Smoky Mountain Reflections
May 2013
I
would love to wax eloquent on the wonders of spring or reflect on the busy
nature of the summer that lies ahead of us all. However, a crucial decision is
being made by the Boy Scouts of America on the 23rd of this month that
has far reaching ramifications for our way of life here in America . I am not talking just
about the Boy Scouts. As you may know, I wrote an open letter to the
organization which I published widely.
Sadly, I just read the proposed resolution and if it passes, we will no
longer be able to charter a troop here at Saint Paul Lutheran Church in
Sevierville TN.
The
reason I feel the need to reflect on this is because it is just one more place
where a battle between two different world views is playing out. If we do not
stand with God's truth and speak the truth in love about what a biblical
worldview is, we may soon find ourselves treated as second class citizens. You may call me Chicken Little, but I am not
saying the sky is falling. I am saying that if our society continues on its
current course, it will go the way of all past civilizations that stopped
making good bricks to build their society. By good bricks, I mean protecting
the weak and innocent and fostering a strong natural family. If we continue to
build with faulty bricks that dispose of the weak and innocent as costly, and
sacrifice the natural family on the altar of self gratification, we will go the
way of every failed civilization that has preceded us because faulty bricks
build weak walls that eventually crumble.
The
American Family Association (AFA) is an organization that often does a very
good job of speaking to these issues.
You may know them as the organization that produces those Christmas and
Easter buttons we all love to wear so much. They also produce a number of other
good resources for citizens to live out their Christian faith in a world that
is growing more and more hostile towards the Gospel. They also produce a
monthly Journal that highlighted the BSA issue.
The main article in the April issue by Ed Vitagliano made a number of
good points and provided a good summary of this worldview conflict:
"It is
Christianity versus secularism. Forget all pleasantries and appeals to fairness
and tolerance and inclusivity, this is a war of ideologies – two mutually
exclusive worldviews locked in a titanic struggle for supremacy.
For the
tolerance gurus there is a secular morality that is just as absolute as that
preached by any Bible-thumper behind a pulpit. It is a pagan sexual ethic
rooted in moral relativism with the taproot deeply embedded in Darwinian
evolution. Its teachers have their own unbending laws cut into stone and
pronounced from on high. Their prophets hurl jeremiads at the unrepentant, who
are relegated to a this-worldly hell consisting of the drying up of corporate
funding, the disdain and downright persecution of the civil state, banishment
to the fringes on university campuses, and the sneering mockery of Hollywood
First the
humanists succeeded in routing religion out of the government sphere. Now they
are attempting to drive it from the private sphere – by targeting an
institution like BSA."
We
as Lutherans believe and teach a doctrine of two kingdoms where the church is
in the business of loving and serving God and neighbor, and the government is
in the business of keeping the peace and maintaining public property. However social engineers are trying to give a
little too much authority to the government right now. We as citizens of both
kingdoms must do our best to be good citizens in each place. Being in but not of the world is not an easy calling, but it is our calling. So we
must be active in our vocation as citizens to make informed votes and speak out
against injustice and champion the weak, the sick, the unborn and the natural
family at every turn. We need to do this in our work place, in our
neighborhoods, in our families and in our churches. The church should remain
silent on political issues that are matters of preference and opinion. But when
the topic is morality and issues on which God's Word is clear, we must speak
the truth in love. “Being in but not of the world” means being ready to take
it on the chin when you speak this truth. It means publically standing by those
who seek to reflect the last two words of the Scout Oath: "Morally
Straight". Lord willing, the
decision from the 1400 delegates will be a God-pleasing one. Either way, He is
in control of everything and works for the good of those who love Him. So be a
good citizen of both kingdoms, do not worry, and have a blessed summer.
In Christ, Pastor Portier
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