One has to do with Miss California, Carrie Prejean. When asked during the Miss USA pageant about her stance on same-sex marriage, Miss Prejean responded, "... I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman." Many believe that this answer cost Prejean the pageant. Still, Miss California stood by her answer, saying, "It's not about being politically correct. For me it was being biblically correct."
The second instance has to do with former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, who currently has his own Fox News television show. In one segment of his recent interview with World magazine, Huckabee was asked various questions regarding the political tactics of Christian conservatives. (Huckabee himself is an ordained Southern Baptist preacher who pastored for 12 years before beginning his political career.) When asked, "How do you break out of the Christian 'box'?", Huckabee responded,
I don't want to break out of the box if that means people think I'm somehow abandoning my faith. If my faith is the reason people say, "I'm not going to vote for him," then good, don't vote for me, because I'm not going to abandon who I am to get your vote. . . . When I was governor people asked me, "Is it hard being a Christian?" and I said, "No, it's actually easier. I don't have to wake up every day and decide what I'm going to believe today." If I get defeated, I get defeated. that's part of the deal. I'd rather be defeated and go to my grave with some sense of consistency of conviction than that I had to win every last office in America including the presidency but had to sell my soul to do it.
Now I don't know Mike Huckabee or Carrie Prejean well enough (personally or otherwise) to affirm the validity of their faith or the consistency of their Christian walk. But at least in terms of their words, they are spot-on. Believers in Jesus Christ and biblical inerrancy, whose convictions arise from Scripture's teaching, don't have to play the guessing game when it comes to their stance on moral issues. "What saith the Scripture?" serves as our credo. The Lord Himself becomes our confidence and keeps our foot from getting caught (Prov. 3:26).
In an age of no truth, it's refreshing to see those who still stand up and affirm the Truth. I pray that I will be one of them till the day I die. I want to hear my Savior say, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your Master!"
The ongoing verbal destruction and character assassination of Carrie Prejean for stating her biblical conviction on marriage caused me to recall Martin Luther's words, "If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefield besides is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point."
ReplyDeleteIf you are a follower of Jesus, and maintain a consistent, Christ-like walk and conversation, you must expect the same treatment from the world as Christ received, they will despise you. Jesus Himself affirmed this, "And you will be hated by all because of My name" (Luke 21:17). "And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not" (John 17:14). There are two other texts which are too much forgotten by Christians, "Woe to you when all men speak well of you..." (Luke 6:26). And, "For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please Men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ" (Gal. 1:10).
Spurgeon said, "Do not dream that worldlings will admire you, or that the more holy and the more Christ-like you are, the more peaceably people will act towards you. They prized not the polished Gem, how should they value the jewel in the rough?..If we were more like Christ, we would be more hated by His enemies! It is a sad dishonor to a child of God to be the world's favorite. It is a very ill omen to hear a wicked world clap it's hands and shout "Well done" to a Christian. When the unrighteous give him their approbation, he should begin to look to his character, and wonder whether he has not been doing wrong."
Far be it from us to seek a crown of honor where our Lord found a crown of thorns.
I was wondering what people here would think if Miss California would have said, "... I believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman, but it is up to each person to determine how they want to live their lives..." ?
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