Safe Space and the Gospel

The phrase “safe space” has multiple definitions. When used to describe campus life and culture, it usually means protection from emotional discomfort, according to a recent article in Harvard Political Review.

A poll conducted from May 5 to May 11, 2017 through the polling company Whatsgoodly, revealed that thirty-six percent of college students feel safe spaces are “absolutely necessary.” Between November 8. 2016 and January 21, 2017 we were inundated with a landslide of responses from people who opposed Donald Trump being President of the United States. We heard about everything ranging from pacifiers to Play Dough to guest speaker events being cancelled. 

I am wondering whether this "safe space" mentality is creeping into the church. Maybe it's my old age creeping up on me, but it seems like the character of God, and thus the gospel, is changing with the goal of presenting the church as a "safe space." While God is kind, good, loving, and merciful in dimensions we cannot yet fathom, He is also vengeful, wrathful, hateful, and judgmental. None of these characteristics are out of balance and this is what makes God holy and full of glory. The word "glory" implies weight and when perceived - just a little bit - it will drive us to our knees. A partial verse in James that we love to quote is "Mercy triumphs over judgment." The full verse is "For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment."     James 2:13 

My desire is to keep this blog to a readable length, while still making a point. God's love for us is not the equivalent of a 16 year old who is obsessed with the lead cheerleader. God's love for us is described adequately in these three Scripture verses:

"Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!" 1 Chronicles 16:34

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."    John 3:16

"but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."    Romans 5:8


And while He does draw us unto Himself by His Spirit, there is an aspect of His nature that is a bit elusive; so we are urged to seek Him. 
"Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: The Lord is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you."    2 Chronicles 15:2

"Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me. When you seek me with all your heart,"    Jeremiah 29:12-13


And to those who do seek God and respond in faith to His grace, here is a sampling of the warnings which sound like anything but a "safe place."

"And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."    Luke 9:23

"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple."    Luke 14:26

"Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,"    2 Timothy 3:12

 "For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps."    1 Peter 2:21 


This short blog does not profess to spell out the whole truth, but to counter some of the "safe space" mentality that seems to have corrupted the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are called to be soldiers, engaged in a spiritual battle in a world filled with tribulation. Bit fear not, Jesus (our Commander-in-Chief) has overcome the world. (John 16:33)

The Refugee Conundrum (Pt. 1)

The Refugee Conundrum (Pt. 1)

Refugee: a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster.

Conundrum: a confusing and difficult problem or question.

 

According to Scripture, the world's first refugee was Cain, who just happened to be the world's first murderer (Genesis 4:9-12). His status as a "wanderer and a fugitive" was the result of a self inflicted disaster caused by jealousy of his brother and disobedience to God. This is not to say that all refugees find themselves in that status for the same reasons, but it does set precedence: all refugee situations are intrinsically bound up in strife, turmoil, or pending danger.

The world's entire population following the great flood was centered in Babel. God dispersed them to the for corners of the earth by confounding their language. For the most part they continued to migrate into unpopulated areas of the globe, some staying and building cities as they went. Centuries later, Abraham, "Father of the Faith" (Romans 4), left Ur of Chaldea, not as a refugee, but as part of a family pilgrimage. They camped out in Haran for a while, and then God spoke to Abraham, saying, "Go... to a land that I will show you." (Genesis 12:1). Shortly after reaching that land (Canaan) a famine broke out and Abraham and company became refugees as they travelled into Egypt. The story is filled with perceived danger, lying, and deceit. Ultimately Abraham left Egypt a blessed man - no doubt due to the unconditional promises God had made to Him.

Two of the world's largest refugee and resettlement scenarios involved the Jewish people. In 722 BC Assyria utterly defeated the northern kingdom of Israel, deported all of the people and resettled the land with foreigners (2 King 17). Later, over a period of 20 years between 605 BC and 586 BC., Babylon thoroughly defeated the southern kingdom of Judah. Most of those who were not killed were deported to Babylon.

We could go on and cite other biblical examples. Each one makes for interesting reading, but we find it difficult to come up with a biblical mandate as to how to treat refugees. Some have gone to the New Testament citing the parable of the good Samaritan, or Mary and Joseph seeking shelter in Bethlehem. Neither of those are refugee situations. Mary and Joseph and the Christ child did sojourn in Egypt as refugees for a season until it was safe to return to Nazareth. That is more a story of a father being obedient to God for the protection of his family than it is a story of refugees. 

To develop a biblical response to the refugee crisis the world is facing, it requires one to be as wise as serpents and as gentle as a doves (Matthew 10:16). It also requires one to view the situation from both a national perspective and from a personal (Christian) perspective. From a national perspective it is very difficult to ferret out the truth from the lies, the different political agendas from Constitutional duty. The Declaration of Independence includes these words:

     "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by   their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

The government of these United States of America, as presently constituted and functioning has all but forgotten the Creator and has undertaken such policies and practices over the past fifty-five years to remove Him from public discourse. Furthermore, the three branches of Government have made it possible to legally murder and eradicate from our midst some 57 million of it most vulnerable citizens. The genocide has not stopped, in spite of scientific advancements confirming the biblical fact that human life begins at conception (Psalm 139:13-16; Jeremiah 1:5). It has not stopped because one political party or the other is in the majority. It has not stopped in spite of the public display of the ugly horrors which take place in the abortuaries. So I have little faith in a government when it parades the refugee crisis as something which requires our humanitarian response, that they are not just leading us into the inevitability of Divine judgment.

