Persecuted Christians?

It is about a week after the Supreme Court decided that all states need to allow Gay marriages.  This is a landmark decision, one of the first ones that I remember catching my attention.  Sure, Roe V Wade was big, but at that time, I was not.  I had not even become interested in girls at that point. This one though has really been on my mind, pulling my interest and leaving me feeling unsettled.

I am reading people's thoughts about it, their writings and emotions.  Some are very well reasoned, and some are a bit more incendiary.  (I think that is a good word for man who declared that he would set himself on fire if this was allowed).  I am wanting to understand the thoughts of my respected Christian friends and to understand my thoughts as a Christian man.

The thing that has me most unsettled though are the comments that we are no longer a Christian nation and instead Christians are now being persecuted for our beliefs.  The US was not called to be a Christian nation, but a nation that allowed the freedom of religion.  Being an American does not equal being a Christian.  They are two entirely different things.  One can be an American Christian, but one could rather be an American Hindu, Muslim, Jew, agnostic or atheist.  Being an American means you have the freedom to choose and to worship or not worship your God.  Being an American does not mean that all of the laws and decisions will be made according to our Christian desires.

I was very surprised to find out I am now being persecuted for my beliefs.  Wow, somehow I missed that.  As I drove off to Church this morning, meeting to worship God together, I felt incredibly persecuted.  Spies watching us to see if we are Christians, reporting us to the officials?  Ummm, no.  I drove past any number of Churches that had any number of cars in them, all with people freely going into worship together.  Bibles available on bookstore shelves, the purchase of which does not even raise an eyebrow.  Am I being forced to change my faith, my sexual preference, my marriage because of the decision last week?  Not really.  Not at all.  I am just as free as I was last year to be the Christian man I was before, just as free to propose to and marry Denise, and to live out our lives as husband and wife, worshiping our Savior.  I would have a tough time telling my Christian brothers in many other parts of the world that I am being persecuted, while they are being arrested for their faith, and even killed at times.  Telling those that have to have hidden Church services because it is against the law in their country to be a Christian.

So, how am I to respond to all of this?  I have the same call as I did last week, last month, last year.  I am to love the Lord my God with all my heart and strength and to love my neighbor as myself.  All my neighbors.  Every single one of them.  I checked my bible to see if there was an exclusion next to neighbor, but no, nothing.  No asterisk or footnote number that tells me to love this person and not that one, to include this group but to exclude that one.

Many in the states have created these wonderful litmus tests that allow us to formulate opinions about others quickly while ensuring that we are always seen on the good side of any line.  It allows me to cover my sins and poor behavior by creating a test that does not uncover the skeletons in my closet.  "He is gay, the problem with America.  Let's not talk about my cheating on my wife, my taxes, the lies I tell to get what I want"  I create a position that allows me to be "good and right" and to judge others.  "He is a democrat, they are ruining the country", neglecting to talk about the problems the republicans have caused.  "He is this race, this faith, this ethnic group"  All the while people "just like us" are covering up the lies, deceit, cheating, crime, and sinful lifestyles they are living.

The Bible did not promise us a "Christian" nation during this life of ours.  Neither did the constitution.  But, the Bible does tell us how to live, no matter what country and what political climate there might be.  So, please, instead of all of the empty rhetoric, please, my Christian brothers and sisters, join me in doing what we are called to do, and what we have been called to do for centuries.  Let us love our God, love our neighbors, pray for those around us, serve those around us.  All of those around us.