The post where Angie takes a stand and loses half her readers (and gets a big Heck Yeah! from the other half)

So this post at Meg’s the other day (Hi, Meg!) made me realize I wanted to speak on this issue.

I am a Conservative. I am a Republican. I am a Christian. I believe in Absolute Truth. I believe in the Bible as the written and perfect word of God. It is upon those beliefs that I base my life. It is upon those beliefs, that I have stances and opinions about controversial and socially relevant topics. The other day at church, our pastor did a message on Elijah. Elijah was a great and powerful prophet of God during a day when the Jews were on the fence about Yahweh-God. Jezebel had helped put forth Baal as god and the Jews were getting confused on the subject. 1 Kings 18:21 "Elijah went before the people and said, 'How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.' But the people said nothing." Silence is not something I feel I can live with. I am called not to be silent, so I choose to speak today on my beliefs on certain issues.

Like these:

Jesus. I believe Jesus is the Son of God. I believe He came to this earth to better help us understand the Father God and to help us find a way to God because we as humans were “missing it.” He fulfilled many prophecies and was crucified willingly for our sins. The Jews did not kill Christ. The Romans did not kill Christ. I killed Christ. I kill him a little every day with my sins. He died to save me from those sins so I could accept Him as God and some day spend eternity with Him in Heaven. I believe that anyone who rejects this will not go to heaven. I know MANY MANY MANY MANY (you get the point) people who do not accept this and I love those people and I am saddened that I will not see them in Heaven. I am sure they think I am as crazy as they are for believing this truth. There is no gray area on this for me. Hell is something that we have sort of glorified in our culture today – as a place where naughty things happen with hot fire and brimstone and pitchfork looking cherubs, but it is still fun. However, what I know about Hell is that it is total isolation and separation from God (aka anything good, pure, righteous, true, happy, loving) and is full of lies, deceit, anger, vengeance, and evil. I do not want to spend eternity there and nothing saddens me more than anyone who will. Nothing saddened Jesus more, either. He did not teach us to wish anyone there. He reprimanded his Apostles for wanting to strike down a city that did not welcome them. Reprimanded them because nothing saddens God more than the destruction of those who have not yet accepted his Truth.

Homosexuality: I am not one of those “not that there’s anything wrong with that” kind of people when it comes to this. I believe it is wrong because the Bible tells me it is wrong. If you don’t follow the Bible, I don’t expect this to make any sense to you. I believe homosexuality is a choice. The same way that getting married or not is a choice. The same way that staying true or not true to that person is a choice. The same way that staying married or not married is a choice. All have their pros and cons and all are easy and hard in their own respects. Now, I have lots of choices and I sin daily, too, so I do not think homosexual people are evil, but I do think they are sinning. I do not hate them. I love the sinner; hate the sin just as I hate my own sins. I am not so naïve to think that some are not more prone to struggling with this. Just as some are more prone to dealing with addiction. Just as I am more prone to struggling with impatience, anger, and yelling. God does not hate me for that and does not teach anyone to hate me for it either. God does not hate gays and lesbians. God loves us all equally. He does not love the black man more or less than the white man. God does not love the pastor more or less than the homosexual. Why would I? Just because I am against homosexuality and I voice that, WHY OH WHY would anyone think I am a hater? If anyone calls me a hater for this, then I respond in one of two ways 1) You obviously don’t know me because I don’t hate anyone for what they do or 2) You must be a hater, too, if you feel the need to say such things about me for having an opinion contrary to yours. If someone says I am close-minded, my response is that they are then equally as close-minded for thinking I am wrong and shouldn’t voice my opinion. What frightens me the most about this issue is that people who have contrary opinions to homosexuality are being labeled as haters and are slowly not being allowed to voice their opinions. I do not think it will be long before we are not allowed to voice this at all in some countries and I find that sad and socially repressive and frightening. I do not choose to avoid the topic of homosexuality altogether (if I watch any sort of network television I cant – Law and Order, CSI, ER, Scrubs, Earl, Office – it’s strewn throughout) and I do not choose to avoid gays and lesbians. I don’t know many, which is true. If I did, and I got along with the person and had things in common with the person, they may become my friend if they could handle that I had a belief contrary to theirs. I would hope they don’t hate me for having my beliefs just as I don’t hate them for having their lifestyle. I just think it is wrong. They think I am wrong. It is black and it is white for both sides.

