public private

A guest speaker talked about kingdom living on sunday, specifcally bridging the gap between words and actions. its really trendy to say *preach always and when necessary - use words* currently, but we DO need to use words still because showing Christ just by our lifestyle doesnt tell people the WHY. How can they hear without a preacher??? I know why the pendulum swings waaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyy far on actions vs words but we have to remember Jesus called us to speak openly about our faith in Him. This brings me to the subject ofmy post.

Relativism has become very popular in our postmodern culture now. Especially in the USA. Everyone has their own truth, their own way, we all need to live and let live. Universalism is closely attached to this philosophy as well. i have a relative who holds to this viewpoint. he makes my head spin anytime we seek to talk concerning philosophical/spiritual matters because he says he understands i have my truth but he has his own truth. I try to bring up that that there are absolutes and he just says well fine have absolutes for you but its not my truth. ARRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHH!!!! O really???? Hmmmmm I wonder if he decided to line up a bunch of people and shoot them would they want to go along with his *no absolutes, all truth is relative* mantra???? i highly doubt it. it is so easy to TALK this way but when push comes to shove relativism just crumbles like a pile of dust. It simply cannot hold up. The problem is aspects of it have infiltrated us culturally so much we don't even realize it. Our faith.... is it public or private?????/ Depends on who you ask nowadays. I think conservatives and liberals both are on either side of the aisle on this one. How are we to live our faith in a multicultural,pluralistic,religiously diverse society????? Notice i did NOT say democratic. We are a republic, NOT a democracy and here's hoping we never become one for then i think anarchy would rule as like no other time.

i was set to thinking about this also because on the news the other night they interviewed an atheist couple and the man just happened to be a former minister. He was leading a protest in washington claiming religion is responsible for more bloodshed and hatred in the world than any other cause in all of existence. Of course when challenged by a reporter who noted all the good and positive movements and force religion has been in history he didnt offer much of a response. I had an atheist coworker for a few years at my job. We shared many a heated exchange as well as decent conversations in his time there. I wonder how easy or difficult people find it to discuss and share their faith in an open manner, be it at work out socially or any other place where we interact with people. The founding fathers established this nation with the major premise being freedom OF religion, NOT freedom FROM religion, regardless what rabid atheist/agnostics may say.

Jesus said * I AM THE WAY THE TRUTH THE LIFE NO MAN COMETH TO THE FATHER EXCEPT BY ME* I do believe that is a very un-pc like statement. I dont think those who try to unify all religious beliefs and faiths together under one big umbrella and call it LOVE would be very welcoming to Jesus somehow. Jesus made very strong absolute statements regarding God the Father, the Holy Spirit, Scripture and the Church. I just hate to think anyone could want *their truth* instead of He who IS TRUTH!!!!