I love to communicate. Whether it is in the form of a personal conversation, a blog post, sharing with Face Book friends or speaking to a group of people, I have always gotten pleasure out of sharing my thoughts and feeling and listening to the thoughts and feelings of others. I come from a time when we could freely discuss our thoughts and feelings with each other in an atmosphere of mutual respect. You could actually disagree with someone without becoming disagreeable and attacking them personally. But in this current adversarial climate, I find that sharing my ideas and feelings with some people has become more like traversing a mine field than free and honest expression. It is human nature to take the easy way out and it is easier to attack someone personally than to dispute facts or defend an indefensible position.
In addition to the “us versus them” mentality that produces friction and even hatred, I have found there is a problem with definitions. To me the word gay means happy or cheerful, but our society has assigned a completely different definition of that word. When I talk about marriage I’m referring to the union of a man and woman like the one Carol and I shared for over 50 years, while others define it as a union between two individuals regardless of their sex. To me, “determining sexual identity” is what ultrasound does. To others, it is the self-discovery of one’s sexual orientation independent of biology or genetics. We are using the same vocabulary (words) but they mean something quite different to each of us. It can be confusing to say the least.
They are using dictionary definitions that simply reflect common usage which changes each year based on the way people use words with no regard for truth. On the other hand, I am using Biblical definitions that are based on truth and they do not change with the whims of society. The enemy loves to redefine words in order to deceive and confuse. We have even allowed our secular society to redefine the word Christian in the most negative terms. As a result, many Christians choose to call themselves Believers. That will never work. First, it doesn’t indicate what you believe in. Secondly, the same people who attack and degrade Christians will do the same thing to Believers and then what new term will you choose to describe yourself? We have given up far too much to the enemy! I will continue to call myself a Christian until the day I die because that is who I am. If we allow others to make us ashamed to claim the name of Christ, how can we expect Him to claim us as His own? (See Matthew 10:33) I think refusing to profess our allegiance to Christ is no different than Peter denying he ever knew Jesus and it is exactly what Satan wants us to do – distance us from God.
When confronted with opposition we need to clarify definitions. I heard a pastor describe an encounter he had with a woman in a store. She overheard the fact that he was a pastor and she confronted him, “How can you possibly worship a god like that?” He responded, “What do you mean by a God like that?” She said, “You know, an old man with a long white beard who loves to zap people with lightning every time they do something wrong.” He said, “I would never defend Zeus. Thankfully, that is not the God I worship.” Then and there he introduced her to the loving and merciful God who sent Jesus Christ to die for our sins.