A Little More Salt, Please

We are not salt in the community, and all too many churches have become love clubs. They preach the love of Christ minus commitment to His teachings. In a well intentioned desire to reach as many as possible they have abandoned truth in favor of full pews.

But regarding Salt in society and the consequences of the lack thereof. I have been struggling with that. Under a king or dictator, choice is simple. Obey or face the penalty for disobedience. But in a Democracy, we ARE the government.

Our best choice I believe is to preach the Gospel in its entirety, to all who will listen. Then in peace and love affect change through voting rights. BUT, man's laws are not at the heart of the problem. It's the heart. When the laws are contrary to the Word, like abortion and euthanasia laws, we are commanded to oppose, but in truth and love. We wrestle not against flesh and blood. And the very freedoms we cherish in this country are the ones that allow society to sink to the lowest common denominator.

War in America

Are we in the midst of a Culture War? The battle for the hearts and minds of America's youth has grown steadily over the last 100 years, as leftist philosophies became entrenched first in the collegiate teaching ranks, then the centers of power in the nation's media.
Judge Robert Bork, in Slouching Towards Gomorrah, traces the development of modern liberalism and its impact on one generation after another.  Bork contends the Universities incubated the movement. I would add that liberal politicians enable it, and the press feeds it.
If you can define the terms of a conflict, you're much more likely to win the conflict. This is a lesson that the center and the right in America have been slow to understand and act upon. The most notable of these in our lifetime, it could be argued, involves abortion. Not the labels such as "Pro-Life" or "Anti-Abortion." I'm referring to the point of conflict. By setting the battle lines at a woman's right to control her own body, and not the taking of an innocent life, the left was able to claim the high moral ground. It has taken decades for society to even begin to recognize the reality of the argument.
Now we are at the precipice of conflict once again. This time the battle is over freedom of religion. The first amendment of the Constitution of the United States declares the right of citizens to this freedom and prohibits the government from the establishment of religion. But what has become lost in the public discourse is the next phrase, which guarantees us the right to freely exercise, or behave in accordance with, our religion.
If the government is allowed to force religious institutions of any kind to violate the precepts of the beliefs the institution is based on, that freedom is eroded away. This is where the battle must be enjoined, and where the terms of the conflict must be determined correctly. If liberal ideologists in the mainstream media, Hollywood, and on Capitol Hill, are allowed to couch the argument in favor of free contraceptives for insured employees in terms  that focus on denial of treatment, the battle field will be lost.
The argument must be, and rightly so, that Churches and their ancillary organizations have the constitutional right to freely exercise the religious beliefs they are founded upon.
Are we in the midst of a Culture War? Yes, but more to the point, we are seeing a War against Religion.
C-Cubed