By: Thomas Lee Abshier, ND
The Oregonian, January 29, 2005, The Oregonian reported that someone was stealing the Adopt-a-Road signs posted in Marion County sponsored by the American Nazi Party. http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/110700390220660.xml
By Thomas Lee Abshier, ND
The fact that the Marion County Administration would allow the American Nazi Party to sponsor adopt-a-road signs clearly indicates the level of confusion in our nation with regard to the proper application of the Freedom of Speech. The personal freedom to express one’s self does not imply an obligation of the government or media to promote an idea. An absurd application of the freedom of speech implies that a person has the absolute right to buy national air-time for the express purpose of telling lies, or the right to yell “Fire” in a crowded building.
The right to speak depends on the circumstance, just as other Constitutional “rights” have applicability only in the context of expressing personal and social Godliness. The Freedom of Speech does not trump all other social and moral principles, just as the Freedom of the Press and the Right to Bear Arms have limitations. The proper application of our rights becomes clear when we use the standard of Godliness as our guide. The Founders framed the Constitution and Bill of Rights to specifically elaborate protected social virtues, however none of them has supreme or universal applicability. But, the problem of their proper application resolves when we recognize Godliness is the organizing principle that dictates the hierarchy of virtues and rights in any given situation. God’s perspective is sovereign and His will and mind is unknowable with absolute certainty. But as humans, we were given Biblical scriptures as a tangible holographic representation of the Mind of God. By submitting our discussion of legal principles to a parallax comparison of the Constitution and the Bible, we may reach principles that are both Constitutional and Godly.
The Marion County Commissioners felt they were required to promote awareness of Nazism if the Nazis paid the required fee. These people in effect acted as though the Freedom of Speech demanded that everyone must have equal access to the information disseminating machinery of the State regardless of the worthiness of their moral position. The concepts of tolerating, endorsing, and giving media exposure to all ideas raises the obvious question about the proper application of the Freedom of Speech.
This moral confusion exists because our society has gradually dropped its broad acceptance of the Judeo-Christian ethic as the underlying moral authority for interpreting and contextualizing Constitutional principles. As a result, those who generate public policy (legislative and judicial) use Constitutional slogans to give their edicts the color of Constitutional authority, while they actually base their proclamations on personal worldviews validated only by a superficial connection with Constitutional concepts. Their connection with the fundamental spirit which generated the Constitution extends no farther than a prima fascia appropriation of Constitutional authority to advance their cause under the guise of supporting a Constitutional mandate.
Moral error inserted into our body of law provides its own destructive precedent as it justifies the future inclusion of error. Societies codify and enforce their acceptable patterns of action with laws, thus every erroneous piece of legislation provides the seeds for social collapse. In every situation, God’s Way is the perfect implementation and all others produce suboptimal results. Some errors of implementation are merely inefficient, while other errors plant seeds that can corrupt the social order.
Two groups participate in this process of establishing perniciously corrupt legislation: 1) Those with the intent to warp social policy to justify their moral perversion, and 2) The deceived sympathizers who have misunderstood the basis of law and support the “rights” of sinners to engage in the violation of God’s Law.
The priests and followers of the religion of tolerance often quote the Biblical verse, “Judge not lest ye be judged.” They use this verse to provide moral support to the perverse in their attempt to silence their critics. They believe this verse proves that the Bible itself prohibits one person calling attention to another person’s sin. This non-judgmental philosophy is then projected into the realm of society and has become popularized in the phrase, “You cannot legislate morality.” But the Godless rebels have revealed their shallow understanding of the spirit of the Bible and their rebellion against Truth. A cursory reading of the Bible reveals that the majority of the Bible is an object lesson in making right judgment and dividing error from Truth. The injunction, “Judge not lest ye be judged” refers to the consequences of hypocrisy. When a person judges another using a standard of conduct that he violates himself, he will be condemned by his own judgment.
The secular humanists and anti-God lobby pass laws that give social endorsement to all manner of perversion in the name of non-judgmentalism. By legislating immorality as legal, they attempt to shield themselves from the pain of social criticism and punishment. Eliminating man’s law creates the facade of social acceptability for their sin, but the effect of their efforts is superficial since God’s standard and judgment remains. By promoting the social standard of tolerance (and condemning any declaration of Godly judgment of sin), the perverted man creates a false sense of acceptance for his sin. Such a society has merely turned the Godly man into the pariah, and the pervert into the moral pillar. But, their exercise in self-validation is futile and short lived since God will eventually judge them according to His Absolute standards.
