I’m in a kind of a mood today.
In the last couple days the Minnesota House and the Senate, both with Democrat majorities, have passed a bill legalizing homosexual marriage, and about an hour and a half ago the governor signed it. August 1 it becomes law.
The prospect of being hanged in a fortnight, as Dr. Johnson noted, concentrates the mind wonderfully. And the prospect of my own eventual imprisonment for a hate crime also has the effect of focusing my own thoughts. A Christian ought to be dead to the world, prepared at all times to suffer for his faith. And it looks very much (at least to me) that such a time is coming.
If I’m being paranoid, I’m not the only one. My friend Mitch Berg of Shot In the Dark blog, a libertarian and no Bible thumper, addresses (among other points) the abysmal record of “freedom to marry” advocates in terms of spreading the freedom around in this post.
Chanting “The First Amendment protects religious expression!” is about like saying “the Second Amendment protects your right to keep and bear arms!” or “the Fourth Amendment protects you from unreasonable searches and seizures!” or “The Tenth Amendment reserves unenumerated rights to the States and People!”. All are true – provided you take them seriously enough to beat back ill-advised legal attacks on them.
So I’m contemplating how to prepare for persecution to come – not the metaphorical kind where we complain about people talking to us mean, but the kind where we actually get sent to prison for expressing our beliefs. Do I compose my soul to accept arrest and incarceration? Do I squirrel away portable wealth for a quick run for the border (I understand diamonds aren’t as useful as they once were)?
Or should I take the Lord literally when He says “Cast no thought upon the morrow?”
Must ponder.
It is time to remove all students from the government schools, lest one violate ones baptismal vows.
What border? Canada or Mexico? Neither is likely to do much good. Or do you just mean the state border? I don’t know about room in anybody’s father’s house, but we definitely have room for you in Texas.
From what I understand, prison is in many ways an honor-based society (the jailers enforce laws, but not very effectively). Maybe the best you can do is teach fellow Christians how to survive in such societies.
I was thinking of a run to a different state. I’m hoping religious freedom will linger in some jurisdictions during my lifetime.
For me the way these laws have been applied in other jurisdictions brings to mind the mark of the beast from Revelation 13:16-18. I once heard a speaker suggest that, taken figuratively, it could refer to that which characterizes (marks) one’s work (right arm) or thinking (head). Thus, unless someone’s practice and philosophy is in line with politically correct ideology, it’s getting harder and harder to work (buy and sell in the marketplace) in our world today.
They tell me that protections for religious freedom were included in the bill signed today. Others tell me the law only protects churches. There is no protection for individual members of those churches. All I can say with certainty is that many lawyers will sustain themselves for a considerable period of time before it’s all settled.
I think many of us will be facing similar choices over the next generation.
As Doug Wilson has said, this isn’t about who can marry whom anymore, but what we’re allowed to say about who marries whom.
Don’t worry, Lars. You won’t get hung. You’ll just get an IRS audit.
Come to Georgia. At least we can die together.