Offended By What - - By Whom??

From My Perspective - - -

What are the values that guide one in the 21^st Century? What are you living for – and – what would you be willing to die for? In the United States, is the Constitution an archaic artifact that is to be viewed as a museum document, or is in a living legacy by which this nation is to be governed and guided? Whichever conclusion may be drawn, who has the right to make that decision, and what is the objective in nullifying the foundational principles upon which this nation was built?

A news item that received little notice or attention pertained to an action taken by the United States Air Force Academy. Basically, it is summarized in the following note entitled: “Air Force guilty of religious bigotry - bans Scripture in class.” Dated August  9^th, 2009, it states: “Dear Friend, The Air Force has banned a class on the Christian-based ‘Just War Theory’ because the class used verses from the Bible. ’Just War Theory’ has been a part of Western civilization since the days of St. Augustine in the 5th century A.D. It uses the abiding standards of the word of God to help members of the military determine when the use of lethal force against an enemy of this country is morally legitimate and helps them to know how to use that force in a morally just way. The class has been taught for more than two decades at Vandenberg Air Force base, and has been an important source of perspective for those who have their fingers on the missile launchers that protect our liberties. But because of noisy complaints from secular fundamentalists the class has now been shelved, and our military has been robbed of the moral guidance of the Scriptures. Rather than fight for religious liberty, the Air Force meekly suspended the entire class the day the complaint was filed. And so the banning of the Bible in the armed services continues. Donated Bibles were burned in Afghanistan because it might offend Muslims in Afghanistan…It's time for this extinguishing of the lamp of God's word to stop…”

More by coincidence than by moral conscience values, the following has been observed: “For the past four nights we have watched London devastated by young thugs setting fires, looting stores, fighting police and gloating that ‘Now we own the streets.’  David Cameron, the Prime Minister, has taken swift steps to have a large force of policemen who arrested several thousand. He charged that ‘if these rioters are old enough to commit the crime, they are old enough to be tried for their crimes.’  Last night British magistrates (judges) conducted court all night long, processing 100 of the rioters with prompt jail time meted out.  Stunned parents watched as their 14- and 16-year-old sons and daughters, (even a few of them 12 years old) were carted off to jail for  four and six-months sentences.  Too late, they promised that they would try to control their kids better in the future.  Again, on August 11, 2011,  Prime Minister Cameron was cheered in Parliament as he promised that swift justice would be given all these rioters even if the courts had to conduct trials around the clock.”

A Biblical basis for this action – whether or not it is actually known and become the basis for the action, are these words from Ecclesiastes 8:11 (NIV), “When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, the hearts of the people are filled with schemes to do wrong.” The NLT states: “When a crime is not punished, people feel it is safe to do wrong.” In Today’s English Version it is rendered:"Why do people commit crimes so readily?  Because crime is not punished quickly enough"  In a Blog entitled “Feeling Reality”, the writer refers to the seeming desert and the dearth that accompanies it. In the midst of all the compromise and jettisoning of the basic and valid principles in the Word of God, another reality prevails. It appears in Isaiah 43:18-19 where the Lord is speaking to His people, “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”

The Church – such as it is in the 21^st century – ought to be offended rather than complicit. The same is true for the “professing Christian”. The adage that says: "Stand for something or you’ll fall for anything” is an apt description of where we are today.  Consider these things with me!