On Intolerance

I'd like to share with you an English journal entry i wrote last year during first semester. It was a response to the "Sinners at the Hands of an Angry God" article and tape. For those of you who are not familiar with this, it is a sermon given by preacher Johnathon Edwards (no relation to the other one) during the Great Awakening. It essentially preaches on the principle that the only reason people are not in hell is the pleasure of God. Satan stands ready to pounce on almost all of humanity, save those few are saved (for lack of a better word). If you really want to learn more about it, just wikipedia it or something. Anyways, this is my response to it. Just remember my constraints: this was a journal write, so I was only able to write about a page and a half before running out of room, and I was supposed to stay on topic, so I wasn't able to stray too far (also, I turned this in, so swearing was strictly prohibited). I was not even closely able to express my full views on this topic, and I move around quite a bit, but hopefully it is an accurate representation of some of my views.

I think the way that Edwards is trying to convert people is completely inappropriate. One does not come to Christ because of the fear they have of going to Hell; they come because of His love. Edwards is acting the same as the people on street corners with bullhorns yelling about how all the adulterers and fornicators and homosexuals in the world will go to Hell unless they convert to Christianity. Jesus taught about love during his life, not about the damnation of all non-believers. If you turn to a page in the New Testament, chances are you will find some verse about how God and Christ love us. You will probably not find it condemning homosexuality as a sin. And yet Christians today are taught that homosexuals "choose" to be the way they are and will become straight once they find Christ. They are not taught that Jesus loves everyone, only that Jesus loves Christians. Also, some religious tolerance in this world would be nice. In July, a Hindu priest opened a Senate floor meeting (Congress sessions always begin with a prayer), only to be booed multiple times. The comments below this article proclaimed how it is unacceptable that a "pagan prayer" was said before the Government Under God. They said that even though the Constitution proclaims freedom of speech, the founding fathers never would have thought anything other than a Christian prayer would be said. Does no one else see the hypocrisy? Just because the pledge of allegiance says "one nation under God" doesn't mean that it is acceptable to condemn another religion. Leaders of the free world indeed. When did "religious tolerance" come to mean "Christian tolerance"? Another comment exclaimed how Christians are the most intolerated minority. Oh, so I guess it's ok to boo another religion because they really just don't know how good they have it. Give me a break. And since when did God recognize countries? It's a good thing thing California was taken from Mexico in 1847, or God never would have known to bless us. This is ridiculous. Stop using our Lord and Savior to pursue your personal agenda by condemning all others as wrong and heretical. Maybe, if you practiced what you preached, you would realize how stupid you sound. And Edwards shouldn't talk about everyone going to Hell, that's not going to attract too many people. If he talked about the Lord's grace and the wonders of Heaven, people may actually be drawn into Christianity rather than put off by Hell.

Many of you can tell that I get more and more frustrated as the entry goes on. If Chris Rea is reading this (shout out!), this was a few weeks after we watched the video on bullhorns in youth group, so that's where some of this is coming from. As i typed this into this post, there were so many things that I wanted to add, but I tried to stay true of what I wrote in the journal entry. The only thing added was that Congress opens with a prayer session, because that information was needed to understand what I was talking about. I wish I had more time and space to write the originaly entry, but maybe it's succinctity is a good thing.

To those directly affected by Prop 8's passage, there is nothing I can say that can ease the pain you are suffering. I know it is much easier for me to say to fight on than it is to carry that out, but that is all there is to be done. My favorite quote of all time is "It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees". Continue fighting, for they will never bring you down.

If I can endure for this minute
Whatever is happening to me,
No matter how heavy my heart is
Or how dark the moment be-

If I can remain calm and quiet,
With all the world crashing about me,
Secure in the knowledge that God loves me,
When everyone else seems to doubt me-

If I can but keep on believing
What I know in my heart to be true,
That darkness will fade with the morning
And that will pass away, too-

Then nothing in life can defeat me
For as long as the knowledge remains
I can suffer whatever is happening
For I know God will break all of the chains

That are binding me tight in the darkness
And trying to fill me with fear-
For there is no night without dawning
And I know my morning is near.

-Helen Steiller Rice, "This Too Shall Pass"