The exaltation of “Tolerance” by the Secular Humanist, Homosexualist, Hedonist, Existentialist, New Ager as the highest moral principle is nothing more than the imagination of children playing make believe. They have pretended there is no God, and that man is the arbiter of all things moral. The cornerstone of their fantasy moral universe is the rule, “All things shall be tolerated”, or “Thou shalt not be Intolerant.” But, this highest moral applies only to other people who judge their homosexuality, etc. as sinful. They have anointed themselves as the high priests of moral judgment, therefore they feel justified in condemning other people who judge their behavior as sinful. Their one-way logic allows them to define their moral judgments as correct, and then condemn all who disagrees.
These moral pirates are attempting a coup by perverting the law at its foundation. They have legislated abortion, homosexuality, and euthanasia into the body of law by judicial activism. Likewise, they have removed prayer, and all manner of public support for Christian expression in symbols and speech from the governmental and public square. They know that the establishment of any legal precedent provides its own justification for further similar misinterpretation of the spirit of Constitutional Law. In this manner we have seen the 14th Amendment used in the service of those who wish to perform immoral acts and claim protection from discipline by using the supposed principle of the “Right to Privacy”. This blatant twisting of the Founders’ intent to justify sexual perversion is obvious evidence of a Court rapidly rewriting of the Constitution by substituting the morality of a Secular Humanist system for its Biblical base.
Christian tolerance fights the internal demons that pressure us to judge and condemn others on the basis of God-given traits such as race, beauty, innate ability, intelligence, and non-sinful quirks of personality. The common moral wisdom now properly demonizes violence against racial minorities and vigilante action against homosexuals. But, the Homsexualist Left has taken this high sounding principle of “Tolerance” and used it as the battering ram to destroy the moral foundation upon we have built a society which can actually sustain freedom without the tyranny of a police state forcing us to comply with the basics of social morality.
The militant homosexual propagandists have purposefully perverted the proper use of moral principles, just as they have misused their God given sexuality. On some level they know and feel the guilt and shame of their moral trespass, but rather than submit to the leading of the Holy Spirit, they have instead tried to create a social environment that normalizes (and celebrates) their sinful behavior. The homosexuals have ridiculed the clear Biblical injunction against their sin, and have instead declared war on the Bible, calling it hate speech (using the one of the synonym epithets of intolerance). They have taken the lead of the racial minorities in their righteous fight for equality, and portrayed themselves as victims, as members of the downtrodden and discriminated-against minority in their effort to acquire legitimacy and sympathy. They have framed their unGodly lifestyles as morally equivalent to the distinctions of race. They claim homosexuality as their God-given identity. They cite research of various sorts showing brain differences in homosexuals to validate that they must act out their feelings. The homosexual ignores that fact that we are all built to sin and desire the forbidden fruit. The homosexual is under the same obligation to resist his tendency and attraction to sin as the heterosexual who must resist the temptation to adultery, pornography and pedophilia. God has given us a flesh body with multitude of desires that war against the discipline of the Spirit. The individual’s character will grow and reap rewards for eternity in direct proportion to his alliance with the principles of God. The homosexual, in his surrender and self-justification of his passions, has traded an eternity of honor, for a short life of sexual satisfaction.
Sexually immoral people resonate spiritually, and since Biblical morality convicts and condemns their behavior, the Judeo Christian ethic has become their focus of attack. The homosexuals and their sympathizers have infiltrated the cornerstone institutions of society and formed a legal and media cabal to overturn and replace our traditional moral system as the background structure of law.
The sexually immoral lobby has played upon our Christian desires for fairness and sympathy for the sinner. We believe that God desires fellowship with each and every person. But fellowship requires resonance, and when we engage in behavior that violates His Way of being, we are no longer resonant with His character. Without resonance we cannot form without deep relationship. A father loves his child just because it is his child; but the loving and morally principled father cannot maintain the same close relationship and fellowship with a child who has embraced a heinous, defiling and morally repugnant lifestyle. To embrace the prodigal child into his deepest bosom without the child’s repentance would require the father to betray his own principles and require an endorsement of the sinner’s moral code.
The sinner can only restore total relationship by cleansing the stain of moral corruption that has defiled his soul. Washing the sin away allows the father to embrace him again without hesitation or qualification. Washing sin includes confession, repentance, and repaying the debt of violation. Moral trespass violates God’s nature and the sinner no longer resonates inside of God’s universe with its perfect organizational and energetic economy. God built the universe based on rules that reflected His nature and character, and everything in the universe which contradicts this fundamental nature is foreign and outside of full relationship and resonance with Him and His world.