Abortion. I think this one can be more summed up with some pictures. Meet Kevin at 8 weeks in-utero:

According to our laws and society, Kevin is not considered a human being with any rights at this stage. No, Kevin is an extension of his mother’s body and is her right and her choice, not her child. Kevin’s parents were 19 and 21 when he was conceived and unmarried. Kevin’s parents did not choose to view him as a choice, but as the life he was. They also chose to marry and parent. This is Kevin today at 38.

Does this look like a choice to you or a person? At what point in time from 6-8 weeks in-utero when Kevin could have been terminated to the point at which he was birthed, did he become a person and not an extension of his mother’s body – a choice? If Kevin’s parents had not chosen to give him life, Kevin would never be. Kevin’s 3 kids would never be.

Meet Andrew at 8 weeks in-utero.
Once again, according to our laws and our society, Andrew is not a human being with any basic rights yet, but rather an extension of his mother’s body with which she has any right to handle. Andrew’s parents were both 19 and unmarried when he was conceived. His father was an engineering student and his mother was working full time. Termination of the pregnancy was probably very tempting, however, his parents did not view the above as a choice or a right, but as life. Meet Andrew today at 19:

Andrew is studying Engineering at University of Kentucky. He graduated from high school with a 4.0 and was Valedectorian.

The mother and father that chose life for Kevin, happen to be my mom and dad. Kevin is my brother. The mother and father that chose life for Andrew happen to be Lisa and Kevin, my brother. Andrew is my nephew. If my parents had not chosen life, I would not have the brother I have. If Kevin and Lisa had not chosen life, I would not have my nephew, Andrew. If choice is the voice of reason, shouldn’t Kevin and Andrew have gotten a vote, too? I am going to go out on a limb and venture to guess that there are almost NO in utero babies that would vote for death over a chance for life. Once again this does not mean I hate anyone who has ever had an abortion, nor do I think I am any better. I sin DAILY. I believe abortion is a sin from which we can seek repentance and healing. But, God created every breathing human being differently and the Bible says he knew us when we were in the womb. That life in the womb should have the same basic human rights as those of us out of the womb.

So that about sums up my stand on some very hot topics of today. The reason this came about was because someone named Linda left a comment on Bossy’s post (which I admit grossed me out a bit) the other day stating she was not going to read anymore, she was finished, it just wasn’t worth it anymore. I have no idea what her reasons were. If they were because of a difference of beliefs, then what is so wrong with that? Something tells me if the shoe were dropped differently and Bossy wrote something ultra-conservative and upset some liberals and they said they would stop reading, it wouldn’t have been so controversial and would be considered open-minded and logical. I find a huge double standard in this type of logic and with a lot of liberal beliefs. If you tell me to get the corncob out of my ass from my conservatism, then I will laugh first, toast you with my red wine and tell you to put a band-aid on your bleeding heart from liberalism. I do not consider myself better than you and I hope you don’t consider yourself better than me. We are all equals in the playing field of life.

That being said, many if not most, of the blogs I read regularly are uber-liberal. These people have become my friends and my acquaintances. I find them witty, insightful and hilarious. I find them encouraging and inspirational as well. I love reading Bossy. I love reading Mrs. G, and KatyDidNot and Jenn and Meg, just to name a few, even though I know their political and spiritual beliefs are about as far to the left as I am to the right. I could stop reading them based on this, just as I am sure there will be many that stop reading me based on this today. However, I don’t choose to live in a bubble. I am firm enough in my beliefs to be able to look past and keep reading for the parts that entertain me and inspire me. There are many that are not, though. Either way, is that so wrong?

*cue crickets chirping*

Anyone left?

*cue crickets chirping*

I'm off the soapbox now. I promise to update on Brian again soon - this weekend as he has some upcoming events.

KEEP BELIEVING