Religion

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

I recently wrote about the importance of marriage in the eyes of God, and how matrimony is between a man and a woman, and that it represents the relationship between God and mankind.

I received a couple of negative e-mails — though not nearly as many as I expected. One was worth noting.

The gentleman claimed to be a "deist" and said "The church has no business in the legal definition of marriage. But for some reason you christians want to run everyone's life."

Here's how I responded to him, in part:

"I agree with you. It's up to you whether you accept that Christ died for your sins and rose the third day. No one can make that decision for you, nor should they try. Thank you for the opportunity to clarify myself. God bless you."

In a follow-up message, he assured me that I was following a "silly superstition" by believing in Christ. His response was peppered with "your god" taunts and included the line "Religions is for idiots."

I could have answered with a flaming e-mail, quoting any number of Scriptures condemning my new friend. But my response would have led to more, perhaps less-cordial, exchanges from him.

It just wasn't worth it.

The Gospel message needs postmen, not prosecutors.

Jesus advised never to "cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet …" (Matt. 7:6)

I'm not calling "Mr. Diest" a pig. I'm sure he's a nice fellow. But Jesus was making the point that sometimes the wisdom of the Bible simply can be wasted on unbelievers.

When New Testament writer Jude encouraged believers to "earnestly contend for the faith" (Jude 3), he was not talking about contending against "diests" who spend their Saturdays reading about a God they don't believe exists. Nor was Jude talking about intellectuals who endlessly debate the finer points of the Bible, all the while avoiding its central message.

Those people aren't threats to Christianity. They only hurt themselves by rejecting Christ.

The real threat is "supposed Christians" who add to, take away from or altogether bypass the message of the Gospel, and preach a salvation that comes through things that are earthly and temporary.

There's no greater danger than pulpit dwellers who teach that extreme peaks of emotion have anything to do with the Holy Spirit, or that a heart filled with faith should equate to a pocket filled with money.

There's nothing wrong with money or emotion until some charismatic figure comes along and equates them with salvation through Jesus Christ.

What's most troubling is that not only are these men tolerated, but often they are celebrated as great men of God.

Great men of God stand their ground against such and proclaim that absolutely nothing other than Christ is necessary for salvation.

That's worth contending for.