I guess from the sheltered world I live in as a pastor, I should not be surprised at how surprised I am by the number of people I come across on Facebook who openly claim that they believe in a god, but not in My God! The latest round of evidence over this came about from my earlier post about being anti-gay and pro Chick-fil-A.
That post has given me a lot to think about because of the amount of criticism I received over it on Facebook, even being called a “bigot” by one man, who has since de-friended me. I do listen to the criticism because I want to make sure that I don’t fall into the trap of being blindsided by my own sin. I’ve since re-read the article I posted, and I don’t see anything in it that would cause me to want to remove the post. I stand by it.
What really bothers me are the number of people who would say, in the midst of dialog, that they don’t believe in “my God.” They have beliefs in a god, but not the God that I proclaim from Scripture. This really strikes me as sad and odd. Why would you go to the trouble of believing in a god at all if that god is not the living and true God revealed to us in His word? It is utter foolishness, given that the God of Scripture has declared to us, mankind in general, that we are to worship Him alone and no other gods (Exodus 20:3). He has also declared to us that He is the Creator of heaven and earth and all things in the earth belong to Him (Psalm 24:1). He has declared to us that only by coming to Him through Jesus Christ do we have access to Him (John 14:6). We also know that Jesus Christ is the final judge of all mankind (John 5:27). The living and true God has gone to great pains to make sure that we know whom to worship and how to worship Him, even telling us that those who do not come to Him through Christ are destined for eternal damnation.
It doesn’t make sense to me to sit back and believe in any less than the living and true God that has gone to such pains, even pain and death on the cross, and say, “I don’t believe in You. I prefer a god that is far more palatable.”
But then again, Jesus warned us about those who would reject the message, noting that they cannot come to Him UNLESS the Father draws them (John 6:44). So all the explanations in the world will not do UNLESS the Father draws them. He may indeed do so in the future and we can pray and share with them in the hopes that He does just that. Until that moment that they convert, we can only trust that they remain as Stephen accused the Jews of being: “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears!”
That is what we deal with until God moves. The world hates Jesus and His righteousness as He told us it would (John 7:7). That is why you get responses like this:
I agree with you that not everyone has extremist views. However, Mr. Hammons is the perfect example of the type of bigot that CFA supports by donating millions in profits to groups like the Family Research Council. Mr. Hammons is welcome to his opinion, but I will not sit idly by while Mr. Hammons and those of his ilk work so hard to persecute gay people and to criminalize their behavior. Mr. Hammons states that he is being “condemned” for not standing with gays when in the same breath he condemns gays and declares that they are on the “road to eternal damnation.” Ironic, isn’t it? No one is asking Mr. Hammons to “stand with gays.” All gays and gay supporters (like me) ask is for people like Mr. Hammons to respect their desire to be treated equally. Doesn’t seem like too much to ask, does it?
Can you feel the love? He accuses me of trying to pass laws to criminalize gay behavior. If you remember, gay behavior was already criminalized long before we were born. But alas, that is lost on this man. He thinks that by standing against gay unions mislabeled as marriage, I’m criminalizing their behavior. It’s sad that this man de-friended me. But after listening to my Savior’s words, not surprising. They rejected Christ, they will reject us who stand against the homosexual community as well.
Matthew 5:11-12 Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
