legalizes such a union. At the same time they become so frustrated and puzzled when others oppose it. They stand perplexed at this opposition proudly expressing their supportive position suggesting it is only fair that same sex marriage be legalized and to oppose it is a denial of someone’s “rights”. They refer to the opposition as "homophobic" not realizing it is they who have no sense of what marriage as a covenant truly represents while belittling those who do respect the covenant, its purpose and the sincere commitment that is required to live up to it. Much worse, our court system has become so perverted that it is not uncommon to hear some judge defend same sex marriage or even suggest heterosexual marriage is discriminatory in itself. By what standard of nature, science or God do these people justify their positions? Or is it one more example of “its all good” as long as it doesn’t directly affect the person supporting it? How can we expect other nations to continue to have any respect for us when we no longer exhibit it for ourselves?

When a society goes so far beyond truth that even the standard dictionary publishers have to consider changing the meaning of a definition to fit what society’s devaluation of morality exhibits, serious reflection of “self” has past the point of necessity. What should be questioned is what “right” is being denied? Two people regardless of sexual involvement can enter into numerous forms of contracts legally without sexual preference being an issue. Marriage, regardless of the spin someone may put on it, is only legitimate by God, nature and science, between two members of the opposite sex. The marital commitment has been a loving commitment specific to the union between a man and women often recognized as finalized only after the consummation of the marriage through sexual intimacy. By its standard it has commonly been entered into with consideration to the possibility of procreation and has for thousands of years been acknowledged as a union sealed by God. Anyone can suggest otherwise but this is fact. But for those who boastfully voice their permissiveness by such permissive notions such as same sex marriage and insist such liberal ideas should be recognized as legitimate, I would have to ask by what principle?

Is it natural according to the historic state of the marital union? No! It is incomparable!

Is it natural according to God? No!

Is it legitimate according to the laws of nature? No!

Is it supported in any field of science? No!

In fact, it is a perversion of nature and every other legitimate form of truth. it would be rational for us as the most intelligent form of life on earth to keep in mind that regardless of faith beliefs, virtually every lower form of animal on the planet possesses the basic instinct to know that sexual interchange is intended between male and female within their species.

We have by our own permissiveness developed a society that virtually mirrors the society of Caligula in the first century. Should we be proud of that? History has always referred to the Caligula society as perverted and for 2000 years has labeled Caligula himself a mad man, perverted and insane. By our majority we are a Christian nation in a country built upon moral virtues founded in our belief in God but we no longer fit this description any longer. By our majority we have shown ourselves to be a culture morally deprived and indifferent when it comes to the kind of society we would want history to reflect in us.

By the majority we have abandoned God, self respect and respect toward others yet we are entitled to salvation because Jesus was crucified for the forgiveness of our sins and sin no longer exists. Really? Who among us has the righteousness to determine our having reached a definitive level of salvation? Wasn’t it Paul himself who told us neither he nor we are to determine our own righteousness and God alone can judge our hearts? Does it seem logical that Jesus would succumb to His passion, death, and resurrection to forgive us our past sins so we could become more sinful and perverted than ever before and yet retain our salvation? Or does that sound more like the notion of a defiant child who takes for granted the parent’s expression of loving forgiveness with that firm and final warning to amend our ways? No one is exempt from working out their salvation day by day.

Let us look in the mirror and determine for ourselves exactly who we are trying to convince and what it is we are attempt to justify in our lives. Then let us consider who we are kidding. Then let us pray.