SUNDAY EDITORIAL

IGNORANCE IS BLISS
SILENCE IS GOLDEN


Luke 6:36-38 (New King James Version)
36 Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.
37 “Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
38 Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”

Oh the joy of being in complete happiness [almost as being in heaven or paradise] knowing that with no knowledge, education or even awareness, we stand strong on that which we believe to be the truth. And in doing so we have evaluated and come to decisions without any facts of the truth properly determined and/or weighted.

In most countries the law recognizes that a person who acts in ignorance of the facts of his actions, should not be held criminally responsible, for those actions.

That said, should we then be held accountable for that which we choose not to learn about? Fools of course would say no. If I choose not to learn of something, then I should in all respects keep my mouth closed on such matters. If I choose to learn of something, then should I look and settle for one opinion? Of course not, that would be looking at only one side of the story, and nothing would truly be gained.

Take this a step further, as a Christian, a child of Christ, how am I to look at something that is different or possibly at odds with what I do know and understand.

Matthew 7:2
For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
From the scripture above I know that as a child of God I am not to judge, as I will be judged accordingly to how I judge others. That in itself is enough for me to say I want to be no man’s judge. Let them stand before God and let Him be the judge.

Unfortunately that is not the way of the world, and sad we must live in the world. As Christians we can expect to be looked upon and even scorned by the worlds standards. But in our own churches? The church I remind you is not a building, it is not the First United Church of Sunflower City. The church is the body of believers. And it is within the body of believers that we find judgement, judgement upon our own bothers and sisters.

Boldly I say to you, how dare you look at me with indifferences, how dare you tell my family that we are not wanted because you do not like what you are afraid to face. How dare you turn your backs on us. God forgive you and have mercy on your souls.

What am I speaking of you ask? Why this anger? Because I am tired of people telling me why they do not attend your churches. Some have even been asked to leave the church that they attended. I have to ask myself how can these people even stand up and say they are Christians.

I do not remember Christ one time, not one single time, telling someone your problem is to great. He never once said to the woman at the well, “You have had to many men, be gone from me.” To the lepers, “Your illness is unclean, leave me now.” The one that touches my heart, “You short fool, get out of the tree and go away.”

Everyone that came to Him was received with open arms. Even when Jesus was seeking time alone to pray and strengthen Himself, He stopped and took care of the needs of others first (Matthew 12:15 - But when Jesus knew [it], he withdrew himself from thence: and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all;).

And what of our churches today, do they open with loving arms the doors of their buildings and say enter in, whoever you are, whatever you have done. Who of you have said “Come In” without regard to race, creed or illness.

There are many churches that have and I applaud them, I thank God for them. The sad truth though is that you are hard to find. There are not many who will say to the gay man or woman ‘Enter In," I judge you not. Where are the churches who will smile and say to the interracial couple “You are welcome.” Where is the church that will say to the young couple “Welcome, we receive you and your family.” Knowing that one of them or one of their children has AID’s/HIV. LJG and I are in no way condoning sin. But when a person has asked for forgiveness and is seeking to walk in the ways of the Lord the past is behind them.

We can perfectly understand in some cases that precautions need to be taken as with a child molester. It would be foolish of us to put them be in an environment that might be tempting to them, just as it would be to the alcoholic who has stopped drinking.

Oh you can sit there in your chair and read this and think –not me- or you can think, well she doesn’t understand we have to think of others. I am not condoning the acts of some people. What is a sin is just that a sin. The church is full of sinners, always has been and will be until Christ returns. If a person asks God for forgiveness they are forgiven, who are you to judge.

Did any adult ask for the illness of AID’s or HIV any more then someone else asked for cancer, or any other disease, surely not. Then I must look at the children, those that are blessed with Godly parents trying to bring their children up in the love of Christ. How do these parents tell their children that people are so closed minded, so ignorant, that they would shut the doors on a child. Shut the door on a child, for what fear. Did not God tell us to fear not (Luke 12:32 - Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 1 John 4:18 - There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.). Can we not put our faith enough in God to believe that here is a place where a family can find comfort, peace, understanding, that many are unable to find any where else. And now the church is shutting their doors because they are uncomfortable.

Shame on you! If we cannot look to the church [the body of Christ] for love and compassion, where then would you have us go, to hell. And you call yourselves Christians.

If I sound harsh I am. This angers me to the bottom of my soul. It has touched me in a personal way. A young couple prayed for many years for a child. When that child was born they opened their arms and hearts to the child. Even when they were told the child has HIV they never for one moment thought, “Oh no, we will not adopt.” No they had asked God for a child and here he was a beautiful bundle of joy, and he was all their’s. But first one church and then another asked them to leave. They are still seeking a church home and I pray that God will lead them to one that will embrace this young family and their child. One that will not say “Well we understand , but.”

I feel just as emotionally about any one that has problems in their life's and need the fellowship of others to grow in the Lord. But a child, oh Lord forgive me for the anger I have inside of me.

I am sending this to everyone I know and am asking you to send it to others. Where does your body of Christ stand? Does your church really open the doors to all? I am hoping and praying that maybe, just maybe this will get someone, a few maybe to let go of their bias opinions, their prejudices, their ignorance's.

Be all that God intended the body of the church to be, an open door to everyone that seeks after God. Do not be one of the ones that turns a child away. Someday that same child with HIV you turn away might be the hand that reaches out to help you. The same goes for the gay man or woman, the person off the street. Let it be said of your church, your body of Christ, we opened the doors to all, we turned none away.

Not only is this going on our sites, we are also sending it out to everyone that we know. I welcome your response. I want to know if you are man or woman enough to say the doors are open. Please let us hear from you. I would like to show this to one young boy someday and tell him, they might have told your family to leave but there are many out there who would love to welcome you.

Matthew 18:5
And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.

For LJG's view on this subject please go to: http://journals.aol.com/momsfirstscreenn/FAITH/entries/2007/07/09/we-are-living-in-the-dark-ages/1521


We are yours in Christ,
rECj/LJG