Who is not emotionally effected by the Sandusky scandal? I tend to be more of a thinker than a feeler but when I hear of young boys being raped, and people covering it up for years and years for fear of reputation, it brings almost immediate tears to my eyes and I feel physically sick. It is just so awful. It begs the question who could not speak up about something so awful! What in the world would cause someone to keep quiet about something so horrific!? But then the Lord reminds me of all the ways we are so easily shut up about things just as big of a deal. Like sharing the gospel. What those boys endured is horrific. What people will endure in hell, not for a short time, but for all eternity is even more horrific. Yet we can be so easily shut up in telling people. Or like speaking truth in love. Just today my husband got bashed twice on facebook for simply making a comment about something he stands for. Here's the response below. Austin, my husband, is talking about the book 50 shades of grey that is a book about a male stripper. Here's the first paragraph from Plugged In Online telling about the movie: Within the movie's opening minutes, Mike slips naked out of bed (we see him fully from behind) and starts talking with his topless friend, Joanna, about the naked girl passed out on the bed (whose bare backside is also aimed at the lingering camera lens). They both talk about how they enjoyed having sex with her the night before, but neither can come up with her name.  Other people came to Austin's defense and even now are getting a chance to share the gospel with Corey (will you pray?). But it amazes me how just taking a tiny stand causes such a backlash with the intention to shut you up. And relating to the Batman shooting. A handful of our students went to the opening showing last night but at a different theater and are wrestling with evil that was so clearly in their face. Like Tina, one of our student leaders who is super smart and loves Jesus a lot. She wrote this just this morning asking the question of what to do about all the evil in the world. My husband responsed with some thoughts and gets reamed.  I wonder if the men who knew about Sandusky were faced with some of this same opposition about speaking up for what's right. Maybe comments about being judgmental (which isn't calling someone judgmental actually being judgmental since you're judging their heart?) or threats caused them to shut up. Threats kind of like the one that Brad Pitt's mom recently received when she endorsed marriage being a union between one man and one woman. "It's not the criticism, it's the death threats that have apparently scared Brad Pitt's mom into silence after (as we told you last week) she wrote a letter to the editor urging her fellow Missouri Christians to vote for Romney based on shared moral values, including opposition to gay marriage." Brian S. Brown, President of National Organization for Marriage Martyrdom in the Bible is defined not only as loosing your life for the sake of trusting Jesus but also loosing your life for standing for the Word of God, standing for righteousness. What about you? What would it take to shut you up about the issues of righteousness? Or perhaps, what did it take to shut you up? The Lord is able to give you everything you need so that in all things and at all times you will have all you need in order to abound in every good work. 2 Cor. 9:8 Our faith muscle only grows as we use it. Why not take a little step of speaking up for something the Bible says today with gentleness and respect. And if you are opposed, know that you're in a good place since you're in the same boat as Jesus. And just remember to pray for the person opposing you (pray what's the best thing for them, not the get em God type of prayer) and respond with compassion. But don't let opposition shut you up.  Thanks for reading Just Thinkin, why not head on over to my home page. Subscribe to receive occasional (about once a week) posts quietly delivered to your inbox. Take a sec to share?
5 Comments
Oh, wow, Laura, you hit a tender spot! This bothers me a lot, too. At the same time as caustic talk on the media has reached new heights, unmercifully slicing innocent people to bits like sharp-tonged grade-school mean-girls, the unwritten rule in too many places is never to address *wrongdoing.* As you said, "It amazes me how just taking a tiny stand causes such a backlash with the intention to shut you up." I hate to have to say it, but this is true in the church, too, down to the local church. Oh how painfully I have learned this in recent years. And what makes this especially painful is that though we can't expect a depraved world to "get it," we should be able to expect people who call themselves Christians to. But, painful or not, God still calls us to do the right thing.
You make some really good points here. At some point, we need to stand up to the outside world and stand up FOR our beliefs. However, I do think that many times, people take too much out of context and begin being cruel to others. I think your advice to PRAY for those in opposition is the most noteworthy. We cannot force our thoughts and beliefs on anyone, but we can certainly hope that they are given the wisdom to make the right decisions.
My internal compass dictates what I do and say. Still I know when people are not able to really hear and understand me and that can get me quiet. I get tired of Christians complaining about non Christians not understanding spiritual truth. 8/2/2012 12:45:28 am
What an awesome post. Bless you both in the work that you're doing. Leave a Reply. |
