Justification
November 12, 2023
In the mid seventies, I wrote several opinions in the Island Dispatch. Without my permission, the paper put a box enclosing them with “advertisement” around the box several times. If they had written “opinion,” or if they had just talked to me about why they did it, I would have continued to pay for the space. I wasn’t selling anything, no “quid pro quo,” unless you are of the understanding the concept is that when someone offers their opinion about anything, they are trying to “sell” you on their idea, that is, to convince another person to agree on whatever idea they are “selling.”
In that sense, everybody is trying to sell somebody something, sometimes.
Nevertheless, my purpose now, some fifty years later, is to show that even though events change, my opinion based on my understanding of Jesus, God, and the Bible have moved very little. What that is going to prove, I am not sure, maybe that Being a Christian is a process, not a stagnant position, not just treading water, but notwithstanding that, I am going to transpose (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/transpose) my early essays with some bracketed edits… I hope you’re in the market…
Regarding Anita Bryant, I wrote that while speaking publicly about her beliefs, she was hit in the face by a person representing his homosexual church. I am sure many people chuckled at her calamity. But she was trying to represent her Christian church, and she was presumably sharing her understanding of God as revealed in the Bible. She obviously felt directed by Jesus to share her testimony.
However, while sharing in a public forum, she was opposed by physical aggression with a pie stuffed in her face. So, even fifty years ago, we can see an example of the dissolution of the image of a peaceful American culture… Of course, one could point out the fact that American culture has been violent from its outset. Genocide of the peoples already living here; people imported as slaves; a Civil War; Labor wars (where U.S. soldiers were ordered to machine gun Coal Miners with their families, in their tents, on their protest march to Washington); World Wars; Cold Wars; and so on.
May I also point out that the opposition to God, Jesus, and the Bible has very ancient roots.
Then, my article broke off into a short diatribe against the practice of homosexuality in relation to justification. Since then, I have learned that the same principle fits everyone: We all try to justify our thoughts and actions, and we will quickly cling to a philosophy or a religion which aligns best with our own mindsets and behaviors. I wrote, “Establishing a ‘church’ reveals the homosexuals’ need to justify their actions. But nothing justifies error, and homosexuality is clearly against Nature.”
Here, again, I must emphasize that this, as I have learned since, is truly a universal personal process in which “everybody does it,” everyone tries to justify themselves with or without God.
Yet, “Everybody” is not always right.
I continued, “Instead of obeying God and natural boundaries, {we all} fabricate {our} own ‘gods’ and doctrines and religions.”
Then, I concluded, “Those who scorn Anita Bryant teaching what the Bible says ought to be ashamed, for we all need to know the grace and truth of God,” just as much as homosexuals. “I am amazed that in this nation, {claiming that it was} built and founded upon Biblical concepts, more people don’t rather support such efforts.”
So, I will leave you with this old adage: “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”
Tolerance is still a rare and precious commodity which few people want to buy.
Yes. Your opinions and my opinions may change over time, but “Both Malachi 3:6 and Hebrews 13:8 declare that God is the same always and never ever changes. He is always good, always loving, always all-powerful. No matter how this world changes around us, we can trust God is consistent. He is the same yesterday, today, and Forever! — Jul 17, 2019.” — https://www.watermark.org/blog/consistency-god.
