the basic message #E312
11/13/04
Now that the Presidential election is over, we've heard a hundred times that the exit poll data showed that voters surprised all of the experts by placing great importance on "moral values". I find that interesting, and I'd also find it very encouraging if it weren't for one big problem: The bulk of people that find "moral values" important seem to largely find it important that other people should improve their moral values. Like what? The hottest moral issue today seems to be same-sex marriage. Here in Louisiana, about 80% of voters approved of our constitution being changed to outlaw same-sex marriages. Never mind that our state law already forbids that type of marriage, we still rushed to change our state constitution. It's yet another classic example of homophobia run rampant while we all but ignore the real issues facing us.
Matthew 23:24
You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
The words of Jesus Christ could certainly apply to the "hyper-conservative" voters in our country. What are the gnats and what are the camels in our modern time? In my opinion, the camels include the following:
Displaying the Ten Commandments
School Prayer
Same-sex marriages
The "homosexual agenda" (whatever that is)
And the gnats?
Divorce
Materialism
Selfishness
For those who are still reading this (a few), let me explain why I've listed the camels and gnats as I did. First of all, how many of you know of a family that's experiencing problems? I'd say most of us can raise our hand in response to that question, right? Of those problems, which ones were caused by The Ten Commandments not being displayed? Did the lack of "official" school prayer cause the problems? Were the problems caused by a same-sex marriage or by the "homosexual agenda"? Come on now, be honest.
Now let's consider those same family problems and ask ourselves if they could be caused by the gnats. Were the problems a result of divorce? Could it be that the problems were a result of materialism? How about selfishness, could that have been the cause? Now we're getting somewhere. I could toss in alcoholism and drug abuse for good measure, but you get the point (I hope).
By now you might think I'm somehow down on reinstituting morality in America, and you couldn't be more wrong. I'm quite concerned that our country is certainly going down the wrong path, but rather than blame everyone else, I'm quite willing to take my share of the blame. Are you? I challenge you to start searching for areas that you believe are threatening the very fabric of America and then try to analyze the situation. What is the cause? Is there anything that those affected could have done to avoid the cause?
I was reading a column in the newspaper this morning that featured a letter from a woman who is "controlled" by her husband. The woman works in customer service and decided to get her customers to help her cope with her bad marriage. She related that a customer named "Matt" always brightened her day, and so she decided that she would pay him an "innocent" visit. Her husband found out and called Matt's wife and made an ordeal out of the whole thing. In her entire letter, the woman gave no blame to herself, rather it sounded like she thought her husband caused the problem. Here is a classic situation where morality is lacking, yet rather than take personal responsibility, all parties seem to be pointing the finger at the others.
I read another news report on the internet today that questioned the use of Florida law enforcement people using stun-guns on unruly kids. In one case, a 12 year-old girl was skipping school and an officer found her and some other kids drunk and smoking cigars out by a pool. The kid started running and the cop zapped her to prevent her from running into traffic. The parents are "outraged", of course. I'm outraged too, but it's not at the cop, rather it's towards parents that have totally lost control of a 12 year-old kid. But heck, if we outlaw same-sex marriages that kid won't get drunk anymore, right?
America is indeed spinning out of control, friend, but the vast majority of the reasons have little to do with what the Christian Conservative movement wants you to believe are the real causes. Why was that 12 year-old skipping school without her parents intervention anyway? It could be due to several reasons. Perhaps it's because she has an unwed mother that has 4 other children she's trying to keep up with. Maybe the mother has to work two minimum wage jobs to make ends meet. The hard-hearted among you will think, "well, she had no business getting pregnant once, much less 4 times without being married". If that's what you think, why don't you list fornication as a reason for the moral condition of America?
Perhaps the drunk girl comes from an affluent family instead. It could
be that her father travels all over the world in his job and is seldom home, and
her mother spends her days at the country club doing what the kid does- getting
drunk. Should we pass laws to prevent fathers from traveling and enact
legislation to outlaw country clubs? Make no mistake, friends, we do
indeed have moral problems in our country, but if we really want to find the
culprits we need not go any farther than the closest mirror. As Pogo once
said, "We have met the enemy, and he is us".