The set of God-ordained actions, rules, and principles produce a harmonious organization of heaven and earth where energy transforms into disorder in the most efficient manner. Sin is defined as any action outside of the Godly rule-set, and such actions produce excessive dissipation of potential energy and a resultant cause-effect sequence of painful consequences.
For complete cleansing, we must repay the debt, and renew our minds and hearts in God’s way. But, since we cannot actually reverse all the disorganization and dissipation created by our trespass, we cannot ever return to a debt-free state by our own actions. When we trespass the Way of Life, it causes an eternal consequence that will eventually dissipate our life force and produce death.
The Bible gives us an overview of the behavioral principles that reflect His good and Godly Way, and we must follow those laws perfectly to stay in resonance with His nature. But we will inevitably miss the mark of full obedience, and the fall out of fellowship. Therefore, we must have a method to resolve the debt and damage done by our errors. But, the price of sin is death, a price far too high for any of us to pay for our own redemption. It was for this reason that Christ spilled His blood on the cross in our behalf. His single act of pain and sacrifice is adequate to balance our account because He became Sin, and then died and rose victorious over Sin. His blood represents the ultimate state of organization since Life is in the blood, and the life of Jesus was perfect. By attributing His blood to our sin, the blood will balance our soul’s ledger sheet of deposits and withdrawals. The disorganization and death we create in life by our errors of omission and commission balances out when we accept the supremely organizing blood of Christ. With the Blood of Christ applied, the debt is paid on the spiritual level, and we can now enter boldly into the throne room, knowing that we are fully cleansed, our soul is properly organized, and we are capable of resonating with His nature. We can then simply enjoy without guilt or fear of judgment the acceptance, full embrace, and fellowship with the Father.
God allows evil in His world so we can exercise freedom of choice. Our obedience to Godly principle represents our love of God, while our disobedience represents our allegiance to the flesh and spirits of darkness. We all innately recognize the existence of the principle of right and wrong as it relates to crimes against our own bodies and possessions. But, the sexual violations are crimes against a man’s own soul. The damage to the spiritual anatomy is largely invisible to the eye, but can be seen by any man with a discerning spirit.
God has established patterns of righteousness and written them on the heart. And when man violates those rules, the spiritual world releases forces of destruction to begin carrying out the lawful process of death. These vultures of the spirit realm produce pain in the heart of man, which should signal him to move away from damaging personal behavior. But, without wisdom and submission, the pleasure of the flesh can override the pain of sin, the spirit of rebellion and thrill of danger and death can seduce.
As Americans, we have come to expect freedom to participate in any activity that does not harm other people; but we forget that our freedom follows only from our Godliness. As we can see by the perversion of the Constitution currently in progress, it can be interpreted in ways that take away our life, liberty, and property. When we rebel against God and His Way, we soon return to bondage. We see a clear example in the actions taken by the government following the 9/11 attacks. Our desire for safety has brought upon us a willingness to subject ourselves to ever stronger Big Brother legislation that mandates the monitoring of our movements, communications, and expenditures. This reduction of freedom came because an enemy invaded our society and we must now attempt to detect him. Alternatively we should realize that God has allowed this unrighteous element into the fabric of our society to bring us to righteousness. The self imposition of freedom-restricting rules and laws simply reflects the automatic penalty and training we must face to correct our error and violation of God’s natural order.
Man will create a nation with the greatest freedoms when every soul embraces God’s Law. In the nation where the Holy Spirit rules every heart, the legislature need only to pass laws to appropriate funds, coordinate group activity, provide for the common defense, and promote the general welfare. But, when we do not love and embrace Godly behavior, the hand of God biases life against the violator. When man’s heart is right, he will automatically impose restrictions upon himself to restrict himself from acting out desires that God has prohibited. When the people follow His ways the people will prosper. God has written His Laws on our hearts, but we each have a voice inside that rebels against complying with His laws. Nevertheless, even the most unGodly will attempt to protect those elements of obvious personal benefit such as his life and property. The fact that even the Godless have an internal recognition of many aspects of Absolute Truth gives superficial support to the validity of Secular Humanism. But, humanism is an incomplete system that will produce destruction because the innate attraction to Truth is mixed with a motivation to unGodly sexual behavior and pride.
The human heart cannot make a proper distinction between the Knowledge of Good and Evil without a standard by which to judge every thought and desire that crosses the mind. Thus, God has given us the Word of God, the Bible, as a compendium of inspired thoughts and words that reflect the hologram of God’s Mind and His Standard. Happiness and victory will be elusive when using the Bible as a legalistic guide for the proof-texted governance of daily life. But, with spirit of the Scripture embedded in our hearts, we can know and recognize the voice of the Holy Spirit as He guides us through our daily walk.
