I'm just starting making my way through Scripture again (this will be my second time to work through the whole Bible) with the help of my devotional Bible, and this morning's passage and reflection struck me hard. Today's reading is Gen 3:1-7. Yep, the serpent in the garden and the yummy (forbidden) fruit and the woman who ate it anyway.
Here is part of the reflection, written by Kathy Troccoli:
"'Did God really say it?'..How often am I tempted to listen to those words. God most definitely has spoken...He means what he says. Does what He says. Never pulls a fast one. And still we question or disregard His heart. I, for one, have indulged in the rationalizing, the putting a stamp of okay on something that God has said is unholy. We need only look around today to see the effects of Satan's questions. Moral and spiritual decay. A rightness placed on what is so obviously wrong. A label of old-fashioned...attached to laws that are still the same in God's eyes...So we are left believing the lies of the enemy and with the consequences of our choices. And it all takes place under the guise of love and honesty, goodness and fairness, open-mindness and tolerance. The serpent may come to you today and say, "Did God really say that?" Your answer must be "yes". For no matter how many promises God has made, they are yes in Christ."
Did God really say that killing is wrong? Among other things, it breaks my heart that my country just re-elected someone with an abysmal record on the defense of life, from conception to natural death. How many millions of babies have been killed under the guise of open-mindedness and tolerance, i.e. the guise that it is okay for a woman to choose to kill her baby, a baby created in the image and likeness of God?!! How much more does it sting for those of us who long(ed) to conceive such a cherished blessing.
Today let us pray for our country and it's leaders, that they will turn back to God and lead with principles that respect the blessing of human life.
If you hold back from rescuing those taken away to death, those who go staggering to the slaughter; if you say, "Look, we did not know this"-- does not He who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not He who keeps watch over your soul know it? And will He not repay all according to their deeds?
(Proverbs 24: 11-12)
3 comments:
It's absolutely heartbreaking that Obama won with the "Catholic" vote. So sad :(.
Oh, your post just made me so sad. A national tragedy? Really? Come on. A national tragedy was when terrorists killed many of innocent people on 9/11.
Look, I value your right to have an opinion. But what I am finding no tolerance for is when people use their religion and claim that THEY ARE RIGHT. That the nation who just voted for president is wrong. That you are somehow morally superior. Come on now. Really?
Here's the thing. I am a Christian. Raised in a Missouri Synod Lutheran household, and now I attend an ELCA Lutheran church. My Christian roots are what has caused me to be a Democrat. Is Obama pro-choice? Yep, he is. He's also for equal rights, including the gay community, which I completely support. He also wants to help those less fortunate, which I believe Jesus also did. You think Romney and the Republican party more closely represents Christianity and what Jesus would have wanted? Then I politely ask you to step off your high horse. None of us can "know" what Jesus would have wanted from us. He would have wanted us to be kind to our brothers and sisters. He would have wanted for us to respect whoever our leader is, and not to speak such hyperbole of this being a TRAGEDY.
Very disappointed in your post. And now consider myself a former reader. And not because we don't agree on politics, but because you dare say that the Democratic process that was demonstrated on election day was a tragedy.
And the Republican Party in my opinion does not more closely represent God and Christianity. In fact, my perception most of the time is that they are a bunch of rich and greedy people. Did you see the people that attended the Republican National Convention? They were a bunch of white people. It's like they don't believe in diversity or that we're all created equal. They want to hoard their money. They don't want to extend a hand to the less fortunate. They think everyone should just help themselves. I'm sorry. I fail to see JESUS in that concept. At all.
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