If you have read any of my
blogs, you will see a pattern of my slight contempt for the idea that
we human beings need the government to establish our morals and
ethics. In a resent conversation with those who do not have a like
mind, I have come to realize why.
I am very willing to accept
people as they are. I don't much care what your sin of choice is, or
who you like or don't like. It doesn't matter to me who you love, who
you marry, or what you marry. I equally don't care how many of them
you marry. The simple truth, in my mind, is that it really is none of
my business what you do, and it certainly is not my business to try
to force you not to do it. You see, I do not have to force people to
live according to my opinion of how they should live.
Yes, I do all I can to get
Christians to follow CHRIST. I do not like humanism in the church. I
believe JESUS gave us a perfect plan and modeled for us a perfect
plan. I like that plan. I think it works. So, I try to persuade my
Christian brothers and sisters to put their trust in that plan.
I also try to get them to
embrace unconditional acceptance. I would like to say “unconditional
love", But, I don't think that is possible. It is towards a chosen
few. Not for all. Unconditional acceptance simply means that you
acknowledge you are not perfect and you accept other people who are
not perfect. It seems simple to me, and “there in lies the rub”,
as I am want to say.
Because I can do this. I
can accept homosexuals and racists and haters and people who
discriminate. In fact, I would defend to the death your right to be
that type of person. I think that is really what America should be.
So, for me, it is easy to
see a nation that reflects the very best of the Star Trek universe.
Where all the different people, and all the different cultures and
mating rituals, live together on one planet in tenuous tolerance and
acceptance. But, in my most recent conversation on the subject, I
came to realize that those who want the government to force their
morals and ethics an others, do so out of a need to be right and an
inability to accept that other people do things differently and see
things differently. They have a singular mindset that says they need
to force people to capitulate.
Some of this is out of
pride. They think they know it all and no one can tell them anything.
If you do not live and do as they say, you are wrong. Because they
are always right and you need to accept that and straighten up.
Others do it out of fear.
If we have a society where people are allowed to embrace a different
life style, then people will be influenced to a life style they do
not agree with. So, they fight against those in that lifestyle for
fear their children, or even themselves, will fall victim to the
temptations of something new and different. So they battle hard
against it.
In the end, every one of
the people screaming for government to protect their rights, while
wanting to infringe on the rights of others, do so because they
cannot see themselves as embracing the people they disagree with.
It is sad to think my
Christian brothers and sisters are so afraid that the power of sin
will have greater sway then the power of GOD. It is sad to think that
this mindset has resulted in so many people no longer holding the
church in any type of esteem. Still, here is the fact:
If you completely take GOD
out of the equation, which many Christians and all of the
atheists have, you come down to a very real truth that we humans need
to learn to accept each other. To coexist. You see, the government
cannot do this. The government cannot fix racism, homophobia, or any
of the haters in the nation. Forcing people to accept something only
causes resentment and frustration. I believe that is why racism is so
powerful today. Because people were forced to accept instead of
learning to accept.
This nation cannot be
healed by legislation. It can only be healed by education. Mostly,
it has to be the people. There is no greater asset then a people who
come face to face with their need to change their attitude. When you know you are a sinner, then you can handle being around other sinners.