The overturning of sodomy laws in Lawrence v. Texas indicates the presence of societally embraced sexual sin, and is a strong indicator of a nation’s rejection of Godly law. When we place personal freedom (e.g. abortion, gambling, addictive substances, prostitution, vulgar speech, violent imaginations, etc…) as a higher value than submitting our passions to God’s Way, we find that life responds with its own set of forces to restructure our priorities. A cursory examination of homosexuality, adultery, and pedophilia reveals the disruptive effects of incorporating these practices into a nation’s moral structure. Nevertheless, throughout the ages societies have embraced these practices, and history reveals the end of each of these experiments in human rebellion against God.
Rebellion against those unseen rules and restrictions attracts us with the thrill of independence, power, self-idolatry, and exaltation of personal ego. Many forces pull strongly on the human heart to create addictive and attractive desires. The entire class of desire-sins release neurotransmitters that reinforce and reward our behavior. But, because we can stimulate their release by both sin and virtue, our mind and heart must be dedicated to God’s Way, otherwise the simpler path of sin will seduce us. When we embrace sin, we will reorganize our entire ethical system to justify our behavior. In turn we form entire social-legal structures that legislates behavior opposing God’s Way of Life, which eventually results in pain and death for the individual and society.
Those who seek to justify the seemingly “victimless crimes” of sexual sin do so based on principles such as declaring a right to choice of what I do with my body. The homosexual’s cry for acceptance of their barren attempts at procreative behavior creates a demand for societal endorsement. By listening to the cries and demands of these badly behaved children, we see the skewing of the conscience of an entire nation, and its resulting destruction.
Piece by piece we see evidence of this deadly embrace of unGodliness as we watch the transformation of the society in its downward slide toward embracing ever more virulent society-destroying behaviors. The violations are small initially, but the hardening of the people’s hearts against right and Godly action opens up a tolerance for more pathogens which can eventually rend the fabric of society. The mechanism of implementing that eventual social collapse may be war, economic languor, invasion, internal revolt, environmental degradation, or depletion of natural resources. But regardless of the force that pushes against the stability of the societal system, if the people and its workers and leaders are not aware of the invasion, and/or do not respond properly, the societal system risks collapse. Many ancient and modern societies have fallen, and even our great nation is vulnerable to the various dispersive social forces that have brought down great cultures and nation-states.
Without a deep society-wide commitment to Godliness, the leaders and people will be poorly receptive to the leading of the Holy Spirit to solve social problems. Only God’s righteous rules will work to bring full prosperity, justice, and joy to a society. Any society that embraces sinful behavior of any sort (drugs, sex, graft, greed, power…) will suffer because of their worship of that false God. Tolerance of sexual sin is one of the strong organizing forces that causes us to accept a whole range of socially disruptive patterns. By ignoring or opposing Godly sexuality, the courts, legislature, executive, and administrative branches will find themselves attempting to legislate and adjudicate a body of law with inconsistent principles. By protecting any special sin, such as sexual immorality of any sort, the entire fabric of the society will be bent to accommodate that sin. As a result of the accommodation, laws will be passed that improperly limit and guide behavior. The misapplication of the Freedom of Speech is one indicator of that deeper social decay.
In summary, we should include an overt discussion of the principles of Christian Godliness in our decisions at every level and branch of government. By using the standard of Biblical righteousness as our well from which we draw our wisdom, we will be ordering our nation in a manner that pleases Almighty God. Using another metaphor, the ordering of our nation by Godly standards puts us in resonance with the way he has designed the universe on many levels. God’s way is workable and prosperous, and by resonating with His way we produce a world which is likewise joyous and prosperous. We need not concern ourselves about mixing church and state in this regard. Considering the words of the Bible, praying in court and in the legislature, and invoking God’s name in government documents is not establishing a Federal Religion. It’s time to confront those who wish to establish Secular Humanism as the only acceptable moral paradigm upon which to base law that we are a nation with a majority of Christian people. As a government of the people, we have the right to consider Christian principles in the establishment of our laws. It is they who are attempting to prohibit the free exercise of the Christian religion and enforcing the tenants of Secular Humanism in a nation of Christians. The Founders did not prohibit the consideration of any philosophical principle in the debating of law. Rather, they prohibited establishing law that contradicted the intent of the words of the Founding Documents (The Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and The Bill of Rights). And, the fundamental intent of the Founders was to elaborate a set of principles that put the principles of the Bible in a form that could be used to govern a country.