This was sent to me by a very good christian internet friend who wishes to remain anonymous. The subject started over the internet article titled SC priest: No communion for Obama supporters. The article brought up some very good points and I thought this friend would enjoy the read.
So without any further ado and with her permission, I am posting her well written e-mail response. I am in total agreement with this letter.
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... it is good to see some Bishops standing up for their beliefs. Unfortunately, many of their parishioners are not of like mind. Goes hand in hand with the recent poll of "evangelical" Christians which showed that 57% of them do not believe that Jesus is the only way to God. A friend told me shortly after the election that exit polls showed that 70% of people who identify themselves as Christians voted for Obama. I told her I would bet the farm that 57% of that 70% are the ones who believe there are other paths to God besides Jesus. The other 13% are just misguided, or maybe all they heard was his "promise" to cut their taxes. Sadly all too many Americans focus on the small stuff [what are going to do for me?] and don't grasp the big picture that will affect their own futures. I think this goes back to the "depraved mind" Paul spoke of.
I enclosed "evangelical" in quotes because the meaning of the word has been changing over the years. It used to mean someone who was born again and believed in the tenets of Christianity and the gospel of Jesus Christ. Slowly, but surely, it is being applied to people who do not subscribe to the basic tenets of Christianity and whose churches have left Jesus outside [knocking on the door to be let in]. In the early years of the Internet [back in the days of DOS], I met two Christians on a Christian Bulletin Board. Even back then, Christianity was under attack by the Left. Christians were being demonized and there were certain words that the Left-wing press used derogatorily against us. Anyway, the three of us decided to accept the "derogatory" names that the Left was trying to demonize Christians with and so we christened ourselves the FRERs. It stood for Fundamentalist, Right-wing, Evangelical Radicals. LOL
One of the first things the Democrats want to do is to pass the so-called Hate Crimes Bill. In case you have never read this bill, it is specifically aimed at eliminating Christianity from America. Christianity claims that Jesus is the only way to God and the Muslims say that is so hateful it must be considered a hate crime against Islam. Yes, Islam is mentioned by name in this bill!!! Of course, the gays got in on the act, too. After all, declaring homosexuality a sin is hateful and must be considered a crime. Like, whatever happened to free speech? But you can see where we are headed [think "Orwell's thought police"].
Obama claims to be a Christian and, as far as I am concerned, this will the litmus test. "By their fruits ye shall know them." Ditto with the anti-"Fairness Doctrine." This originally came about back when there were very few radio channels and it was felt that all viewpoints should have an equal chance to be heard. But that no longer applies today since the advent of fiber optics, etc. However, the Liberals want to use it to silence their conservative opponents. If passed, it would effectively eliminate "talk radio" and radio and TV religious programming. The latter, however, might present a problem since other religions [notably Islam] are getting on TV here now ~ although conceivably the Christian networks could be forced to give equal time to proponents of other religions. But, with the Hate Crimes Bill, even if Christian TV Networks are able to stay on the air, they will not be able to preach the gospel or mention Jesus [after all, He claims to be the only way to God and that is just too hateful] or the Bible which contains the quintessential hate crime against the gays [just too hateful], so the Christian TV Networks could essentially be rendered ineffective.
If this bill passes, any pastor who preaches that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father but by Him or that homosexuality is a sin or anything else someone might find "hateful" can be thrown into jail, fined and worse [as you know, this is already happening in other "previously Christian" countries]. Churches which continue to adhere to the gospel will lose their tax-exempt status [the reason the founding fathers insisted churches be exempt is because the power to tax is the power to destroy] and may even be forced to close down. Should that begin happening, it is my prediction that all the so-called Christians will bail and go to other, non-persecuted religions or none at all. As in separating the wheat from the chaff.
But we must always keep in mind that these two bills, particularly the Hate Crimes Bill, have one overriding purpose: to eliminate Christianity from America.
PS: One thing, though. I'm not sure I made the difference between the Fairness Doctrine and the Hate Crimes Bill clear. The Fairness Doctrine, as it stands now [but with politicians, things are always subject to change] is geared to radio [and conservative talk shows, specifically]. The Hate Crimes Bill is geared toward eliminating Christianity. Christianity, btw, is not specifically mentioned in the Hate Crimes Bill, but Islam is and one of their complaints is that is that no religion should be allowed to claim exclusivity. In other words, it is hate speech for a religion to claim it is the only true religion and thereby consigning the adherents of other religions to hell. What is really irritating about this is that Islam also claims to be the only true religion. Either the Liberals don't know anything about Islam or they don't care because they are only interested in getting rid of Christianity ... or both.