I have little faith in a government which has imposed unbearable burdens upon its citizens by running up debt that not even three generations could pay, and by deceitfully increasing the cost of essential services, calling it the Affordable Care Act (which includes, unless one is able to successfully fight it, provisions for abortion). I have little faith in a government which disregards nature and nature's God and begins to meddle with the fundamental building block of an orderly society - the family, which includes at its core the marriage of one biological man and one biological woman united in the covenant of marriage. Pandora's box has been opened and there is no telling what perversions will become normalized before Almighty God says, "Enough!"

We have never been perfect, either as individuals or as a nation, but for decades there was always an effort to honor God. As long as we did, it was obvious that God was "shedding His grace on us." Now, in wholesale numbers, even people who profess to be of the household of faith have adopted and sanctioned practices which are clearly abominable to God (Romans 1:18-32). So I believe that what may appear to some as a humanitarian act [opening our borders to the floodgate of people, most of whom are adherents to a religious/social/political system (Islam) bent on world domination through virtually any means possible] would be to invite terror to our very doors. I would try to prevent this using the same effort with which I try to prevent abortion on demand.



That said, if a Syrian refugee were to settle in my village, or even in the house next door, I would do my best to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ to them, always looking for fruit indicative of genuine repentance. In the meantime, I'm not going to just rant about the government being willing to spend billions for refugees while ignoring the plight of many of our veterans. I'm going to look for more ways to help veterans, including bringing the Gospel to them. And... I'm going to place an order for Gospel Tracts written in Arabic and Farsi.
     "For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, ⁴ who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." 1 Timothy 2:3-4

World News Through the Third Lens: Dare We Speak Against Islam?

Woman in Austria faces prison for speaking against Islamic law (Diana West, Johnson City Press editorial, November 19, 2010). On a recent trip to India (which, by the way, cost our bankrupt nation an outrageous sum) President B. Hussein Obama set us up for the Big Lie when he said, "I think all of us recognize that this great religion [Islam] in the hands of a few extremists has been distorted to justify violence towards innocent people that is never justified." Then why is it that all of the sacred books and schools of Islam say differently? One need not distort the Islamic texts to justify the violence of jihad from Mumbai to Tel Aviv to New York City to Bali to Madrid and beyond.

Just yesterday, the Religious Freedom Coalition reported that in the past week there were 30 Islamic terror attacks in 12 different nations with 83 dead and over 200 wounded. RFC also reported that two weeks earlier and Islamic terror attack on a Syriac Catholic church in Baghdad left 58 dead and 78 wounded. Not a week goes by but what multiple events like this happen, most of them not reported by the media. Asia Bibi, a 45 year old Christian woman in Pakistan (supposedly one of the USA's partners in the war against terror) has been condemned to death for insulting Islam. You can click this link to get a first-hand report on what conditions are like in Afghanistan, a country where our military have been laying it on the line for the past 9 years - for what? http://video.foxnews.com/v/4348748/daanger-of-missionary-work-in-afghanistan

All that is backdrop for the case of Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, the Viennese mother and housewife who will go to trial on November 23, in which her home country of Austria will attempt to send her to prison for as long as three years for "hate speech" against Islam, very similar to those I've just written. Her statements were not without foundation based on personal experience and intense study. From living as a child of an Austrian diplomat stationed in Iran during the 1979 Islamic Revolution, to working in the Austrian embassy in Kuwait at the time of the Iraqi invasion, to working at the Austrian embassy in Libya on 9/11, she has seen wide-spread fanaticism on display. She has studied the Islamic texts, commentaries, apologetics and critiques at length and eventually decided to exercise her God-given right to free speech and begin educating others.

In seminars promoted by the Association of Vienna Academics and the anti-Islamization Freedom Party, since 2008 she has been educating Austrians about Islam, the Koran and Shariah law. It so happened that one of the seminar attendees was a journalist for the left-wing publication NEWS, who branded the seminar as a "hate school." This caused a huge uproar in the establishment, and one bishop, who never attended a seminar, weighed in with, "One must never speak about any religion the way Ms. Sabaditsch-Wolff did about Islam." Elisabeth's husband, a military surgeon and her father (a career diplomat) know the truth and support her 100 percent.

Through the third lens of Scripture: It appears to me that Elisabeth is about to stand trial because she is a courageous proclaimer of the truth - something which threatens all states of denial. He plight mirrors that of Paul with the Galatians, where he said, "Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?" (Galatians 4:16). I know experientially how quickly this can happen within the Body of Christ; therefore it's no surprise how one's own country can turn against some of its best and brightest citizens. I'm not a doomsayer, just an encourager - be prepared all of you Christian patriots.

And when it comes to confronting false religion, Jesus was the Master, and He warned His disciples, "All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved....A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master....If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household!" (Matthew 10:22, 24-25). I don't have time in this article to point out all of the places where Jesus confronted false religion. Here are just a few examples: Matthew 23; Mark 7:6-13; John 7:23.

No confrontation with false religion would be complete without exposing the truth. To begin with, every Muslim who claims to have no affiliation with jihad, terror, or Shariah does not have far to go to remove themselves from Islam. And the "fanatics!" Well, they already have what it takes to become zealous Christians. We must remember that Jesus' sacrifice on the cross was the full and satisfactory payment, not just for our sins, but for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:2). And so let us not be afraid of sharing the Gospel (Good News) of Jesus Christ, even with those who would appear to be its greatest enemy. Just reread Acts 7-9 for a refresher.