no opinion

So, it's been an eventful few days.  Yesterday, if you were on the internet or watched television, you were basically assaulted by rainbows.  Personally, I think that the SCOTUS decision wasn't that surprising, or even brave.  Ground shaking, yes- because they basically removed more of the vestiges of State's Rights- something that's actually been going on since about April, 1865.  (if you don't know what that means, look it up)

But that's not what's bothering me.  You see, I've already come out in favor of Marriage Equality.  This is what is bothering me about the decision- stuff all over the web like this:

My apologies to people who have posted this stuff, but what you are saying, in essence, is that this ruling has somehow cast the entire country into not being in accordance with Scripture, and this somehow changes the our standing with God- or that God even cares about the US as some sort of "God-sanctioned entity".

So, the fact that we kill each other wholesale, discriminate against others, expand our individual net worth while others go hungry and homeless, cheat on our spouses, ignore the weak and lesser, steal, lie, impose our supposed "enlightened" societal constraints on other countries who have never asked for it and act as though our country has some kind of special favor with God in the first place- those things have not had that effect already?  Aren't we already both on the wrong side of history AND on the wrong side of God?

I think it's terribly funny that Americans have somehow inserted themselves as a country into Scripture as an actual "playa".  Somehow, we've decided, collectively, that this country is somehow exonerated from God's ultimate plan for this world- or more accurately, that our actions play a part in either stemming the tide of God's already in-motion plan for this world- or even more arrogantly- that we can change it- and, if we make a wrong move, that it will not be ours (the USA) to "win" after all.

I am an ardent patriot and I love my country, but we have got to get over ourselves.  And, as Christians, we REALLY need to get over ourselves.  The Scripture I read has the entire western worlds governments as the agitants in the grand scheme of God's final plan, and are not even mentioned by name.  Believers win, not the governments.  The efforts made by these departments do not hasten this, nor do they prevent it.  God is God, and the part we get to play is so deceivingly simple that it just sails right past folks who are looking to other men to tell them what to do instead: we just need to love each other.  Show the love of Jesus Christ by our actions and stop this ridiculous chest pounding.

And, before you say it, I do not mean that "showing love" means "speaking the truth" as some may put it.  Yes, you should speak the truth, but that doesn't mean that you get to be an asshole when you do it.  Let's always remember that plank in your own eye before telling others about the sliver in theirs.

The US was not founded by Christians, kids.  This country was never a Christian country.  Read your history.  Most of the founding fathers were Deists at best, and were also very keen on the idea that state run religion was a bad thing.  Again- read your history, and if you don't know where to start, check out what Henry VIII did with The Church Of England along with why and what he did with it- the founding fathers got to experience a lot of that crap first-hand or had grandparents and other immediate family members who did- which is something this generation is so far from.  This country was founded on Judeo-Christian precepts, but also upon things like English Common Law (the Magna Carta) and some of those things run counter to each other and have to be sorted out from time to time- like this week, for example.

What it doesn't mean is that we've fallen farther from God's Grace or favor as a result of it.  What it doesn't mean is that our society is dying as a result of it.  What it doesn't mean is that we are closer to the end of things because of it.  You know why that is?  Because those ideas are a "false economy" in the first place, and I will go as far as to say that the real problem with the idea that we somehow play a larger role in the grand scheme of things is really to engender even more discrimination and less love for each other.  Think about that.

The way I see it, from a Christian standpoint, God has just upped the ante on us.  As Christians, we are commanded to love each other, no matter what.  God has just given us a chance to step up our game- to love each other in spite of whatever our pecadillos are.

But, I have no real opinion on the matter.