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... it is good to see some Bishops standing up for their beliefs. Unfortunately, many of their parishioners are not of like mind. Goes hand in hand with the recent poll of "evangelical" Christians which showed that 57% of them do not believe that Jesus is the only way to God. A friend told me shortly after the election that exit polls showed that 70% of people who identify themselves as Christians voted for Obama. I told her I would bet the farm that 57% of that 70% are the ones who believe there are other paths to God besides Jesus. The other 13% are just misguided, or maybe all they heard was his "promise" to cut their taxes. Sadly all too many Americans focus on the small stuff [what are going to do for me?] and don't grasp the big picture that will affect their own futures. I think this goes back to the "depraved mind" Paul spoke of.
I enclosed "evangelical" in quotes because the meaning of the word has been changing over the years. It used to mean someone who was born again and believed in the tenets of Christianity and the gospel of Jesus Christ. Slowly, but surely, it is being applied to people who do not subscribe to the basic tenets of Christianity and whose churches have left Jesus outside [knocking on the door to be let in]. In the early years of the Internet [back in the days of DOS], I met two Christians on a Christian Bulletin Board. Even back then, Christianity was under attack by the Left. Christians were being demonized and there were certain words that the Left-wing press used derogatorily against us. Anyway, the three of us decided to accept the "derogatory" names that the Left was trying to demonize Christians with and so we christened ourselves the FRERs. It stood for Fundamentalist, Right-wing, Evangelical Radicals. LOL
One of the first things the Democrats want to do is to pass the so-called Hate Crimes Bill. In case you have never read this bill, it is specifically aimed at eliminating Christianity from America. Christianity claims that Jesus is the only way to God and the Muslims say that is so hateful it must be considered a hate crime against Islam. Yes, Islam is mentioned by name in this bill!!! Of course, the gays got in on the act, too. After all, declaring homosexuality a sin is hateful and must be considered a crime. Like, whatever happened to free speech? But you can see where we are headed [think "Orwell's thought police"].
Obama claims to be a Christian and, as far as I am concerned, this will the litmus test. "By their fruits ye shall know them." Ditto with the anti-"Fairness Doctrine." This originally came about back when there were very few radio channels and it was felt that all viewpoints should have an equal chance to be heard. But that no longer applies today since the advent of fiber optics, etc. However, the Liberals want to use it to silence their conservative opponents. If passed, it would effectively eliminate "talk radio" and radio and TV religious programming. The latter, however, might present a problem since other religions [notably Islam] are getting on TV here now ~ although conceivably the Christian networks could be forced to give equal time to proponents of other religions. But, with the Hate Crimes Bill, even if Christian TV Networks are able to stay on the air, they will not be able to preach the gospel or mention Jesus [after all, He claims to be the only way to God and that is just too hateful] or the Bible which contains the quintessential hate crime against the gays [just too hateful], so the Christian TV Networks could essentially be rendered ineffective.
If this bill passes, any pastor who preaches that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father but by Him or that homosexuality is a sin or anything else someone might find "hateful" can be thrown into jail, fined and worse [as you know, this is already happening in other "previously Christian" countries]. Churches which continue to adhere to the gospel will lose their tax-exempt status [the reason the founding fathers insisted churches be exempt is because the power to tax is the power to destroy] and may even be forced to close down. Should that begin happening, it is my prediction that all the so-called Christians will bail and go to other, non-persecuted religions or none at all. As in separating the wheat from the chaff.
But we must always keep in mind that these two bills, particularly the Hate Crimes Bill, have one overriding purpose: to eliminate Christianity from America.
PS: One thing, though. I'm not sure I made the difference between the Fairness Doctrine and the Hate Crimes Bill clear. The Fairness Doctrine, as it stands now [but with politicians, things are always subject to change] is geared to radio [and conservative talk shows, specifically]. The Hate Crimes Bill is geared toward eliminating Christianity. Christianity, btw, is not specifically mentioned in the Hate Crimes Bill, but Islam is and one of their complaints is that is that no religion should be allowed to claim exclusivity. In other words, it is hate speech for a religion to claim it is the only true religion and thereby consigning the adherents of other religions to hell. What is really irritating about this is that Islam also claims to be the only true religion. Either the Liberals don't know anything about Islam or they don't care because they are only interested in getting rid of Christianity ... or both.
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