Cover Photo by Ted Eytan/Creative Commons
I remember the first time I got “the look…”
I was having a conversation with another pastor about my book, Fatal Drift, Is the Church Losing its Anchor? I was reiterating my strong conviction that once we treat the Bible as mere literature and deny that it is (all of it) God-breathed, then we are rejecting God’s Word… It was then I got “the look.”
It was as if he was saying, “Gee, I thought you were o.k..” or perhaps “I didn’t know you were one of those” He seemed to be intimating that I was either a “knuckle-walking Neanderthal” or that I was just not very bright.
Once, I got “the look” for pointing out that we are living in a time that the very notion that believing there is such a thing as absolute truth is somehow proof that one is a hater, a bigot, or worse.
I am going to buy a small stopwatch, and keep it in my pocket. When I begin to discuss abortion, gay rights or anything else that runs contrary to the progressives’ narrative. Typically all I do is state my belief that the Bible is true. Within minutes (sometimes seconds) the tone of the conversation changes and I am attacked personally. (ad hominem) I imagine myself quietly stopping the stopwatch in my pocket…pulling it out… and congratulating the individual. “Wow, that’s a new record! You went from a respectful dialogue to an ad hominem attack in 30 seconds!”
Think I’m overstating this? Try it. I told friends about the time I was preaching in Canada, in which I made reference to one scripture that had to do with gender. My friend who hosted me told me later. “F.Y.I. If someone with a smart-phone took offense at your citing that verse you could be prosecuted for a hate crime.” I learned later that they use the word “Tribunal” to describe the people who would be judging you.
Since then, I have made mention of this incident and gotten “the look” from incredulous people who think “That could never happen here…” Read the following,
An unnamed employee at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles has been suspended and is currently being investigated for a “hate crime” by the university’s Bias Incident Response Team and the LAPD for “denying transgenderism” when she stated that there are only two genders, reports The College Fix.
Loyola Marymount is a CATHOLIC university! They have a Bias Incident Response Team that in tandem with the LAPD is investigating (she is suspended now) an employee for committing a Hate Crime for merely pointing out that Catholic Dogma states that there are only two genders. “Male and Female He created them.”
I am already prepared for the next time I get ‘the look” when I say the following:
If you name the name of Jesus as your Savior, and you are raising your children to trust that the Bible deals with absolute truth, then F.Y.I., the Bias Incident Response Team’s next raid may take place at your home. How you answer the question, “Do you believe that Jesus Christ is God and that belief in his sacrifice on the cross for sins is the only way of salvation?” is taking on some Orwellian aspects.
Before you change the subject to the playoffs or what Kanye and Kim wore on the red carpet…Let me put it to you squarely; Not to choose…is to choose.
I was holding my newest grandchild the other day, overwhelmed with emotion at how pure and innocent he is. I don’ t want one day for him to think “Papa Jim, why didn’t the Christians speak up?”
Dr. J